Holtby's early deal confirmed!

welcome! we may be beaten by Leeds; there's no champions league here, yet - but we are tottenham. COYS!

I share your concerns OX. I don’t think we will be seeing any other players coming in this month, which IMO is criminal. There are so many decent strikers around who we could nab for under the 10m mark. What does surprise me is the lack of outs. I though the likes of Gomes, Bentley, Jenas would be on their way? Guess we are struggling to convince anyone to take them.

Reasonable player.......mostly left foot, but can use right foot. Sprays the ball about....puts himself where it hurts......and has a eye for goal. Potential to be a "scholes" type player.

who in their right mind are going to take gomes, bentley & jenas on their wages? Sadly they'd rather sit and take the cash knowing its the highest they will ever earn, rather than leave to reignite their careers.

No ledley, he won't. The deal is only agreed ATM.

Welcome Lewis. I am 100% sure that we will sign a srtiker, I just can't believe that AVB and Levy would be that stupid. I honestly can't.

CapeTown - no 1.5 on Holtby was no sign of intent on its own...but the 50m plus spent on 7-8 players has been. It indicates that the money recouped services player expenditure, and as long as we keep making profits on players like Modric, we will spend even more.

hudderspur - If we get rid of Gomes we need to replace him so no point getting rid. Goalkeeper is a specialized position and therefore a squad needs 3 keepers. If No 1 gets injured you still need 1 on the pitch and 1 on the bench.

I know nothing of him. I have only seen the tapes ...I hope this is not an eBay deal! No Sale or Return on this one.... next match Norwich !will he be able to make his debut? If not what about West Brom? Next home match Newcastle.......he's small but so was Modric so I assume he is a ball player and has enough peripheral vision to play players into space....is he two footed, and does he have any pace? If he's playing the VDV role then he needs to work behind Defoe and Adebyour or is he going to play a Dembele roll with Parker, is he an alternative to Dembele? What formation will he be played in?........somebody fill in the gaps for me cos I dont know what his strengths are or what he will bring to the team

Wilts Spurs, I hear it will be a £50m bid on a player who agrees terms but time runs out sorting out third party agreements.

Can't even put in a good word on a new signing that could be a quality player Frank? Jaysus.

Cape Town Spurs - Levy is backing AVB though right? It sounds like they worked for this deal...even if it was ashtray money ha. I wonder how much AVB pushed for this to happen? It’s a positive sign to me, if (AVB and CO think) think we NEED someone now, they will work at it. COYS.

Hudderspur, the reason we haven't shifted Bentley, Jenas, and Gomes is because we can't, they are all on money that few would match, and would refuse to lose money in any move. Particularly Bentley, and Jenas, both are idle ********s, who will sit on their arses until their contracts are up, and will go somewhere on a free with a signing on fee. I pity any club daft enough to take either on, they are both a waste of space, when fit, which is very seldom. Sorry Jimmy-Yid I hadn't read your post before typing mine.

"Hopefully Holtby hits the ground running!" Fanman

Hopefully Holtby runs without hitting the ground. Stay on your feet, lad. Don't emulate those who hit the ground seeking penalties! Run, Lewis, Run.

Frank, what do you expect AVB to say? "Oh my God we desperately need a striker, I don't know what'll happen if we don't get one!?" Of course he's going to say that we're fine. Frank. Everybody knows that we need a striker. It is common knowledge.

Total knobhead, lol. Hopefully he's like Modric with pace and a Podolski left-foot!

Look, if the keeper issue is a worry (no 3), 3.5M for Buttland and loan him back. He can be crecalled so it really is not a major issue. Archer has also been looking quite good by all accounts. Gomes sold brings in some cash and, more importantly, gets the wages off the books.

