Martin Lol

I put Spurs slightly ahead of Pompey now. I agree, Spurs are doing very well, I just think traditional "big" clubs like Newcastle, Villa and Everton seem to be stood around doing bugger all, sneering at Redknapp, whilst he puts together a pretty impressive set up. Mmmmmmm not sure about spurs. there main problem for the last few years has been lack of strength,physically,defensivly and i don't see that being remidied. i can see sours going 4-2-3-1 next season but i have no idea who their vital "2" will be. Veloso and/or Albelda are the two high up in the list of options, though wanting them and getting them are two totally different things. That said, with our dealings in this window, I'm reluctant to discount anybody as pie in the sky wishful thinking. See my previous post MJ. Who sits on the bench if a DM is indeed brought in though? The popular guess for the team is Gomes Hutton - King/backup - Woodgate - Bale Veloso/Albelda - Zokora/Jenas Bentley - Modric - Dos Santos Arshavin Villa/Bent/Milito The Lennons/Gilbertos/back up CB's will get a good degree of action, I've no doubt about that, varying on whether we're home or away, the ability of the opposition etc. The most noticeable thing about the pre-season matches so far is the flexibility of the players as they interchange with positions, Bale operating as an attacking LM, Modric sometimes dropping back to holding MF etc etc. Of course it's easy to go over the top about it when you're playing Orient and Norwich but style of play seems to be in place and there are more players to follow. The one thing that is obvious is that Ramos has a clear vision of how he wants his team to play, who he needs to achieve it and Levy (providing the money) and Comolli (convincing the players) are doing the business for Ramos. How's it paid for? Well, nothing is cheap at Spurs, boxes, ST's, etc, £70m+ for Berbatov (when he goes), Keane, the Sunderland 3 and Kaboul, the strict salary structure, they're all contributing to the availability of funds. There's no doubt in my mind that the overdraft will increase but the ITK's are agreed that our accounts won't be showing any worse than any other club. All spurs ITKs are agreed that you're going to be playing 12 in a team this year? Surely that wouldn't be allowed :lol: 12 on the field does help!! I copied/pasted that from a Spurs forum, no one's said a bloody word for the past couple of hours! OK, I accept it there will be problems in fitting them all in!

As I said before, there isn't 1 ITK who is saying that we are in any way linked with Coloccini, they weren't then and they aren't now. The only possible hint that this could happen is that no ITK called Modric, one that was right under the radar and it was only the Sun that went with the story. Exactly the same scenario applies to Coloccini.

I put Spurs slightly ahead of Pompey now. I agree, Spurs are doing very well, I just think traditional "big" clubs like Newcastle, Villa and Everton seem to be stood around doing bugger all, sneering at Redknapp, whilst he puts together a pretty impressive set up. Mmmmmmm not sure about spurs. there main problem for the last few years has been lack of strength,physically,defensivly and i don't see that being remidied. i can see sours going 4-2-3-1 next season but i have no idea who their vital "2" will be. Veloso and/or Albelda are the two high up in the list of options, though wanting them and getting them are two totally different things. That said, with our dealings in this window, I'm reluctant to discount anybody as pie in the sky wishful thinking. See my previous post MJ. Who sits on the bench if a DM is indeed brought in though? The popular guess for the team is Gomes Hutton - King/backup - Woodgate - Bale Veloso/Albelda - Zokora/Jenas Bentley - Modric - Dos Santos Arshavin Villa/Bent/Milito The Lennons/Gilbertos/back up CB's will get a good degree of action, I've no doubt about that, varying on whether we're home or away, the ability of the opposition etc. The most noticeable thing about the pre-season matches so far is the flexibility of the players as they interchange with positions, Bale operating as an attacking LM, Modric sometimes dropping back to holding MF etc etc. Of course it's easy to go over the top about it when you're playing Orient and Norwich but style of play seems to be in place and there are more players to follow. The one thing that is obvious is that Ramos has a clear vision of how he wants his team to play, who he needs to achieve it and Levy (providing the money) and Comolli (convincing the players) are doing the business for Ramos. How's it paid for? Well, nothing is cheap at Spurs, boxes, ST's, etc, £70m+ for Berbatov (when he goes), Keane, the Sunderland 3 and Kaboul, the strict salary structure, they're all contributing to the availability of funds. There's no doubt in my mind that the overdraft will increase but the ITK's are agreed that our accounts won't be showing any worse than any other club.

I put Spurs slightly ahead of Pompey now. I agree, Spurs are doing very well, I just think traditional "big" clubs like Newcastle, Villa and Everton seem to be stood around doing bugger all, sneering at Redknapp, whilst he puts together a pretty impressive set up. Mmmmmmm not sure about spurs. there main problem for the last few years has been lack of strength,physically,defensivly and i don't see that being remidied. i can see sours going 4-2-3-1 next season but i have no idea who their vital "2" will be. Veloso and/or Albelda are the two high up in the list of options, though wanting them and getting them are two totally different things. That said, with our dealings in this window, I'm reluctant to discount anybody as pie in the sky wishful thinking.

