Sandro Tonali

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, macphisto said:

Great post, and not just players losing faith but also fans too.

 

Selling your best players and buying younger players for half the price, whilst going up the the league, has never happened before and never will. You can do it to maintain mid-table status, like Brighton and Bournemouth, but no more.

Spurs had sold Adebayor, Bertbatov, Bale, Modric, Walker, etc to bigger clubs as they grew the club.  All were gone by the time they were reaching the European Cup Final.

[Superbmac]

Just now, macphisto said:

Great post, and not just players losing faith but also fans too.

 

Selling your best players and buying younger players for half the price, whilst going up the the league, has never happened before and never will. You can do it to maintain mid-table status, like Brighton and Bournemouth, but no more.

I’d argue we have more potential to join the top table than Brighton and Bournemouth.

 

We were on the verge of relegation and have had a decent five years. Clearly there needs to be a bit of reflection to get our heads round PSR (whatever it’s called now) and make sure we never have a summer where we’re understaffed and spending like drunken sailors.

 

I think this year is the start of phase two… we’ve got that trophy curse lifted and have raised our profile a bit… we have some decent players but also some assets we can cash in on.

 

Eddie and Bruno are essentially the spine at the moment and they need to get the next crop of young hungry players to come in and take us forward. 

[nufcjmc]

1 minute ago, macphisto said:

Great post, and not just players losing faith but also fans too.

 

Selling your best players and buying younger players for half the price, whilst going up the the league, has never happened before and never will. You can do it to maintain mid-table status, like Brighton and Bournemouth, but no more.

I think its a case of what choice do we have, we are restricted at every turn in terms of the rules but also what players will get a fee big enough to move the project forward. We are also not 1 or 2 players away from achieving anything we are now back to needing major surgery and future surgery isn't that far away as older players get even older. 

 

If we needed 1 or 2 in and could resist and keep the squad together then Tonali going massively rocks the boat but we would all agree we need way more than that, uncertainty on flops of last season being able to have a much better second season and the club getting "back on track". 

 

The ship has sailed with the perfect storm of last season big player goes despite gaining champions league qualification, poor league performance has gotten us out of europe next season, less income and the money from not buying for a few seasons and the rat fee all being spent. 

 

 

[Mattoon]

48 minutes ago, GEFAFWISP said:

That ship has already sailed by the looks of it.

 

Players don't care about the "project" except the odd rare gem like Bruno, they're leaving because they want more money. I think even Isak would have stayed if we offered him £300k/pw.

[The College Dropout]

49 minutes ago, Decky said:

They need to be really careful about sales this summer because the last thing we need happening is other players losing faith in the project. Isak left us no choice, we maybe needed to sell Gordon but do we need to sell Tonali as well?

 

It just doesn't look good to be selling another big player. If he wants to go and is leaving us with no other option then he'll go but the door needs firmly shut. If Tino or Hall leave too then what the fuck is the plan for our squad? It doesn't scream top of then mountain by 2030 does it? 

 

 

 

 

Too late.

 

This (era of the) project pretty much ended with Ashworth and Staveley leaving. Isak confirmed it - that was the confirmation players did not believe in the project. You can tell Gordon and Tonali decided they were off too - Gordon pretty much since the June 24 fiasco. Anyone from that regime that consistently performs I expect to leave in the next 12 months.

 

It's now about what the new regime does. I think the ceiling for the new regime is lower than what the previous succesful one was aiming for.

 

I wonder if the club will start telling the truth about the entire project or will they keep saying the aim is to be champions by 2030 or if that date just keeps getting pushed back.

[nufc123]

8 minutes ago, Ilovetoon8788 said:

70

Awful deal.

[sanyi75]

13 minutes ago, KingArthur said:

I cannot understand the world were Andersson costs 120 million and Tonali 90.(Isak 145M) These should be prices for top players of the league, which neither are. 

If Woltemade is worth 75 million, Wissa, Elanga 60 million, then Tonali is worth 90-100 million. I think he is a good player, if possible he should be kept.

[Wallsendmag]

18 minutes ago, KaKa said:

A world class midfielder wouldn't look this poor for this long, regardless of the circumstances around him.

 

A world class midfielder doesn't get schooled by Sean Longstaff for 90 minutes either as what happened at Elland Road last season.

 

People saying he's world class don't understand the meaning of those words. Yes he's a very good Premier League footballer with an incredible engine but world class he ain't.

 

If he has his heart set on leaving and there's £80m on the table for him we'd be fools to knock it back. It's how it's reinvested that has me worried.

[Earp]

48 minutes ago, Ben said:

If he goes to a Spurs team that finished 17th two seasons in a row, I think that says more about Tonali's mentality than Newcastle's.

No loyalty in football nowadays. Club and fans handled his ban superbly and yet he's that desperate to fuck off he's prepared to sign for Spurs. 

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

 

Players don't care about the "project" except the odd rare gem like Bruno, they're leaving because they want more money. I think even Isak would have stayed if we offered him £300k/pw.

Of course they do. But the project also has to align with money.

 

When we didn't give Isak his contract - that was a bullhorn that the project wasn't what it seemed. Isak 100% deserved a payrise, any club serious about the stated ambitions would've given him the contract. But we didn't and signed nobody of note that summer. Of course players knew the project wasn't serious.

 

Isak has now joined a team that had a bad season and finished 4th.

[Dr.Spaceman]

2 minutes ago, nufc123 said:

Awful deal.

