Tottenham Transfer Talk Wednesday
If you haven't read yesterday's 07:30am piece that was written a couple of days previously, then in light of yesterday's £150m announcement, then perhaps you should, it'll only take a couple of minutes. (Link at bottom of article)
While journalists are feeding you bum steers over Conte and Spurs, the bigger picture they seem incapable of seeing tells a different and more accurate story.
And yes I have just added that paragraph to this piece also written well in advance, I'm doing Saturday's at the moment, Sunday's will be written today I expect.
The Louis van Gaal element now takes on even greater meaning.
I went through Antonio Conte's post match press conference with the idiots he has to answer questions from and as usual their lack of understanding came shining through.
Reporters do not understand how to run a football club or how to coach.
Reporters do not understand how a chairman thinks or how a coach thinks.
Louis van Gaal once told a Dutch reporter:
"You have no idea at all. I'm sorry to say it, but you're just a journalist. You want to implement your vision, but you have no vision in football. You have a vision for the newspaper, fantastic. You attract attention, and so on."
That applies to the reporters in this country too, they are unqualified, they think like fans, not football people.
Just two questions they put:
What difference does it make to your future at Spurs getting Champions League football?
You are talking as if you are definitely staying.
Conte has always been staying, he has never been going anywhere, that is just media rhetoric.
He knew what he was walking into at Tottenham, he had done his homework, he had chats with Daniel Levy about his vision and the clubs vision.
He knew, while trying to achieve the top 4, that this season was a write off, that he and the club agreed he prepare for next season.
That has always been the plan.
The press and the kids on YouTube and their podcasts might not understand it, but then they have never achieved anything themselves, it's an alien world to them, they don't have winning mentalities.
Look at a recent comment, someone tries to tell me that Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is one of the best players in the world at central defensive midfield.
That is the sort of individual these reporters are writing for, we signed a better player in January!
He is a good player, a decent player, a hard working player, a determined player, but one of the best in the world, do me a favour, he wouldn't get in the Man City side, the Liverpool side or the Chelsea side for starters.
Conte mentioned in the press conference he knew what he would find at Spurs, it was just a question of how long it would take to sort it out.
He knows the potential at the club, he knows it is set up for success, he knows the importance of the stadium as a revenue generator and that UEFA Champions League football would maximise that income generation, which naturally would allow increased wages for better players and more money in the transfer market.
One area that needed improvement was in transfer purchases.
He says mistakes have been made in the past, basically because the club has bought players who don't have the right mentality, that we haven't taken it into account enough.
It is a little detail, but one that makes all the difference.
The wrong mentality and you can easily fail in the Premier League, yet excel in another league in Europe, perhaps one at a slower pace.
If you come from a slow league to the Premier League, you have to think faster and make decisions faster as well as having to make more of them.
That maximises the possibility of mistakes creeping in and it is mentality that then dictates your performance. Some can't handle that increase in pressure, some are not mentally strong or mentally fast enough.
Daniel Levy is fully aware Antonio Conte wants to fight for trophies, it's exactly what Daniel Levy has always wanted.
When Conte talks about the right solution he is talking about how to get to where he and the club want to be, that's the solution he is seeking, not the small minded solution to staying reporters have.
If you listen to others the general rhetoric now is we need 4 players, that's what those phoning into talkSPORT have to say, but again, that shows a lack of understanding.
We might need 4 new first team players, but we need a squad, we need better back up players too, we need to improve the bench.
Simply buying a player and removing an existing player to the bench isn't enough, we need to buy more than four to increase the squad depth and that will involve cash as well as nouse in the transfer market.
That nouse is being shown by letting Gollini go, by not spending the £12.7 million on him, by bringing in a homegrown backup that won't play in the Premier League or Champions League unless through injury or if we qualified from a group stage early.
That leaves more in the kitty, it leaves more non-homegrown spots for outfield players who are more likely to be needed to play.
It might be small to many but it is significant, we have often struggled with the non-homegrown quota and been unable to bring in players we would want to because we are stuck with one sitting on a bench doing nothing for most of the season.
Neither reporters nor fans would have said we would get Champions League with Davies and Dier playing every week, I need say nothing more.
Davies dropping to reserve left-sided centre-back improves us, Romero taking over from Sánchez improves us. If we can, then replacing Sánchez as back-up improves the squad standard.
Sessegnon is starting to show signs of development at long last, but he does need to stay free of injury, he has had far too many of them.
Will Doherty now remain at right wing-back with an addition to replace Emerson, decisions to be made there.
It will be interesting to see how we resolve the squad strength issues as it is a jigsaw that has to fit together, you can't just look at it on an individual basis, improve one aspect without considering how much money you need to improve another area.
A juggling act we have time to look forward to.
Spurs Took Half a Season Off
Adrian Durham, who is a lifelong Arsenal fan and talkSPORT presenter, said on Monday that Spurs had a half season off and still finished above Arsenal!
Spurs Spending £100m This Summer
Tottenham have already committed to spending around £100m this summer on Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski and Sergio Reguilón.
We are due to pay for the left-back this summer, although of course, we may recoup his fee if we sell him, as expected.
Gabriel Jesus
Tottenham to battle Arsenal in pursuit of Gabriel Jesus. What garbage from clueless reporters again.
Spurs are a Champions League team, Arsenal are a Europa League team, there is no battle, players want Champions League, everyone else gets the leftovers.
Heung-min Son
Heung-min Son has been named Player of the Season by Eurosport after the travesty of insultingly not even being named as a contender by the Premier League.
Our Golden Boot winner scored 23 goals, while Mo Salah only scored 18 goals plus 5 penalties, a lesser achievement clearly.
Matthias Ginter
Tottenham will battle West Ham and Aston Villa to sign Matthias Ginter this summer.
Err no, neither are a Champions League team, he'll only go to one of those if he receives clear indication that no UCL side wants to sign him, otherwise they are not in the race.
Fraser Forster
As I revealed on Friday, Fraser Forster has agreed to join Tottenham and it is now being reported that a medical in lined up for this week for him.
He'll be available for the South Korea tour, which with Sonny becoming the first Asian to win the Premier League Golden Boot, has come at the right time, from a marketing and fan perspective.
Forster reveals that he was a Spurs fan as a kid and looks out for our results. It's always nice to have a fan join because you know they are going to give their best.
Japhet Tanganga
Roberto De Fanti, agent of Japhet Tanganga:
“Given how much he played at the start of the season, it is not guaranteed he will leave this summer…I wouldn’t be surprised to see Conte bring him back into starting contention, he will certainly start pre-season with Tottenham.”
Dejan Kulusevski
Dejan Kulusevski on his Spurs career so far:
"I love it here. I love the team and the fans. The stadium, wow. It is truly special. I feel at home here and I'm playing well for the team. I don't want to go anywhere else. I am Tottenham."
Emerson Royal
1 comment
Very little need be said of our three most recent acquisitions that hasn't already been said many times over. Extraordinary that Spurs - with our track record of picking players being very hit & miss - have plucked three diamonds out of three from that rough.
I'm happy that Gollini has enjoyed his time at Spurs, but I never saw enough from him to convince me we had a great player there, and as you say, to keep a non-homegrown warming the bench is hardly good practice unless we believe he will eventually take over as #1. I like the idea of Forster coming in f…