There's no lack of funds to complete Arshavin's signing, it's simply Levy being Levy and haggling about the price. That said, Levy has laid the law down on wages being paid to players that really aren't regular options for the bench, let alone starting for the team. That's why there has been this clearout of the deadwood. The only exception to that is Steed, Ramos would have kept him but the offer from Sunderland was too good to refuse, so it was left to the player to decide what he wanted. It's being said that Ramos isn't convinced that for the money (£15m) Pavlyuchenko offers much, if any, more than Bent provides. He certainly was on the list of options, but it's fair to assume that Villa and Milito are ahead of him.

His agent sounded optimistic enough. ITK's reckon there should be 4 more still to come in in the next couple of weeks. Arshavin, DM and CB maybe, the vacant #7 shirt has got some imaginations running riot tbh.

Will you give me 5 grand if he doesn't? Will you give me 5 grand if he does? No because I have no information on whether he will or not apart from you, but when you say definately, if it is definate, you would be happy to offer me the 5 grand as you would know it is 100% nailed on. Pity the Gambling Gorilla didn't want to bet.....................

You're effectivly giving away the transfer fee (something i doubt Blackburn wanted). What % did you lot have on the deal? 40% If my maths is correct, which it usually isn't then that's 12million. Doesn't seem an awful lot compared to Keane going for 20.3 mill. The fee is £15m. There are small add-ons also. Arse get 40% of the profit, not the full transfer fee. Blackburn bought for £3m. Also being said that Bentley will be getting the #5 shirt, the #7 shirt is reserved for someone else. Arshavin had the #10 shirt. Hmmm................................. Don't know for certain, just what I've been told.

Will you give me 5 grand if he doesn't? Will you give me 5 grand if he does? No because I have no information on whether he will or not apart from you, but when you say definately, if it is definate, you would be happy to offer me the 5 grand as you would know it is 100% nailed on. His agent has passed on the message (not to me) that Bentley will definitely sign today. That's good enough for me. I will take that as acceptance of our agreement. It's your agreement, not "ours".

Marca is saying that Van Der Vaart will join Real next week.

Will you give me 5 grand if he doesn't? Will you give me 5 grand if he does? No because I have no information on whether he will or not apart from you, but when you say definately, if it is definate, you would be happy to offer me the 5 grand as you would know it is 100% nailed on. His agent has passed on the message (not to me) that Bentley will definitely sign today. That's good enough for me.

Will you give me 5 grand if he doesn't? Will you give me 5 grand if he does?

Kaboul to Sunderland today. Obvious that 'Arry wouldn't match Keane's bid otherwise he would have gone there for sure.. Edit: It was the earthquake in LA yesterday that was the deciding factor.......................

Bentley signs today. Definitely.

There's a lot of teams spending sizeable chunks of money to ensure premiership survival. The 3 teams that came up look near certainties to go straight back down again.

I heard a whisper that ManU have given Spurs until Friday and then they will walk away. I'd heard much the same, up to the end of July then walk away. Gone by the weekend is what I've heard today. There's no way Levy will accept £20m for him which is all Utd have offered so far.

Sounds like Man Utd and Spurs are talking again, maybe the Keane settlement has shown Utd the way forward. Berbatov gone for £28m before the weekend is being widely rumoured. Shame that Barca wouldn't increase their bid.

I think I'm right in saying that in his years at Spurs Keane always got double figures in the league but never exceeded 16. Very respectable consistency (especially when taking the assists into account) but not quite top draw. Yes, he had his strops and arm waving, but he offered a lot more than say Defoe, who is a much better finisher but with not a lot else to his game. I'm sure keane will get a warm welcome when he comes back with Liverpool, he went about his move in a manner not dissimilar to Carrick.

ITK's saying there probably (not possibly) will be multiple signings announced late today. Arshavin, Bentley and Milito is my guess.

Its as much as 50% on some young lads who got let go. Sounds about right the 25% does! ba ha ha, spurs massively overpaying for a player arsenal bagged and a large chunk of the fee going back to them!! you couldn't write it The rumoured fee is £15m with add-ons to a max of £16.5m. I would have been happy with any fee less than £14m, so if the rumour is correct we've overpaid a bit but not massively imo. But as I thought Keane was worth around £14m as well, I think we've got the overpayment back. Just sad that some of the money will find its way to the Arse. With the problems redeveloping the old site due to the credit crunch they are being more frugal than normal.

Looking ever more likely that Spurs will opt out with Bentley. Blackburn won't drop the price, Levy won't go that high.

ITK's reporting Arshavin agreed subject to medical

Reports: Spurs fail in Burdisso bid -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are reports in the Italian Press that Inter have rejected a bid from Tottenham for Argentine defender Nicolas Burdisso. It has been suggested that the arrival of new Coach Jose Mourinho could spell the end for Burdisso. The stopper is set to receive a peripheral role in the coming season and had been linked with a move to Fiorentina. While the Viola weren’t able to meet Burdisso’s wage demands, Mourinho’s statement that there are too many defenders at the club could mean that the 27-year-old’s days at San Siro are numbered. Newcastle United had been seen as the favourites to lure Burdisso, but there are now whispers that Spurs have seen a £4m bid rebuffed. Ironically, Burdisso was the first man to score in the Mourinho era after he popped up to head home a Mario Balotelli cross in Inter’s opening friendly against Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal. http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul28n.html

Not a clue!

Plus £2m for the Foundation I'm hearing....................... who will replace him? Arshavin odds on. Veloso very much on the radar as well (a DM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) May explain why there is some belief that Berbatov may not so keen to move on. plus Milito and Bentley still expected sometime soon.