Just when I’ve been thinking that this transfer window has been pretty quiet from Tottenham’s perspective, the papers are full of speculation today regarding possible activity.
The Guardian claim that we’ve sorted out personal terms with Sandro and now just need to agree the transfer fee. This one has been hanging around for ages and as such I won’t be holding my breath, but I will have my fingers crossed. We really do need another central midfielder and have been pretty lucky that none out of Palacios, Huddlestone or Jenas, have suffered a major injury so far this season.
The Mirror have reported that Zenit St Petersburg have bid £10.2m for Pavlyuchenko (which The Guardian also mentions) and that Birmingham are considering making a bid. As we know from our attempts to buy Andrei Arshavin, Zenit like to play hardball when it comes to transfer negotiations, so I doubt that the deal will be clean cut, unless Birmingham have some real intent and speed everything up.
They go on to speculate that if Pavlyuchenko is sold, Harry will make a move for Kenwyne Jones, which would surprise nobody.
The Mirror also reckon that we’re ready to go for ex-Goon Mathieu Flamini. I can’t see that happening during January unless the Sandro deal breaks down, although there’s always a chance that we might be in him in the summer and cash in on Jenas.
Finally, The Oh, Ah Daily Star think that Harry is ready to smash our pay structure to land Joe Cole. Chelsea are reluctant to pay Cole what he wants and the midfielder will be out of contract at the end of the season.
The reported wages of £130,000 a week is massively beyond what we pay anyone, which I can’t see Levy allowing, even though Cole would be available for ‘free’.
In terms of the side, you can argue that we don’t really need Cole considering that we already have Modric, Kranjcar and Lennon. However, Harry is obviously a massive fan and I think he’ll be desperate to get Cole, should he come available.
Cole is a great player, but he has a poor record with injuries. He’s a luxury that we don’t really need, like that Playstation 3 I keep trying to convince the wife about. Perhaps Harry will be allowed to get his man as a treat, if he takes us to the Champions League. No one would begrudge him that, would they?
I would love all of these stories to be true as we would have 1of the strongest if not the strongest midfields in the prem….and Mathieu Flamini and sandro are very good players but all i can see happening in Sandro coming in but maybe not till the summer as there is talk they wanna keep him till the summer and the pav story will happen as we need to sell before we buy and 10million aint to bad
We dont want any of these players joe Cole is a great player but upsetting Chelski or City is not to be recommended .We have some outstanding players and if we replace like for like then we swap one upset player for another no one with mature talent will sit and wait for a game Sandro maybe Jones and Cole no .The way to deal with this is like Arsoles and City by players with massive experience at the end of there carrears .The other way is use you Talented kids or they will get bored waiting and stall in there progress like I believe has Happened to Bostock Harry give him a taste then sent him back to the under 18 bad move and then on loan at a struggling team.Sit some of these players on the bench .
Cole will sign for Chelsea – they’re not going to want to pay £10-15M for a replacement plus wages when they can just up his wages £10-20k. If we were in for him I don’t know why we couldn’t pay him a signing on fee (5-7M) which is well under what you’d pay a club to buy him and then the £70k a week wages???
Flamini will use us showing interest to get a move to Utd, Liv or back to Ass if he wants to come back, can’t see us as only option – especially as we can’t guarantee first team footy every week. Jones could happen if we offload Pav, Bents, Hutton etc, they may even be used as bargaing chips along with Keano…..
Sandro great option as is young and won’t mind sitting on bench – will be 6 months to get used to Prem and show talent next year when we’re in Champs league!!
I’m sorry rumourman why is it not recommended to go upsetting Chelsea and Man City? We don’t owe them anything. That said there is no way Joe Cole will be seen at the Lane anytime soon – wages crazy.
I also disagree about Bostock – sending these kids on loan to lower league sides is much better than sitting on them on the bench, and them doing nothing. Gives them humility, builds their toughness and character, and gives them an opportunity to taste some real ‘blood and thunder’ competitive football (which Reserve & Youth football doesn’t provide). What does it matter if the team is struggling as well – experience is experience! I have faith in ‘Arry and the coaching staff that they have enough experience and know when / if a player is ready for the Prem. Bostock’s taste was UEFA Cup – which it was clear ‘Arry didn’t give a jot about at the time.
Problem with Sandro sitting on the bench is that if we appeal to the Home Office to grant a work permit on the basis of his promise. He will a) Need games to prove he is being employed for 75% or 80% of the time (required to renew work permit each year I think) b) Need to be playing first team football to get that call-up to justify Spurs’ basis for appeal.