Hudd can be moved. We have Carroll who has, IMO, looked no worse and who I believe will be a very good MF. Belhanda is still that guy I'd go in for although Diame at 3.5M is not a bad buy either. His dribbling is really quite good for such an awkward player. He seems to me to be on the "lazy" side, but sometimes that is optics. Against QPR, he had their defence in tatters on a few occasions. He's tough and any injury issues seem to be a thing of the past. Hudd needs to be playing every day. He just won't be doing so for us. With us out of the FA cup our fixture list is ok. Parker and Dembele will be starting most games. Holtby is there, so is Carroll. We need someone else, but it can't be Hudd. He just loses his touch when he is not playing weekly and, for him, that is disastrous. COYS

whats the latest on defoe

TonyRich, if we don't sign a striker I'm going to go crazy.

My last comment was for ghulamville

in-spurs-ational, LOL

Oh..for a Asamoah Gyan.....

so long as he is a lock picker and not a nose picker...ha ha ha

peterballb, I don't think that Hudd will get anymore opportunities. To be taken off against a championship side is an insult, same goes for Sigurdsson, although he will get more opportunities. IMO he (Siggy) needs to stay closer to the goal, he's dropping too deep like VDV used to, where he's not effective. So far all of he best work has come when he's in and around the 18 yard box.

I hope he'll be a good signing for us but share the concerns already expressed on here many times regarding under investment given or supposed CL ambitions. I am however beginning to accept this. The club is punching above its financial weight right now. We've been the only club that has consistently challenged to gate crash the traditional PL top 4 without foreign billions and we should be proud of that. Given the latest financial results for the club, the wider global financial situation and the impending need to fork out a few hundred million on a new stadium I think we may need to forget the marquee signings and manage our expectations for a decade or so. In order to achieve our aims we will have to get used to developing our youth players picking up young prospects like Holtby on the cheap as well as selling our best players when interest comes along without replacing them with players of equal value (see Modric last year and Bale this summer). This may seem like a gloomy view but at least its an improvement on the gloomy days of Sugar’s chairmanship; a tenure that put us so far back we’ve been playing catch up for the last 12 years. We need a bigger stadium to compete. Simple as that. The only way we can get up there quicker is to hope for a foreign billionaire of our own but I’m not sure I want that anyway. All things being equal I honestly think that we’ve reached a peak as a club and can’t progress any more without further revenues. If we get CL its a bonus but don’t expect to stay there. Levy and more importantly Joe Lewis have already proved in the 10/11 season that CL will not provoke further investment in order to stay there. The myth that there was money to spend but they simply didn’t want to give it to Harry has been debunked this season. The best thing we can hope for is maintaining PL status whilst the new stadium is built and paid for. For those who think this is ridiculous look at Villa. They were where we are now only 4 seasons back and are a sign of how bad it can get once costs are cut. Lets hope and pray for a fully developed new stadium built and paid for in 10 years time together with a proven youth development and continued PL status. Then and only then will we be able to push on in the way we wish we could now

I am excited about holtby, however a striker we need if we want to progress further, yes Defoe is a good striker but we have had him around 8 years and he has never been consistent for a whole season, we need to raise are attacking options to compete in the champs league, our midfield now with holtby is one of the best in the league, we have a world class keeper and defence is young and will only improve, I think a negredo or soldado would be an upgrade on Defoe but we need a higuain/Hernandez/dzeko type of player who are good all round and are European standard! As for the prem,are them is definitely good enough for top 4 but only when we are not complacent, if we beat Norwich and west brom it will show we have the right mind set as we are by far more superior, anything less will be disappointing !

I've sussed what's going on here, AVB, master tactician that he is, is going to play Holtby in Dembele's position, so he can be a striker. Genius.

