Summer Transfer Window

[Tes]

Spurs have £8m bid accepted for Liverpool FC target Gylfi Sigurdsson

Spurs appear to have moved ahead of Liverpool FC in the race to sign midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson after negotiations with the Anfield club hit an impasse.

Reports in Germany claim Spurs have had an £8million bid accepted by Hoffenheim for Iceland international Sigurdsson.

Swansea City were the first club to agree terms with the German club but after manager Brendan Rodgers’ move to Liverpool FC it appeared the 22-year-old would follow the Northern Irishman - under whom he excelled in a five-month loan spell from last January - to Anfield.

However, it is understood that although the player is keen to be reunited with Brendan Rodgers, discussions have stalled due to Sigurdsson’s wage demands.

Tottenham, therefore, have emerged as an alternative destination for the former Reading midfielder who scored seven goals in 19 matches for Swansea last season and was named Premier League player of the month for March.

Hoffenheim have given Sigurdsson until Saturday to secure a move to England having allowed him extended leave after they returned to pre-season training just over a week ago.

Swansea thought they had secured the player on a permanent basis after agreeing a club-record £6.8million fee soon after the end of the season but before Sigurdsson could complete a medical their manager was lured to Liverpool FC.

Rodgers admitted he would be interested in signing the midfielder for Liverpool FC but stressed the player had to first speak to new Swansea boss Michael Laudrup.

When the prospect of him moving to the Liberty Stadium having diminished, it seemed Anfield would be his next stopping place but now it could be White Hart Lane.

Last week Hoffenheim coach Markus Babbel, himself a former Liverpool FC player, said of Gylfi Sigurdsson’s planned move: "If, by the deadline on June 30, he has done nothing then he will return to his pre-season with us.

"We have agreed this with him."

Gylfi Sigurdsson is contracted to Hoffenheim for another two years but despite impressing in his first campaign in 2010/11 he dropped down the pecking order last season, forcing his loan to Swansea.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/football-news/2012/06/26/55578-31268535/

Anyone else think it odd that despite a good half season in the Premier League, that has us, Swansea and Spurs looking to sign him, that Hoffenheim are still willing to let him go for a shade over what they agreed with Swansea before his successful half season?
And are we offering less than Swansea did or is Sigurdsson of the opinion that having agreed to take what Swansea offered he should be entitled to more off us for some reason or have we been trying to get him on the cheap?

[Ed]

And are we offering less than Swansea did or is Sigurdsson of the opinion that having agreed to take what Swansea offered he should be entitled to more off us for some reason or have we been trying to get him on the cheap?

Imo, the real b*llshit part of this was Rodgers deciding that this Icelandic lad
could wait 'til the new manager of Swansea was appointed before deciding his
future. Meanwhile, presumably his agent fished around for a better deal. Smacks
of Moores with his naive do the decent thing always approach. If you want
the player, sign him, end of...

[Ageing Stick Insect]

I understand the player was on holiday until last weekend so perhaps a deal wasn't possible. If he wants to go to a manager-less club for more money then we don't want that type of player. He's probably been bought by Levy as  replacement for Modric but I doubt he's in Modric's class so Spurs will be weaker next season. Let's hope he lives to regret the decision.

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He's probably been bought by Levy as  replacement for Modric but I doubt he's in Modric's class so Spurs will be weaker next season. Let's hope he lives to regret the decision.

That's what I've been wondering, Ray. Levy knows he's about to get a huge sum of money. Probably enough to pay both Sigurdsson's fee and contract, and then there's the saving of Modric's salary.

One thing that's bothered me about signing Sigurdsson is that we've seen him have a good half season and that's it. Apparantly he had a decent season last season for Hoffenheim so what happened this season for him to end up out on loan, and despite his performances Hoffenheim haven't looked to cash-in and massively increase the asking price. Why?
Also, half a season of good performances doesn't mean he can do it over the whole. Good half season for a newly promoted team - does it make him another Charlie Adam or Andy Carroll?
If he goes to Spurs, what does that say about the true state of his relationship with Rodgers and is his loyalty therefore questionable.

The longer this goes on the more uneasy I feel about it on many levels, concerning both the player himself and our club.

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Apparently Hoffenheim have agreed a fee with Swansea, Reading and Spurs, but not us.

More questions, and so few answers.  At least we're not buying players and making instant wholesale changes, which I feel was one of Dalglish's undoings. As long as Rodgers gets the players he wants I'm fine with who we sign.
If cash is short and sensibly it could be, I'd rather the manager works with what we've got, see where that gets him and if that means keeping most of our powder dry until next Summer, whilst it's a risk, I'd rather we didn't waste funds and add to what is quite a long list of players we could do with moving on.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Tes, hard to know what's going on with this transfer. What is clear is that Sig has until Saturday to make his mind up. If he hasn't then he'll be expected to return to Hoffenheim for pre-season training on Monday. We'll know his destination by the weekend.

