Talking Tottenham on Friday Dejan Kulusevski vs Luis Diaz
Read and weep detractors, read and weep.
Good morning to all the real Tottenham supporters out there, the summer got a bit better this week.
One chairman, one of the best we have ever had and one of the best in the league, is providing our Managing Director of Football with the tools to do the job he has been employed for, namely to build the football side of the club to win trophies.
This deal has been a while coming and obviously, both Paratici and Conte knew about it, which just goes to show you that our press haven't a club what's going on at the club.
I have kept saying there is no issue whatsoever with Conte, he needs convincing of nothing, he knows our plans, it has all been discussed with him.
The press narrative of Conte considering leaving is merely their misinterpretation based on their limited, as you can see by the fact none of them knew of this deal, knowledge.
Only the other day I saw an article claiming to be Daniel Levy's contingency plans, as if he would tell the press!
Daniel Levy is doing what Daniel Levy is best at doing, setting this club up off the field to be a power in the game, without a Sugar Daddy.
It is just incredible that the small minded are unable to grasp the significance of this and the huge importance for our long term sustainable future.
Any successful businessman worth their salt will tell you you do not rely on one income stream and you maximise the income you do get from each one.
On our books we have the greatest Asian player of all time and we are touring his home land this summer together with Sevilla.
You don't need me to tell you how fanatical the Asian fanbase is or how huge it is or the marketing opportunities and the opportunities for further sponsorship deals this affords us.
There is money in the Asian market, there is money in the American market and Tottenham just happening to be positioning ourselves to take advantage of both ahead of the competition.
It has taken us a while to get to this point, can't argue with that, but it is important that we have and that we continue to develop ourselves off the pitch.
I'll repeat for the slow of understanding, the off the field income pays for the on-field football, thus if you generate more off the field, it puts you in a position to be able to invest more on the field and Tottenham have doubled the wage bill in 5 years.
You can see we are spending more on players with better quality, Romero, Bentancour, Kulesevski, even Ndombele and Lo Celso, even though they have failed to fire.
You should always enjoy being a Spurs fan, now even more than ever with a wonderful future to look forward too.
The cash injection is money from ENIC in accordance with Financial Fair Play, namely it being the issue of convertible A shares and accompanying warrants with no interest payable.
This will increase their shareholding of the club.
Daniel Levy, Chairman, Tottenham Hotspur commented:
“The delivery of a world-class home was always a key building block in driving diversified revenues to enable us to invest in the teams and support our ambitions to be consistently competing at the highest levels of European football. Additional capital from ENIC will now enable further investment in the Club at an important time.’’
Jonathan Turner, Independent Non-Executive Director, Tottenham Hotspur had this to say:
“We are pleased to welcome this investment which demonstrates the unequivocal support and commitment of our majority shareholder, ENIC.It is a timely injection of funds to ensure we can continue to grow the Club we all love and underlines the Board’s continued ambitions for success.”
I'm not sure how many times one has to tell certain sections the realities of running a football club but I'll keep doing so.
Poor BBC Experts
Of the 20 BBC football experts, 18 failed to pick the top 2 correctly, only Danny Murphy and Mark Lawrenson managed it.
They were also correct in picking Chelsea third, although both said Manchester United would finish fourth.
NONE, I repeat NONE, predicted Tottenham Hotspur finishing in the top four.
Only 3 out of the 20 predicted Liverpool finishing 2nd.
Thanks to My Football Facts for the graphic, always a fund of statistics.
Does that put their opinions into perspective.
Dejan Kulusevski vs Luis Díaz
Plenty asking who was the better buy. Is anyone disappointed we missed out on Días with the return Kulusevski has given us?
Premier League Statistics
Dejan Kulusevski (Spurs)
Games: 18
Starts: 14
Sub appearances: 4
Goals: 5
Assists: 8
Minutes per goal: 253.4
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 253.4
Minutes per goal or assist: 97.4
Luis Díaz
Games: 13
Starts: 11
Sub appearances: 2
Goals: 4
Assists: 3
Minutes per goal: 241
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 241
Minutes per goal or assist: 137.7
The stats show Dejan Kulusevski, brought in from Italians Juventus, to be the better January signing of the two.