Tongue-in-cheek, 82

82spursdebut, agreed. Siggy is utility, but I think that Hudd just needs to be moved on. He's had long enough to prove himself.

gyromancered, I don't know that there is not money to be spent. If we added Son, Holtby, Belhanda, Willian, Negredo or Hooper (just as an example) we would not really be in any issue with respect to wages. Sell Hudd, sell Gomes and there's 2 salaries off the books and 8M or so in cash. Jenas, Gallas and Bentley could all be off in the summer, so we'd have freed up sufficient to cover most of the salaries. If BAE extends, I can see Rose being sold. If Bale stays and we have Willian and Son along with Lennon, Townsend would be sold (or Pritchard gets snapped up by Liverpoool and we get our fee). If Son, Willian and Negrdo/Hooper are scoring it means that players like Defoe or Dempsey could be sold. The fact is, if we signed all 5 that I would like, th salaries will be a short term issue, but will not be an issue as of the summer. There will then be senior players who will be surplus to requirements and their sales would, on the back end, retroactively fund the deals I mention. TV deal will give 20M more to each EPL club next year. Spend it now spend it later. It will be spent. If we get top 4 and qualify for the group statges, that's another 20-30M. I reckon that the outlay of 45-50M (what I believe it would all cost) could be paid off in sales of surplus players plus the TV money, whether we make CL or not. Just my view. Son is a no brainer. If he succeeds it could be a huge boon for us and for UnderArmour in the South Korean communities. Hong Kong in the summer seems a pretty decent platform. COYS

Fanman, I like Hudd but he needs to be moved on. He needs to play every day, which won't happen with us. Sell him, put the money (along with whatever we can get for Gomes) towards Son. Next piece. COYS

"Total knobhead, if he hits the ground seeking a penalty, and he is good enough at it and gets em, that'll do for me, it's all about 3 points," Frank.

Oh Frank, Frank, Frank. Don't be such a literalist, mate. I just couldn't resist going after the expression "hitting the ground running." God, that would hurt.

gyromancered, ENIC have said that the other projects (training facilities, stadium etc) will not impact on spending. History under ENIC shows that net transfers will balance out and that salaries will be no more than 70% of revenues. We are not a selling club. We are a club that understands that we do not have the resources of ManU, Liverpool, Chelsea, City, Arsenal. But we can compete. There is a price for every player and Carrick, Berbatov, Keane and Modric were all sold for amounts north of our record transfer in amount. We buy most of our players from teams that are poorer situated than we are. So, does that not make us a buying club but for about 15 or 20 other European clubs that have higher revenues. It's all relative. The new stadium will help, but by how much? Will we get the corporate sponsors like Arsenal did? Will we get their level of a naming rights deal? Best success will be achieved through playing in Europe, succeeding in Cups and being in it for the title. Not for a couple of years, but for decades. That's how you surpass Arsenal and catch Liverpool. Eventually Chelsea and City will implode. They will come back to earth. We need to continue to progress. CL should be the only priority this season. COYS

fan'...sos'...i meant...matter of time for hudd' to be moved on. Ideally now...or asap.

Peterballb. I appreciate your reasoning and, as a fan, wish that something like that could happen. I just don’t think it will. Our net transfer spend in recent years has generally either been breaking even or turning over small profits, even when we made CL. The investments that have been made in the club in this time have generally been in infrastructure rather than playing staff. In the summer I expect most of the new TV money to be invested in the stadium. I expect Bale to sold with some money being invested in a striker and the rest invested in the stadium. Much as I’d love to think we’d start making a net investment in players again I simply don’t think we will - not out of any desire to be pessimistic but purely based on how the board have behaved in recent years. Even with the additional TV money I can’t see the club suddenly changing its mindset and investing a significant net spend on new players, especially as they’re about to embark on the most expensive infrastructure project in the club’s history. I anticipate that the board will continue to seek to at least break-even in transfers over the coming years and suspect they hope to turn over profits. They’ll invest in youth but don’t expect regular investment in established players. Would LOVE to be proved wrong on this.

jd.....now that's going down in size....i think !!..lol

Sounds like a fair assessment, gyro. Makes sense as a medium risk business model after years of being stung by bad decisions (fortunes for players and managers who didn't make the grade). I don't like it, though. There is the chance that AVB has decided to give Obika a chance to make the grade until Ade comes back. If that's the case, fair enough, we haven't seen enough players come thru. But, once again it seems a big risk and seems daft not to speculate on getting a proven player in when we're not such a long way off pushing for 3rd spot. I don't know if AVB is being backed enough, that's my main concern. As always, I'll be glad when this ******** windows over and we can get on with the football. COYS!

