leffe186

Going to be fascinating to see how you square that circle. I think Spurs did it about the best way possible, building a completely new stadium on the same site. Arsenal didn’t move far but had a ready-made plot of land with good transport links available. West Ham and Man City got lucky in being helped out handily by the taxpayer, although they both had to move. I think Man City’s success softened the blow enormously while West Ham still seem a bit pissed off they’re not at Upton Park.

Ah right then I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying KI was wrong to say that prices would go up, rather than him being wrong to say that fans were unwittingly asking for it.

Fair enough . I just thought Joey probably had his reasons, just like Kante did.

Yeah, you’re right in that being bankrolled by Saudi Arabia gives you more flexibility - that’s why I qualified it. You know that FFP doesn’t exist any more though, don’t you? We’re still waiting to see how the new regulations - which IIRC include infrastructure - will impact stadium developments. Not just that, but I presume the same restrictions on increasing SJP will still apply. Then you look at the other team bankrolled by a country…who lest we forget were essentially gifted a stadium in very similar circumstances to West Ham. This is from 2019: https://www.givemesport.com/1479353-manchester-city-have-increased-season-ticket-prices-in-10-out-of-the-last-11-years/amp Why exactly do you think prices won’t go up significantly?

It kinda is tbh. Although the one big advantage you have is that with the Saudis underwriting things you might be able to keep prices down a bit. Spurs essentially need to charge high prices to pay for the stadium. West Ham need to charge high prices because they need to pay for the stadi oh hang on. If you’re moving up “to the next level” you can expect prices to go up too.

I don’t think he’s obsessed

Yeah, I’m probably more annoyed about the stadium stuff…and the fact that they apparently have a 1966 area

Worth Giggsing this up tbh.

Think general opinion is: 1. Not good enough for where Spurs are/want to be. 2. Good but not quite right for Conte/the Premier League. 3. Ditto. 4. A waste of talent and talent aside, essentially the anti-Conte-player.

Arsenal actually are the new Spurs

Dunno man, I mean, he’s 24, playing for the Netherlands (and scoring) and with bags of potential. I’d have been annoyed if we’d sold him for much less. Would have been happy to keep him tbh.

We’re going to be in England this month. Are tickets generally available?

I mean, isn’t there some projected income between 2050 and 2060 that you can sell?

Supposedly not us. I’d quite like this site to stay operational though so speculation would be bad

No.

You’re going to have to offer them a lot more than that.

See also Arsenal.

That’s kinda my point though - of all that money spent, they weren’t the star performers in the team. They were just good enough (well, Havertz and Werner - Mount was the third starting forward in the final) to get the job done in a CL win that was very much a squad achievement. Which of those players would you consider “great”?

I think this is what’s changed now, in general I mean. I had a quick look at Chelsea’s forwards on Wiki last year - Lukaku 98M, Pulisic 58M, Werner 48M, Ziyech 37M, Havertz 72M. All signed over the last couple of years. Arguably all have been…not great…and you could even say none have been guaranteed starters. That’s a bit of an extreme example, but it does feel like if you want to challenge at that level then that’s the going rate for a rotational forward. It’s nuts, but here we are I guess.

I disagree to an extent because the World Cup in the middle really puts the cat among the pigeons. We really don’t know what the impact will end up being and I can see bad luck with injuries completely screwing over one or two top sides.

Agree with you on West Ham, but they’ve been at that level for a little while now so that’s no surprise. I’ve heard a couple of people try to rein in your expectations and that’s fair, but I think last season showed you have a manager who can help you bridge that gap pretty quickly. Botman alone is a step closer. I don’t think you’ll maintain Top 3/4 form like the second half of last year - the circumstances conspired to help that along somewhat - but I certainly see you in the mix for top six. Home games will be massive for you. Now for Spurs. There’s a couple of key points I think. First, did you just forget Bissouma? They definitely need a RWB but if they get Spence (as seems likely) that looks like enough. If Richarlison comes then really all they need is one or two CBs to be a real force - as you suggest - and it’s obvious that’s where their money is going to be spent as they’ve been trying for Bastoni, Bremer etc. Secondly - do Spurs need Richarlison? I’ve seen a few people say “where does he fit in with Son, Kane, Kulu” or words to that effect. That’s not seeing the wood for the trees, surely? The whole point of Richarlison would be that you could play him instead of any one of those three and see less of a drop off than with most “back-up” players. Spurs will expect to play a million games next season, with an entire World Cup in the middle. You’re going to need every last bit of your squad. Then you factor in the change to five subs. That has the potential to fundamentally change the game - at least in the second half - even when every player is fit. Right now, one injury to Son or Kane and you’re looking at Bergwijn or Moura. Ajax heroics aside, Conte’s no fool, he knows he needs more.

This. £30/40M buys you really good young footballers from abroad who might be great in the Premier League but might not (Botman, Guimaraes). £50/60M buys you those players a year or two later.

I mean, sure, but it’s not like you had a choice between the two approaches. I genuinely don’t think you could have got a single one of those players…at this stage in proceedings. You’re just doing what any team in your position should be doing, just you have more flexibility and money than most have had. Take, I dunno, Leicester seven years ago - signing relatively unknown quality players (Kante, Inler, Demarai Gray, Amartey) putting them with tried and trusted PL players (Huth, Nathan Dyer) and making the most of players already there (Chilwell, Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez). One difference is that your “relatively unknown” quality players and other transfers in are costing about three or four times as much as Leicester paid. And that’s OK, it’s where you’re at. It’s just a bit strange to be pleased about not doing something that you couldn’t do even if you wanted.