Tottenham Transfer Talk
Alessandro Bastoni
There has been plenty of talk that Inter need to raise money for transfer and would be willing to sacrifice Alessandro Bastoni because they could replace him with Gleison Bremer and make a profit.
Fabio Paratici is trying to get deals done early but initial discussions with Inter Milan have not gone well and the Italians are looking to offload some of their other youngsters.
The problem here could be that they haven't yet managed to reach agreement with Bremer to sign.
This deal is beginning to look problematic, especially with poor relation between the Inter CEO for Sport and Paratici.
I see it being reported that Inter are asking for €60m but my understanding is that Inter president Steven Zhang set an initial price at €70m with the hope of receiving something close.
Basic negotiation, ask for more than you want and let yourself be negotiated down to the figure you actually want. The opposite for the buying club of course.
It frustrates fans but business is business and money isn't confetti.
Gleison Bremer
Torino manager Ivan Jurić has publicly admitted that Brazilian centre-back Gleison Bremer will leave this summer. he has won the Defender of the Year award, just as Cristian Romero had before we signed the Argentinian.
Spurs are very interested in the 25-year-old (26 next March) as are Leicester City, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Arsenal it's reported.
Latest word is that Inter are favourites to sign him to replace the centre-back they sell.
Bryan Gil
There has been plenty of speculation over the future of Bryan Gil who has been out on loan at Valencia.
They have asked the club if they can keep him for a further year on loan and Spurs have said no.
While he does not figure in Antonio Conte's plans, according to Spanish publication Marca, who suggest he is not for sale.
Spurs, they say, wish to loan him out again but to a UEFA Champions League club or a UEFA Europa League club.
Valencia finished 9th, out of the European places. The top 7 finishers in LaLiga were:
- Real Madrid
- Barcelona
- Atletico Madrid
- Sevilla
- Real Betis
- Real Sociedad
- Villarreal
Given Marca could get this information from Spanish clubs who have made inquiries for him, this could be reliable news.
There doesn't seem to be any word from the Tottenham end so journalists in this country don't know.
My view, he looked a long way off first team material when we saw him last and needed a few years development. I don't think we have that long to waste so we should either develop him for another season then look to sell or sell him now.
Djed Spence
Tottenham will have 21-year-old (22 in August) Djed Spence in our ranks next season regardless of the Championship play-off final on Sunday.
Although he will be doing his best to take Nottingham Forest back to the top flight, he is on loan from Middlesbrough and they have agreed to sell him to Spurs for around the £12m figure I recently quoted you.
Unless the is a last minute hitch he agreed to sign for Spurs too.
His signing all but confirms we will be selling a right-back, which presumably will be Emerson Royal with the improvement Matt Doherty made and the fact he is homegrown, as is Spence.
Malcolm Ebiowei
Tottenham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Ligue 1 side Monaco and Belgian side Vitesse Arnhem are all watching the situation of Derby County starlet Malcolm Ebiowei.
The 18-year-old (19 in September) has previously been in the Rangers and Arsenal academy's and has represented both England and the Netherlands at youth level.
His contract runs out at the end of next month and Derby are awaiting the takeover by Chris Kirchner before tying players down to new contracts.
Ebiowei broke into the Derby 1st XI last season and impressed. Manager Wayne Rooney wants to keep him for next seasons League One campaign and sees him playing every week.
"He wants to stay at this football club. He want to be here. He knows from previous two clubs there has been a lot of trust put into Malcolm, a lot of responsibility, and I think what is important in order for him to develop as a player he is in the right hands, getting the right coaching."He wants to be here, he wants to learn and he wants to try and help this club move forward."
Ivan Perišić
OK, let's end this section with the latest news on experienced Croatian international Ivan Perišić.
The latest word from Italy is that the contract extension talks with Inter look likely to fail and he'll become a free agent.
Now he did give an interview a few years back where he said he would like to play in the Premier League so Fabio Paratici will be making further efforts to convince him that he should rejoin Antonio Conte at Spurs, instead of going to Chelsea.
The news comes from reliable Italian journalist Matteo Moretto so we'll await further developments with interest.
The 33-year-old (34 next February) obviously knows Conte's system and is versatile, being able to play as a left-sided wing-back, winger, left of midfield or second striker, although being dual footed he could probably cover other positions too.
Last season he played 34 times on the left of midfield and one as a second striker scoring 8 goals with 7 assists in those Serie A games.
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