Fanman, I like Hudd's no nonsense style of play. he tackles, he gets fouls, he gets fouled, he just gets on with it. Yellow card, just gets on with it. He does what he can for the cause. Has played CB and looked pretty good doing so. No he's not fast, but he is, IMO, quick enough. When his touch is on he can be brilliant at corners and free kicks and when he catches the ball, there is no one who can hit it harder. He needs to play every day though and we cannot afford to allow him to work through his touch issues. He needs to go somewhere else and I expect he will, after a month or so in the lineup, start looking like the player he can be. He and Modric, neither of whom are fast or known as great tacklers, did a fantastic job closing down a porous centre of the park. His long passing with players like Bale and Lennon could be lethal. There are few who have demonstrated the long passing ability he has shown in the past. He is just not in form. He should go. I'll wish him every success except when he plays us. COYS

gyromancered, there will not be a net investment on players unless it is costed on a worst case scenario basis. And so it should be. My suggestion, even at a worst case scenario, does not leave us exposed in any way. Most of our players can be sold on the wages they are on. Those who can't will soon be out of contract. What I propose affects salaries for 6 months max. After that, it's covered. IMO, the risk, is worth it, in this instance. If the numbers need to be lower, get in Son, Castaignos, and Diame. There, under 20M and huge savings on salary. Get Townsend and Pritchard in save on the wingers. Or, go in for Dzagoev instead of Willian. Lots of options. The less expensive ones tend to come with more risk but I have no doubt that Son, Diame and Castaignos could do a job. COYS

I quote......Lewis Holtby article; "With his attributes – passing, vision, technique on the ball – Holtby slots nicely into the role Clint Dempsey has been playing so far this season. While the American has made a few telling contributions this year, he’s never looked natural in the role and struggles to effectively knit the attack and midfield. Holtby is infinitely more comfortable with the ball at his feet, and has a better appreciation of the game around him – and subsequently Tottenham should look a lot more fluid in that area. For the sake of flexibility, he could probably also swap positions with Mousa Dembele as needs must – or possibly drop-in alongside a more defensive-minded midfielder as part of a 4-4-2, but that advanced midfield role is probably where he’ll be at his best. Villas-Boas likes to have a player floating off the forward line, and Holtby is the guy for that job. If you haven’t seen him play before, then don’t just jump on YouTube and make a snap-judgement – he’s the kind of midfielder who you have to watch across 90 minutes to get a true sense of. He’s not really comparable in ability or nature to Luka Modric, but there are some similarities in the way he uses the ball – he’s a subtle and cultured footballer." .......So there you go, we have a Wunderkid ....cant wait to see him make his debut at West Brom, I might just get myself a ticket to the Hawthorns!

peterballb tells us... "CL should be the only priority this season." Easy to say that after we are out of both domestic cups to lower league sides right pete? So don't you fancy the Europa now pete? Changed your tune? But hang on a second, is that not what Harry told us all last season, that "CL should be the only priority this season"... And he got slaughtered on here by the Enic mob. A year on the president of the Canadian Enic fan club is copying Harry's exact words? Well almost Harry did not say "CL should be the only priority" like Pete, Harry said "CL should be the priority this season."Incredible! Well as we know Harry kept to his word last season, and delivered us that top 4 and official CL qualification spot as promised! But of course the cruel hand of bad Enic karma hit our club again... Food poisoning, Mendes from the half way line, CFC win the CL whilst coming in 6 and Harry becomes the 1st coach in the history of European football that does not go into the CL after qualifying. We don't get much luck with this Enic mob around. But anyway... Peter has informed us that we have a better team/squad than last season, so AVB should have no problems getting us top four! Unless of course, the curse of Enic strikes again? What do you reckon Pete???

