Sell:
Rojo - £15m
Jones - £10m
Bailly- 25m
Total = £50m
Buy
Toby - £25m
Koulibally- £100m
or
Skinaar - £90m
Net: £75/£65m
I want to see 3 CBs. Highly unlikely, but it's a major problem area for us.
25m for Toby would be a no brainer. I'd also go back for Maguire and see whats they want. Bringing in two very good Premier league proven defenders would be very good business.
They'd be my first choice starters. I'd then want to bring in one of the best young CBs in football right now, give him a couple of years of bedding in. Whether thats De Ligt, that Eder chap or somebody else.
Rojo, Jones and Bailly need to go for me.
Was a big fan of Bailly, but in all honesty, he's just so rash, a liability. Rojo was never good enough and Jones, well Jones...Still only 26. It's him we should be keeping over Smalling, but it's really just not worked out for him.
I'm not even sure Smalling is all that, but if he was down the pecking order, he'd be good back up, if he was willing to accept that role.
Lindelof has earned another year for me. He's improving
Smalling is probably our best central defender. Chosen by Sir Alex, I think his problem might be that he often has to partner inferior defenders alongside him. Occasionally responsible for conceding a goal but which defender doesn't?
Historically, our best defenders have all been from our own leagues but there have been exceptions. Johnson, Berg and Stam were great for United but I think this is so because they came from leagues who had a similar style of play to England.
Would be a fantastic signing if we can convince him to join us.
Players outside of the PL can never be counted on as instant fixes.
It's hard enough to acclimatise to a new team. Acclimatising to a new league makes the process massively more unpredictable.
If we want to pay the January premium, it better be for a player we know will slot in straight away. Otherwise, it's better to wait till the Summer.
To me, the talk of Koulibaly being the ‘instant fix’ is wishful thinking - have we not learned that big name players from other leagues can be made to look ordinary in the PL?
I would MUCH rather spend the money on Maguire. With OGS we are getting back to the Utd we know and love and having a core of the best British players was something Sir Alex always made sure we had. Maguire is also a LCB, great in the air, good on the ball and a leader - he’s literally the perfect fit.
I’d look at him and Alderweireld in January or the summer as the pair to come in and I’d sell Rojo, Jones and Bailly, leaving us with Lindelof, Maguire, Toby and Smalling with cover from Axel Tuenzebe.
Yes. The more I think about Alderweireld, the more I think he'd be a very bad signing unless we are going to sign two. He would just be an upgrade on Lindelof. Our problems at central defence will still persist, and we'd struggle to find a partnership.Alderweireld seems like the last type of CB we’d need with Lindelöf and Tuanzebe coming through who are similar players. I think even at a discount that any money we spent on him would be counter-productive.
Anyone got an opinion(watched him regularly) on Ake?
From the few games i have seen him he is fairly decent in the air despite not being a tower. Good on the ball, 1v1, calm, "proven in the league" etc.
Around £40m would be enough.
Would suit the way we are playing now, given that we are not trying to defend from crosses/parking the bus anymore.
Lindelof is our best centre half, wouldn't make any sense.Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
Why would they want a much inferior CB to replace their best CB ?Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
I wouldn't make that swapWould Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
Sell:
Rojo - £15m
Jones - £10m
Bailly- 25m
Total = £50m
Buy
Toby - £25m
Koulibally- £100m
or
Skinaar - £90m
Net: £75/£65m
Ake looks quality. I’d take him at £40 million but I suspect Bournemouth would hold out for at least £50 million. It’s near impossible to take players from premier league clubs now for vaguely reasonable prices unless they force a move.
Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
Swaps rarely happen, but if they did I would'nt offer Linderlöf, they can have Jones or Rojo.
Spurs seriously needs to look at their homegrown-quota this summer. There is a reason that they are mainly linked to English players. Jones is cheap and as the original poster suggested would fit in wage-wise.Why would they want any of them?
Sell:
Rojo 90k per week
Jones 50k per week
Bailly 85k per week
Buy
Toby 250k per week
Koulibaly 175k per week
Tuanzabe back in 50k per week.
Net: MINUS 350k per week = 17-18m added to our wagebill yearly.
Its not possible and I dont get why people are still going on about transfer fees and netspend when it is bordering to irrelevant. Its all about the wages.
Why would they want any of them?
I agree. Our wage bill - as inflated as it already is - needs to be able to absorb other acquisitions this summer as well. Not only extensions for DDG and Martial. One CB is needed and realistic, not more. I would let Rojo go and be done with it if we could get Koulibaly in and take Tuanzebe back into the squad. The rest of the wagebill needs to be allocated elsewhere.With some of the long/big contracts we have and will hopefully sign soon(DDG and Martial), yes it is to a large degree dependent on wages.
I don't know the size of the contract Smalling is given, but reckon around £100k per week(was £80k) untill 2022+1 year.
With the way we are playing out from the back and hopefully continue to do, having Jones on a cheap contract as a backup player is not a bad thing. If we continue to play this way, i would rather have him at CB than Smalling, who is not the best player on the ball.
Smalling was also our best centre half under van gaal, with possession based football so think this downer on Smalling is harsh. I've always thought he's better on the ball than Jones away.With the team now playing out of defense using Smalling is a problem. Under Mourinho one of the midfielders dropped deep almost everytime to help pass the ball. With Lindelof and Jones this is not necassary as they are capable passers, which Smalling is not.
Under Mourinho and the way we played Smalling was our best/most usefull central defender, but the way we are playing now he would not be as effective.
I don't think they would mate, I was just pointing out that we have players that need replacing before Linderlöf.
As we stand, and it's sad to say, Smalling is probably still our best CB, then Linderlöf, Bailly, Jones and Rojo in that order.
Spurs seriously needs to look at their homegrown-quota this summer. There is a reason that they are mainly linked to English players. Jones is cheap and as the original poster suggested would fit in wage-wise.
I agree. Our wage bill - as inflated as it already is - needs to be able to absorb other acquisitions this summer as well. Not only extensions for DDG and Martial. One CB is needed and realistic, not more. I would let Rojo go and be done with it if we could get Koulibaly in and take Tuanzebe back into the squad. The rest of the wagebill needs to be allocated elsewhere.
We cant just sell our lowest earners and replace them with high earners. Especially not in one window.
Smalling was also our best centre half under van gaal, with possession based football so think this downer on Smalling is harsh. I've always thought he's better on the ball than Jones away.
All of those four have one thing in common though: Not homegrown. Spurs has a major problem with this. I agree and am sure they would happily recruit another CB of higher quality than someone like Jones from abroad. But they really cant.Spurs defense is the main area they can still improve compared to City and Liverpool. They have Toby and Vertonghen as first choice and then Sanchez who I'm sure they rate higher than Lindelof. They have Foyth who is young but seems well thought of. So I'm sure they'll be looking to improve on that pool, rather than replacing one of their 2 best CBs with Jones or someone like that.