I agree that he's hardly a proven player and we could end up making another mistake. Just because he may have fitted into Swansea's team is no guarantee he will fit into ours. And until BR has had time to assess all our players he hasn't got the full picture.

The last thing we need is another Charlie Adam (of last season) although with a new manager's plans many of our players could be transformed. We're bound to get new players before the start of the season so if this Icelandic fish slips through a net I wouldn't worry unduly.

[Gurdeep]

Watching the Spaniards v Portugese.  Still a shocking decision to have let Meirless leave last season.  I wouldn't mind having back if it is true that he is leaving Chelsea.

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Watching the Spaniards v Portugese.  Still a shocking decision to have let Meirless leave last season.  I wouldn't mind having back if it is true that he is leaving Chelsea.

He'd probably be regarded as too old by FSG. Again it comes down to the length of contract and salary level he'd demand.

For too long we've paid huge salaries on long contracts to average or below average players and then been stuck with them sucking money out of the club. It's good to see us getting tougher and attempting to clear the decks whilst not adding what could turn out to be problems in the future.
Spurs have never been huge payers and they've put together a stronger squad than we have.

The days of paying premiums and taxes are over.

[Juan]

Apparently Hoffenheim have agreed a fee with Swansea, Reading and Spurs, but not us.

More questions, and so few answers.  At least we're not buying players and making instant wholesale changes, which I feel was one of Dalglish's undoings. As long as Rodgers gets the players he wants I'm fine with who we sign.
If cash is short and sensibly it could be, I'd rather the manager works with what we've got, see where that gets him and if that means keeping most of our powder dry until next Summer, whilst it's a risk, I'd rather we didn't waste funds and add to what is quite a long list of players we could do with moving on.

I think your right Tes if Sigurdsson signs on anywhere other than at Liverpool it will raise some big questions but also might give us a few answers too.

First off if Sigurdsson is willing to choose managerless Spurs over us considering Rodgers is now managing us then I think it says more about his motivations than it says about our ambitions. I also see Sigurdsson as a gamble. Hes performed for half a season at Swansea so Im not convinced that hes an undoubted talent. If Rodgers really wants to sign him I hope we can pull off the transfer but I think the media frenzy around this deal coupled with his loan spell at Swansea have built the players talents up to be possibly more than they actually are. 

From the clubs perspective if we miss out on the player I would be a little worried. If he is a player Rodgers clearly wants and the club arent willing to pay the price for youth what does it say about the youth policy they are trying to implement or about the backing they intend to give the manager. Its one thing wanting to sign the next big thing before they become the next big thing but the reason we missed out on Ronaldo was because we wouldnt pay the million euro a season wages his signature would have commanded. We cant have it both ways, if we dont want to pay huge transfer fees for developed players we are probably going to have to pay higher wages than we would normally have for players we think could be the next Ronaldo. Otherwise we will just continue to lose out to all of the clubs above us. I suppose the hard part will be trying to decide who is worth it and who isnt.

On the transfer window in general I'm not so much worried by our lack of transfer activity to date, last season I thought we needed to do our business early but look how that turned out. Rodgers will probably assess our squad before deciding what he needs. What I am slightly concerned about is the lack of talent we are being linked with. You cant trust the press, most players linked are fabricated stories but saying that I cant remember a player linked that I actually thought would undoubtedly improve our first team. Lets hope that improves.

[Ed]

What I am slightly concerned about is the lack of talent we are being linked with. You cant trust the press, most players linked are fabricated stories but saying that I cant remember a player linked that I actually thought would undoubtedly improve our first team. Lets hope that improves.

Agree, I think though that we need to focus on the areas where a relatively low net spend can give
us a competitive edge i.e. since we can't realistically fork out £20 million on a player, then areas such
as the academy, scouting and sports science should be a priority.

Let's start with we have the best academy set up in the country, or the best scouting network or the top
sports science people.

Before getting involved in the manager merry-go-round, imo,  the owners should have made these things a
priority.  B*llocks to their usual vague utterances, they should have been hammering these points from the
beginning. Tbh, i have no confidence in Ian Ayre or Tom Werner and don't know what to make of Rodgers.

[Tes]

Agree, I think though that we need to focus on the areas where a relatively low net spend can give
us a competitive edge i.e. since we can't realistically fork out £20 million on a player, then areas such
as the academy, scouting and sports science should be a priority.

Let's start with we have the best academy set up in the country, or the best scouting network or the top
sports science people.