 

£70m to the budget would be very nice. Not sure what the overall fee would have to be for that once you factor in amortisation etc

[The College Dropout]

I don't think Tonali is "world class" but he's a fine player and he brings great character to a game.

 

He'll be difficult to replace. We've not signed a better player than him since the window we bought him. Not even close. He's a better CM than Thiaw is a CB imo.

[Alberto2005]

How can Tonali be £70m if Man City are chucking £120m at Anderson?

[GeordieDazzler]

Until we bridge the revenue gap between us and the big 6 we are always going to be very vulnerable to losing our best players to teams either established at the top trophy wise (Liverpool, City) or can simply pay more than we can (Spurs). Same for any team not in that little group.
 

 

 

[nufc123]

2 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

£70m to the budget would be very nice. Not sure what the overall fee would have to be for that once you factor in amortisation etc

Madness  we might aswell give up if thats the case.

[STM]

Selling players is easy... but when we try to sign this Camara gadgy and Chelsea gasump us, then what? 

 

Sign the replacements before we sell. 

 

The optics of losing our best players, can only be rectified with genuine ambition in our signings. Ive no issue with bigger sharks taking our players but we must be a big shark to other sides, yet we seem to struggle with this.

[STM]

1 minute ago, Alberto2005 said:

How can Tonali be £70m if Man City are chucking £120m at Anderson?

 

3 things:

 

Anderson is English.

Anderson is younger.

Anderson has better technical qualities than Tonali.

[nufc123]

And we cant just sell before we buy every time either. I know we have plans in place, but its not a good look.

[sanyi75]

9 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Too late.

 

This (era of the) project pretty much ended with Ashworth and Staveley leaving. Isak confirmed it - that was the confirmation players did not believe in the project. You can tell Gordon and Tonali decided they were off too - Gordon pretty much since the June 24 fiasco. Anyone from that regime that consistently performs I expect to leave in the next 12 months.

 

It's now about what the new regime does. I think the ceiling for the new regime is lower than what the previous succesful one was aiming for.

 

I wonder if the club will start telling the truth about the entire project or will they keep saying the aim is to be champions by 2030 or if that date just keeps getting pushed back.

The end of the 2024/25 season was very bad, from the Isak issue to the transfers, it was not handled professionally. This is what Villa did not do. Now if Emery shuffles the cards wisely, they can permanently level up. For us now, in the current situation, it is a much bigger task, of course it is not impossible but difficult. Now we can't make any mistakes, or the midfield will remain.

[Mattoon]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Too late.

 

This (era of the) project pretty much ended with Ashworth and Staveley leaving. Isak confirmed it - that was the confirmation players did not believe in the project. You can tell Gordon and Tonali decided they were off too - Gordon pretty much since the June 24 fiasco. Anyone from that regime that consistently performs I expect to leave in the next 12 months.

 

It's now about what the new regime does. I think the ceiling for the new regime is lower than what the previous succesful one was aiming for.

 

I wonder if the club will start telling the truth about the entire project or will they keep saying the aim is to be champions by 2030 or if that date just keeps getting pushed back.

 

Project or no project, players want to earn what they think they're worth, Gordon has an inflated view of himself at the best of times anyway, but the likes of Tonali, Bruno, Isak, Hall, Livramento, as soon as they start performing above their wage packet will have one eye on the door. The same is true in any walk of life, you want to get paid what you think you're worth and right now we have a ceiling to that, so anyone hitting that ceiling is going to start looking where they can go to get paid what they believe they're worth.

 

Thats the bottom line, europe, no europe, top 4 finish, bottom 4 finish, it doesn't matter, Spurs have the ear of one of our best players despite the fact the wheels, axels and most of the body work has come of their project, Man Yoo last summer took some of our preferred targets away from us, despite finishing at the bottom end of the table and no europe.

 

The only way you keep top talent is if you pay top wages and we can't, there's no one to blame for that other than the league itself and its masters, it's rigged to be this way.

[Deuce]

28 minutes ago, KaKa said:

A world class midfielder wouldn't look this poor for this long, regardless of the circumstances around him.

There’s not a player in the world who plays at their best without a strong supporting cast.

[Nucasol]

5 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

£70m to the budget would be very nice. Not sure what the overall fee would have to be for that once you factor in amortisation etc

3 seasons @ £12m a season leaves £24m if you’re amortising over 5 years. To clear £70m you’re going to need £95m-£100m.

[Alberto2005]

1 minute ago, STM said:

 

3 things:

 

Anderson is English.

Anderson is younger.

Anderson has better technical qualities than Tonali.

He's never worth 50m more, if Anderson is £120m we should be getting £90m minimum.

[Turnbull2000]

£70m ffs 

 

This is utterly humiliating for the club. The fans will lose patience if any replacements result in another Wissa/Elanga situation i.e. wasting money on complete dross

[STM]

2 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

Until we bridge the revenue gap between us and the big 6 we are always going to be very vulnerable to losing our best players to teams either established at the top trophy wise (Liverpool, City) or can simply pay more than we can (Spurs). Same for any team not in that little group.
 

 

 

 

Thats fine but surely there are sides out there that are vulnerable to us? Domestically?

 

We got bent over a barrel for Elanga and Wissa, couldnt do deals for a Wolves striker or Guehi from Palace the year before.

 

When Staveley was here we showed muscle and ambition, going after players like Gordon etc.

 

My real worry is we go down the route of signing cheap foreign players and shopping in the same market as Palace, Bournemouth and Brentford.

 

We should be in the same market as Villa and Spurs.