Chelsea Chat and exclusive transfer talk

Talking Chelsea 

Tonight we play a London Derby against Chelsea, for whom the rivalry has grown in my lifetime, mainly as the result of what I have always been convinced was Roman Abrahmovich's money laundering operation.

The suggestions are that he made illegal payments to his Russian mates for the purchases of Willian and one other. Willian of course had a medical at Tottenham, before obviously being told to sign for Chelsea, where no doubt Abramhovich looked after him.

The new owners reported these payments when they found them in the accounts and although the Premier League have closed the loophole that allowed Chelsea to spend £1 billion on player, through Amortisation, they no doubt have some credit in the bank with the Premier League for exposing these payments.

Anyway, back to the football and I heard a female, presumably Arsenal player, stating Chelsea was possibly a bigger rivalry than Arsenal to Spurs!

Why do they put clowns like this on the telly, especially when the 'T' in the alphabet seemed to be non-existent in her vocabulary?

This, I feel, is a tough game for us asd Chelsea always raise their game for it, much like West Ham United do.

Chelsea have struggled to score goals, but have created many chances and not been playing badly.

They missed a host of chances against Brentford, who only scored at the end to make it 0-2.

It is another test, but it's a mental test for our fans as much as anything else.

This is a new breed of Chelsea players and indeed owners and administrative staff, who are not steeped in the rivalry, but then again nor are many of our players.

As a player, that needs to be taken out of the equation anyway and simply concentrate on playing our way. The only way to learn the system, improve the system and play it more naturally and thus better, is to play it at all costs.

Pundits have feared for us but we have coped admirably so far, albeit with some luck against Liverpool.

It is good to have the hope back for many and like our last game against Crystal Palace, I'll probably take 6 jours going through the game on Tuesday.

Good luck boys.

If you missed the last article, catch up with it here: Véliz, Razi, Barco, André transfer Talk and Chat. It opens in a new window and has more exclusive transfer talk you won't find elsewhere.

Record Breaker Harry Kane

Harry Kane scored his third hat-trick of the season for Bayern Munich, this time away to Borussia Dortmund, to take his tally to 15 goals in just 10 Bundesliga games, plus 2 in 3 UEFA Champions League (UCL).

Dortmund were unbeaten this season and unbeaten in 25 home games but Kane's unprecedented start to his Bundesliga career saw them thumped 0-4 by the annual champions.

It is pretty clear that had England captain Kane been playing for Real Madrid in LaLiga his whole career instead of Ronaldo, he would have scored a similar amount of goals.

Brais Méndez

You have to laugh at journalists, Brais Méndez is the "new main target" for Spurs.

Spurs have not announced who their main target is or what their main position to fill is so that statement is probably factually incorrect.

It is a writer trying to sensationalize a story.

Méndez is another on our radar and agreeing personal terms doesn't mean buying either.

Firstly you can get an outline agreement of personal terms, in other words, you ask the agent to give us an idea of the package the player would like.

You come to an agreement over rough figures. Details to be worked out later if anything comes of it.

Personal terms agreed when you are actually trying to buy someone and negotiating with their club a transfer fee is another matter altogether.

Spanish international (4 caps, 1 goal) attacking-midfielder Méndez is a 26-year-old (27 next November) and has contributed to 30% of Real Sociedad's LaLiga goals this season.

He is under contract until 2028 and seems to me to be 2 or 3 years too old. He'll be 30 in 4 years so his age then offsets any increase in value.

Like it or not, a future return on a player has to be a consideration under the new financial rules to increase income and thus allow more to be spent on players. 

Making a profit on players is becoming increasingly more important, hence the big investment in youth players clubs are making and why Tottenham are linked with so many.

Buy, develop, sell, try to keep the best is the modus operandi.

Assan Ouédraogo

Our, indeed most clubs, youth policies now, mean 17-year-olds have become important players to purchase so you can improve them and sell them at a healthy profit.

To this end, Tottenham, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan, the North London imposters and others are closely following the progress of record breaking Schalke 17-year-old (18 next May) Assan Ouédraogo.

Ouédraogo, boen in Müllheim an der Ruhr, is a central midfielder who has been with Die Königsblauen since 2014 and is the youngest 1st XI goalscorer in the clubs history. 

His pace and power style has been compared to Xabi Alonso (his Schalke manager) and Michael Essien.

Quotes

"He has everything, game intelligence, speed, teamwork, goal threat and he can play the final pass.” - Schalke legend Olaf Thon.

“With Assan you have a real gem. Hats off! Good boy. A really good player." - Hamburg manager Fritz Walter following Ouédraogo's debut.

“He is a wonderfull footballer with a lot of talent. He was integrated immediately because he is completely convincing in terms of his sporting ability." - Schalke sporting director André Hechelmann.

COYS