Before getting involved in the manager merry-go-round, imo,  the owners should have made these things a
priority.  B*llocks to their usual vague utterances, they should have been hammering these points from the
beginning. Tbh, i have no confidence in Ian Ayre or Tom Werner and don't know what to make of Rodgers.

Exactly Ed, build the club long term through the academy and excellent scouting. Create a tight group of players that have developed together. We would need to use 'the market' less the recruit, lessening the total needing to be found for transfers and the errors that can occur when spending much larger amounts 'established' players.

But like you say, we need that negotiator to hammer the deals once we find those players. Arsenal have done good business with Podolski and Giroud. Even for established players they've got themselves value. How many sub £5M players have they send during Wenger's tenure. Even Van Persie only cost £2.5M.

We still haven't got so many parts of the foundations in place. Rodgers can start the overhaul of the scouting, but ideally he needs to appoint someone who will run scouting from first team down through every age group, working with all the coaches and different scouts at all the levels and also be responsible for the hiring and firing of the scouts. It's such an important part of the club, or should be, especially as the owners aren't looking to put cash in and expect the club to be self sufficient.
It's also another source of income to swell the transfer coffers of the manager. Just think how many young players the Mancs have sold for solid sums of money over the years. We need to stop giving our young 'unsuccessfuls' away and make sure we insert sell-on clauses into every sale to if we make a semi mistake and the player 'comes good' we at least benefit financially. Again Arsenal have been good at this. Pennant cost us because Birmingham had to pay a sell-on percentage to Arsenal.

We are still lacking in so many areas with no sign that we are going to get and improvement on Ayre.

[Ed]

Exactly Ed, build the club long term through the academy and excellent scouting. Create a tight group of players that have developed together. We would need to use 'the market' less the recruit, lessening the total needing to be found for transfers and the errors that can occur when spending much larger amounts 'established' players.

But like you say, we need that negotiator to hammer the deals once we find those players. Arsenal have done good business with Podolski and Giroud. Even for established players they've got themselves value. How many sub £5M players have they send during Wenger's tenure. Even Van Persie only cost £2.5M.

We still haven't got so many parts of the foundations in place. Rodgers can start the overhaul of the scouting, but ideally he needs to appoint someone who will run scouting from first team down through every age group, working with all the coaches and different scouts at all the levels and also be responsible for the hiring and firing of the scouts. It's such an important part of the club, or should be, especially as the owners aren't looking to put cash in and expect the club to be self sufficient.
It's also another source of income to swell the transfer coffers of the manager. Just think how many young players the Mancs have sold for solid sums of money over the years. We need to stop giving our young 'unsuccessfuls' away and make sure we insert sell-on clauses into every sale to if we make a semi mistake and the player 'comes good' we at least benefit financially. Again Arsenal have been good at this. Pennant cost us because Birmingham had to pay a sell-on percentage to Arsenal.

We are still lacking in so many areas with no sign that we are going to get and improvement on Ayre.

Depressing isn't it and we're not even allowed to compete in domestic cups anymore (that was the icing on the cake, imo,
what an absolutely ridiculous attitude to have toward a football club). Watching Stevie G, our once once talismanic captain,
trailing round after that freak Hodgson like an obedient dog makes me want to vomit. Dunno also if Rodgers has that ruthless
winner streak in him like Rafa, Fergie & Mourinho.

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Dunno also if Rodgers has that ruthless winner streak in him like Rafa, Fergie & Mourinho.

He's certainly got ambition and guts. It would have been easy to stay at Swansea, look to repeat this season past, accepted the plaudits for making them no one season wonder and done 'a Moyes', staying at Swansea without the pressure and expectation of actually having to win anything whilst becoming a Freeman of Swansea.

[Tes]

Depressing isn't it and we're not even allowed to compete in domestic cups anymore (that was the icing on the cake,

We can compete, sort of, even win it, but it all counts for nothing if we don't qualify for a competition. Not for the kudos or the chance to test youself against the cream of the continent or the chance to see top players playing against us at Anfield or experiencing some of football's other temples, but we have to qualify because of the money.
Winning, having your name inscribed in real time seconds before receiving the trophy, having your name recorded in history, none of that is as important as finishing second, third or fourth anymore.

[Tes]

Dunno also if Rodgers has that ruthless
winner streak in him like Rafa, Fergie & Mourinho.

It'll be a start if it's the manager that's held firm over the wages issue if we don't sign Sigurdsson. It lays down a marker early on. His two other big tests, one should be this Summer and the other next Summer, will be Carra and Gerrard. Also to a much lesser degree but it could still cause some ripples is if he sells Spearing this Summer.