Age profile for Alaba would suit too surely? Would give Williams, Van den Berg, Koumetio and Nat Phillips a few more years to develop. Anything I read about our young CB's seems to indicate there futures for at least 2 of them at the club. (Granted the club are unlikely to come out and say theyre shite and will never make it) If thats the case, then it makes sense to try grab an Alaba or Koulibally to fill the gap for a year or two (again Koulibally would be an expensive stop gap, but him and VVD is the stuff dreams are make of) rather than say Upemecano who seems to be flavor of the month. Carra seems to think Upemecano was top of our shopping list next summer and it may be moved up to the winter window
Personally don’t rate Koulibally that highly , easier to turn the titanic than him Also think Konate is better than his team mate Upamencano , but Konate had a injury plague season last year
Upamecano shown jogging back slower than a snail after 50 mins v Utd tonight in the highlights on Virgin Media. Game was only 1-0. Massive lack of effort from him.
Konate defo a better player imo Remember watching Keita at Lepzig and Konate stood out Injured last season for a long spell though
If we weren't so well stocked in the area I think Dele Ali would be a brilliant signing. He was taken off at half time tonight and only started one game in the last 5. It's very clear Mourinho isn't a fan and would gladly let him go if a fair bid came in. He has been off the boil now for the last few years and I think Klopp would be the perfect manager to get the best out of him but couldbt see it happening unfortunately.
One my best friends huge spurs fan, reckons there alot of off field issues with him. Basically hanging around with wrong people
Imo as a club we've moved well beyond the point where we should be looking at players who have lost their way in their careers. The way we identify players who are doing well at mid level clubs,take that potential and momentum and guide them onto the same level or even better than Ali was at his best, it wouldn't make much sense to me to instead try to fix Dele Ali.
I'd still have a soft spot for having the odd lunatic knocking about the club that you're kind of on eggshells with permanently but you know what you get on the pitch is worth the hassle in the long run. Del Ali absolutely is not that guy for me but another Suarez would be great.
In pure fantasy football terms I'd say if there was one player in the premier league I would love to see in a Klopp team it would be Son, but someone would always have to lose out to incorporate him in the team. Just think he is a real Klopp player. Thought there was a chance 2 years ago but his profile is too high now.
I'd be all over Alli, fantastic footballer. A world class footballer at half price is not to be sniffed at. If its just a case of confidence then its a no brianer, if its something more fundamental then we won't be anywhere near it. Son is great but not suited to our game now, 3 years ago definitely but not now, he's pure counter attack. I'm sure he puts himself about enough to win the ball back. He would be an upgrade on Jota but way below Sadio and Mo. Jota will probably get beyond his level, he looks perfect for us.
The way I see it most of us would have taken the current version of Ali over the versions of Firmino,Mane and Salah we signed. Revisionism might kick in for some but I think I'm right when I say that. We'd have been wrong. Jota to me looks like he could go the same way as those players. Going away from that strategy to sign a player that hasn't looked anywhere near good enough for us for most of the last 3 seasons just doesn't make sense to me. There's always exceptions in football but I'd be very surprised if we couldn't identify options that have more chance of being successful with less financial risk,than Ali.
I don't disagree Mick but we have still dipped into the "value" market with Minamino and Shaqiri. We wouldn't have bought either at full market value, I'm certain of that. Longterm replacing Sadio and Mo will be easier than Bobby even though they are better players. Alli has all the attributes to be moulded into Bobby's replacement. The main obstacle of Levy's famous negotiating is being eroded every time Jose opens his mouth. Calling him out as shit every 20 minutes doesn't help his confidence or value. I dont think it will happen but the fact he was on the radar previously under Edwards means I wouldn't be surprised.
I see what you're saying Bob and I know we're only talking hypothetically about a situation that may never arise, but even with his value falling off a cliff,he's still one of Spurs highest earners. A modest fee of say 25m,5 or 6m a year in wages over 4 years,signing on fee and agents fee,and you're looking at a commitment of well over 50m. Minamino and Shaqiri were 12m and 13m below what could be a conservative estimate of Ali's fee to begin with,and they'd both be on wages that wouldn't be too much of an issue if we decided to move them on. We'd probably make a profit on Minamino if we let him go next summer and pre covid we'd have easily gotten our money back on Shaqiri. Say Ali comes in and after 2 seasons its not working out. You've a lad that's now gone 5 seasons without showing the type of form consistently that got him his reputation and a wage that's going to make it less likely teams are willing to take a chance on him. I just think he falls down on the risk/reward score in a way hardly any of our signings do mate.
I would have thought the price would be a lot closer to 50m, he was probably worth 90m 2 years ago. However I don't think the conversation gets anywhere near that far along if they think he's a gamble. They will have all the data to tell them if its something more than just a loss of form and confidence or alternatively something that says we could use this guy. He is an unusual footballer, he's a player with tonnes of ability but no position. I could see him learning the Bobby role to perfection.
Oh yeah,if we did go in for him then I'd immediately start looking at it from a different perspective,kind of along the lines of Oxlaide Chamberlain in that he's been doing a lot of the things all along that we're looking for and that will make it much less of a risk for us in terms of his performance levels. Apparently Chamberlains transitioning ability was a big factor in us signing him,and I wasn't even sure what that was so of course Ali could be bringing plenty to the table even during his poor form for Spurs that I'm not seeing and our staff can. That might come across as blind faith in our recruiting team,but I can't give a player credit for something I can't see,but I'm also not going to ignore when of the best recruiting team in world footballs opinions.
Agreed...i had initially hoped we would buy Bale when he was at Southampton & again when his spurs form was brutal for a season or two, but we didnt & he began to fulfill his obvious potential when 'Arry took over... The right manager aka Klopp, could bring Ali back to his old self....maureen would try to screw us somehow