Looking forward to seeing what we can do. There's no way that we've signed him simply for the purposes of settling in. There's no change in climate for him, he's half English and plays in a relatively similar league. He's been signed to play, no doubt about it. Still need a striker though and as much as Villas Boas has talked about being able to cope with the ones we have, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be disappointed in Adebayor so far and Defoe cannot be relied on for consistency. He has hot streaks but once his form dips he finds it difficult to hit another purple patch in the same season. I also realise that Adebayor has been playing perhaps slightly deeper, but he's just not been with it at all. He's only had 23 shots at goal in 14 appearances. He's not going to score a lot shooting one and a half times a game!

Crissybwoy, of course we have needed a lock picker and hopefully Holtby is that player, he is a good signing, but once you pick the lock, we have no one to turn the door handle, it's no good signing Laurel unless you sign Hardy as well, it is both that are equally required, we should now create more chances in tight games, but who is going to finish them. Don't forget Defoe is apparently injured and has been playing through pain for several games, Adebayor, if his performances for Togo are anything to go by, yes I know he scored, but his general enthusiasm and energy suggests he is still just going through the motions, as he has all season, so he is not the answer, a new striker is desperately needed. Surely Levy has noticed that we have dropped 10 points with WBA, Norwich, Stoke and Man U all at home, and QPR away, all games where we had overwhelmingly more possession, and shots, than the opposition, but could only draw. A decent finisher would have certainly given us a better chance of turning those draws into wins.

Huddlestone was brilliant in Martin Jol's era because we relied on getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible. We played a skilful long ball game if you like. Under AVB we seem to be missing someone with a decent head on their shoulders to slot a ball through in tight areas. From what I've seen of Holtby, he seems to know what to do with the ball before it's even passed to him. He thinks two steps ahead and for me, all we need now is an intelligent runner off the ball who can have that telepathy going on. For me Defoe's movement isn't particularly great and Adebayor's is non-existent. Someone like Falcao would obviously be ideal but impossible as he's one of the best in world football, but thinking along those lines, how about Roberto Soldado? He seems to have slipped under the radar somewhat, perhaps in an Antonio di Natale fashion. Valencia are completely cash strapped at the minute, so it's surely worth an effort.

i beleive he is part of the jigsaw... Just one more to go..


..................THE STRIKER - NEGREDO..................
..........................................................................
....BALE................HOLTBY...................LENNON....
..........................................................................
............DEMBELE.................PARKER...................
.........................................................................
...BAE.........VERTS..........KABS/CAULK....WALKER..
...........................................................................
.............................LLORIS..................................

Re:Hudd...used to love the guy. But his great passing a la Hoddle has gone.His shooting has also gone.He is slower and was a liability yesterday when he had a chance t prove his worth.Someone has mentioned Carroll and ObikaNeither are good enough.Carroll is very pretty but so lightweight and is a sideways passer (Vinny Samways clone).Also he never scores.Obika had a great chance like Hudd to step up yesterday but sadly he was anonymous and fluffed his one attept on goal.Siggy is a bench player and is yet to score and show he can even score.Dempsey has improved but despite his well taken goal yesterday he is not a front man.We had no one striking yesterday.Defoe is hot and cold but I'm sure we would have won with him.Their defence had a holiday yesterday and thier young full back was not pressurised with Bale and Lennon trying their silly swaps.So that leaves us with the much needed striker.....surely there is someone out there.Just watch the groans if we pick up a last minute freebie/cast off! How old is Gregor Rasiak now?

The gullibility of those relying on Levy or ENIC to do anything of note in yet another dull transfer window is becoming tedious. To ignore the necessity for a striker borders on the insane if there is to be any hope of Champions League football, and a 4th place open-top bus parade down the High Road.

