Spurs Summer Transfer Window Day 30
The boys fly out today and while every effort has been made to get all the players in we want, it has not been possible.
New players can join the party later, assuming they can get a visa quickly.
Now before the media write some rubbish and the anti-Levy smattering get onto their agenda, Antonio Conte is very happy with the transfer window, with business done and with business in the pipeline.
Nobody is joining the club without his agreement so if we do sign alternatives, they are alternatives that he has help select and helped sign.
You may not be aware, but he calls all potential signings and talks about the club vision and his vision for the player, the role he sees for them in the squad, game time, development etc.
So far we have signed Ivan Perišić, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison, all of who were Antonio Conte's first choices.
In addition we have homegrown Fraser Forster and Clément Lenglet.
I wrote before we signed Joe Hart and I wrote a piece again how important it was to have a homegrown back-up goalkeeper to help our quota and the fact that we are still having to make another homegrown signing just proves I was spot on assessing the situation.
A player like James Ward-Prowse is simply too expensive as is, I would have thought, James Maddison.
That money needs to go on a centre-back.
If you add in our January signings, Rogrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, that is 7 new faces when the original agreement upon Conte signing was at least 6 new players by the end of the summer transfer window.
And Spurs haven't finished with new signing yet, as you all know.
Huge credit to Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici for their roles for identifying and bringing in players with the skillset that Conte wants.
It is not about names, it is about who has the skills to perform as Conte wishes them to while enhancing the overall quality of the team.
- Kulusevski
- Bentacour
- Bissouma
- Perišić
- Forster
- Lenglet
- Richarlison
Djed Spence
What the Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson is insisting on simply isn't going to happen, however much he tries to use our desire for his player and his players desire to move to Spurs.
We may well be turning out attention to Italy to find a replacement.
One such options could be 28-year-old (29 in August) Italian international (21 caps, 2 goals, 1 assist) Giovanni Di Lorenzo from Napoli.
Another could be 24-year-old (25 next April) Argentinian international (16 caps, 0 goals, 3 assists) Nahuel Molina from Udinese.
I have mentioned this before but I'll remind everyone.
All the players being mentioned as homegrown are merely as homegrown alternatives to Spence if we don't get him, which we still hope to do this weekend.
Spence is our first-choice homegrown player. If he signs then we don't need to spend wages and possibly transfer fee on another homegrown option.
This weekend is the deadline we have set to see this deal concluded and Middlesbrough would get less from Nottingham Forest so these negotiations swing one way then the other.
It's all about structures and add-ons and a potential sell-on clause, not the actual transfer fee.
The problem with a sell-on fee is that if we develop Spence further, then Middlesbrough want paying for that, as if they had done it.
Naturally there can be an element but you don't develop a player to give away a large chunk of the profits.
A balance has to be found.
His demanded £25 million plus add-ons plus a sell on clause. I know you start high but he has been trying it on.
We agree a fee and then he decides he wants more and when we finally settled on a fee, he then wanted daft add-ons included plus a 25% sell on clause.
Daniel Levy knows how much we can spend on Spence, as a homegrown player, to make it financially viable.
If the deal becomes too expensive then we might as well buy a non-homegrown player from Italy and it will affect what wwe can spend in other positions.
The thing is we have to be wary of UEFA Champions League player qualification rules, which means club trained, association trained, under 21 players and non-association trained players.
You have to have a set number of players in one group to be allowed more in another group.
Less numbers in one means less allowed in the non-association trained group.
If we have to look elsewhere for a homegrown option, then it will be a cheap option or it could mean keeping a player we have earmarked to be sold or loaned out.
That naturally causes delays in homegrown player departures.
This homegrown issue affects the other transfers and other positions and we need to know where we stand financially after the deal.
Sealing this will trigger other deals, but we are actively looking at alternatives just in case we can not resolve this in the next few days.
Gleison Bremer
We can not convince Gleison Bremer to come to the Premier League, not because he doesn't want to but because his partner doesn't want to.
She is trying to get Italian citizenship and is adamant she wants to stay in Italy, hence nothing is happening here.
The situation is complicated because the Alessandro Bastoni from Inter Milan deal still isn't dead in the water yet, as I have said before and while there is a chance of getting him we are reluctant to turn to Villarreal defender Pau Torres.
Steven Bergwijn
You all know Steven Bergwijn is joining Ajax and they have had to raise their bid to near our reasonable valuation.
Ajax are paying £27.53m (€32.5m - US$33m - AUS$48.29m) although they will be announcing it as only £25.42m (€30m - US$30.47m - AUS$44.58m).
That's because we still owe Ajax £5.93m (€7m - US$7.11m - AUS$10.41m) for Davinson Sánchez so they will knock £2.12m (€2.5m - US$2.54m - AUS$3.72m) off our debt.
I have no idea why they couldn't just wipe the lot off and reduce his fee further, maybe we wanted a minimum amount in.
Harry Winks
A stated previously Everton can't afford Harry Winks and we are prioritising a sale over a loan move.
Leicester City would seem a good fit for him as they are an established top half table with a good manager who elevates them every few seasons.
Further talks have been scheduled between the players agent and club representatives.
Agents
After Romelu Lukaku dismissed his agents so now has former teammate Hakim Ziyech.
The players make their own decisions and employ lawyers to handle contracts and a representative to do their negotiating.
This is entirely different than employing an agent on huge fees who negotiates several deals and gives his client options, advising what is best for his client.
It's the tail wagging the dog or the dog wagging the tail.
Those words rather give an insight who makes the decisions in a player, agent situation, it isn't always the player as many think, especially if you are with Jorge Mendes, then you do as you are told and go where you are told.
COYS
1 comment
I read somewhere that Spurs have a buy-back option on KWP. Don't recall what price he was sold for.