Aspas, Castaignos could both be had for less than 8M. Son probably for about 10M. There's three strikers for under 20M all of whom are young. I could tolerate them going 1 in 8 with over 30 shots much more than watching out 30 year olds do so. COYS

wentworth, I'd rather have Krancjar than Siggy. Harry just ostracized him, and he brought him to the club, he did the same thing with Pienaar. I remember his great performance when we beat City 3-0 at WHL. He was Ginola esque. Siggy is very raw, and has time to develop, but I don't think that he'll ever be as good as Krancjar. Just my opinion though.

Anyway, with the wages he's on we better develop Siggy, he's not going anywhere!

Holtby has been brought in early because of Sandro Levy hand was forced.

If we don't get a striker than that will be criminal after last season and the fact that we haven't had that prolific striker for some time now.

Most problematic is moving Gomes, JJ, Hudd, Bentley on. JJ is injured so doubt we will move him on now until summer. Bentley too much wages and Hudd may be kept as he is probably not on high wages and AVB may feel it is best to keep his as emergency especially with Dembele hip and Parker's age but expect Livermore to go out on loan.

Wouldn't take much notice of what AVB says or any manager as they all play their cards close to their chest or talk a load of rubbish it is part and parcel of the transfer window. we have to just wait until it is over to know the facts.

welcome lewis hope your not the last signing of the window

Am I the only one sick of all this "ENIC mob" crapola? Can Pelebro please confirm whether he does or doesn't like Levy/ENIC, because I'm not sure where he stands on this.

Good grief. Enough.

pelebro, your contributions are as always as eloquent as they are erudite, what a veritable treasure you are to this forum

wentworth, agreed. Harry messed up with him.

Hopefully he'll just slot in straight away...won't give him time to get nervous....perhaps better when they are young...

Ive hear that Tottenham may visit for a game in NZ in July I hope its true it will get huge profile here and there are plenty of Spurs fans here as welland being played possibly in Wellington the weather wont feel any different to home for the players I hope it happens.

Glad to have him in now, hopefully he will make a positive impact. We badly need that striker though. At the moment we are like a dairy farm with no cows. Nice comments by Gyromancered earlier, agree with a lot of that.

Guernman, yes I am so eloquent that I had to look up the words erudite, veritable on the old thesaurus to find out what they mean... ;) And to my great surprise one of the synonyms for veritable is kosher! Is that why every one calls Spurs the yids?

julian draxler was the player from schalke who we should have targeted,not holtby. to be honest i ave been following this kid ever since the hoo hah about him choosing germ over eng,cant say i ve been that impressed,which leads me to believe its a cash making scheme,i hope to god i m proved wrong

We just need to be careful with Hudd. We've been here before where we have what we think is a good player. After a while they're out of the side and next comes the derisory offer from another club which we turn down. After that comes the loan to try and get them back in the spotlight which normally ends in tears when they get injured and head back to Spurs. Finally, they have devalued so much that they can no longer get a move as the teams at their level can't afford the salary. I'm not sure it will be easy to shift Hudd if we make that decision. As a luxury player, most struggling clubs in the Prem will avoid and the top clubs won't want him.

i think peterball works in some sort of capacity for enic

I have no financial interest in the club whatsoever. I am not a shareholder. COYS

Listening to the start of 5 live they were about to discuss the effect a mid season transfer can have on the dressing room. They are apparently now looking at a players psychological make up before signing them. It made me wonder why they didn't do that with Ade. many on here realised his potential to drop off when in post and getting his salary. I hope Holtby will be a good addition to the dressing room!!!

Based on figures recently discussed during a Sky live game transmission, Everton are £47M in debt. Their owner Bill Kenwright, to his eternal credit, does his best to back David Moyes as well as he can, with his personal funds bearing no comparison whatsoever to the billionaire owners around him (including Bahamas Joe). Luckily for Everton he is a fan, he cares, and much like Coates at Stoke City, and Ashley at Newcastle, he is not adverse to investing his own money attempting to keep his team competitive, and backing his manager.

spu4life, I have to agree with you that a striker is on the way. There is no point bringing in Holtby if this were not the case. He is ideal as the player behind a striker in a 4-5-1, essentially a VDV replacement. If it is just to be to play behind the pelvically injured Defoe, I, see no purpose in him coming in now. VDV, Berba, Keane, Crouch, Pav, Bent, Dempsey, Ade all have issues linking up with Defoe. He rarely plays on the shoulder of the last defender any longer so I just don't see it. Perhaps behind Dempsey (less than ideal, but at least he can work with a partner).

ghulam, I too like Draxler, though Holtby is leading the league in assists. He is inconsistent, but that's what you get from kids. Draxler usually looks a cut above. Sometimes he looks pretty poor. Of the two, at this time, Holtby is the one who will have more of an impact in our squad. COYS

Peterbalb, you say that today's £8.5M spend represents little risk and is a small gamble for Everton, even given their £47M debt, and only a moderately well off owner, and yet you seem to believe with others, that us signing a striker whether it be for £10M, £10, or 10p, is likely to put us in grave danger of bankruptcy, how does that work, or do they operate to different fiscal rules than us. Don't ask me to believe that Fellaini, Jagielka, Baines, Heitinga, Jelovic, Osman, this new Dutch guy, and Pienaar play for pea-nuts, because I don't believe it, or why are they all still there.

gyromancered- ffs THFC was on the verge of going t*ts up until alan sugar saved the club with his own money. get your facts straight.why do you think he is so welcome at white hart lane.

Holtby looks sharp and is yet another leader on the pitch making him a welcome addition to Spurs. Good news. Well done for signing him.

topspur53, no one would doubt Sugar's financial investment in the club. I think if there had been forums, such as this one though, I suspect he would have taken it on the chin quite a bit for what he did, and didn't do, as chairman. You are right though, his investment bought Spurs time and in that sense probably saved them. I am pretty sure that he did ok at the end when he sold his shares to ENIC. COYS

they should put him on diet of tesco burgers, he might break into a canter instead of a trot.

glad to see the new signing made you happy Lodjohnny...Spu4 i think it was his middle ankle

good stuff. but why is everyone assuming he'll play behind the striker?? fu(k that. I'm hoping AVB plays him as 1 of the 2 centre mids... he'll be one of the options along with Dembele, Parker, Huddlestone & Carroll for those 2 central slots. Livermore will likely be loaned out now. (And he was brought in early after the Sandro injury, like someone's already mentioned).

lloris, friedel............................................................................ .............................................................................................. naughton, walker.......... [kaboul], vertonghen, dawson, caulker, gallas.......... AE, fryers............................................................. .............................................................................................. dembele, [sandro], parker, holtby, huddlestone, carrol................. .............................................................................................. lennon.......... dempsey, siggy.......... bale, townsend.......... (willian/ other as attacking option, left, right or middle)...................................................................................... .................................................................................................(negredo/...), ade, defoe

ledders you want to play 442?

what do u think?

I read something about Spurs chasing Villa´s Benteke. Smoke screen or real deal ??

Rumour mills churning...1st choice -Damaio, 2nd choice- Negredo. Probably end up with nothing. It's going to be a hard 3 days :-(

I have a feeling we might be in a last minute buy for ODEMWINGIE..

Like when we were just about to get MOUTS and ended up with DEMPS.

Haven't seen alot of strikers mentioned here but have seen Negredo he is not a upgrade (i'd say he's worse) would be disappointing with his signing on big money. His finishing is not good he misses alot put it this way when he played for spain with all that service he looked worse than washed uo torres in the summer

spot on- negredo has been hawked around europe, this would be a fairly cheap panic buy..AVB must have his own idea of who he wants.i dont think we will sign anybody

I see the last minute £20 mill for Damiao rumours have started....of course he is going to sign for us, how could it possibly go wrong?

Yidmarks, you Know Sanchez hasn't scored a goal since April, I actually rate Sanchez, but he's not a out and out striker, more of an attacking wide midfielder, and Im pretty sure we can't afford his wages.

As for Holtby think in time he will prove to be a good signing, but I don't think this season he will be the difference between finishing 4th, 5th or 6th.