BBC: Saints reject first bids for Lallana and Shaw, but Spurs still in the race

With Mauricio Pochettino at the helm many have predicted that the former Southampton boss will go back to raid his old club. Indeed, we reported on Wednesday he was planning a move for Adam Lallana amongst others and more evidence has been revealed to back up those claims.

Lallana, Luke Shaw and Jay Rodriguez are the three Saints stars most in demand and two BBC reporters have given an update on two of the pair mentioned.

Lallana to L’pool? Don’t be so sure

The Metro believe Liverpool are close to signing the Southampton captain for £26 million but BBC journalist Ben Smith has tweeted: “Adam Lallana’s move to #LFC still far from certain.

“Spurs are interested, as are a couple of other clubs.”

That will give hope to the Tottenham Hotspur board and Pochettino. They’ll try to pinch the 26-year-old from under the noises of Liverpool, like they have done several times previously.

Lallana has spoken highly of Pochettino before and the chance to link up with his old manager may be able to sway him away the Liverpool. The Argentine helped improve Lallana considerably during their time together and that could be a deciding factor.

Shaw’s transfer not certain

Meanwhile, Luke Shaw is another we have been linked with, possibly optimistically, but former Manchester United defender Gary Pallister recently expressed his fear on talkSPORT that the young left-back will follow Pochettino to White Hart Lane.

BBC’s David Ornstein confirmed on twitter that although bids have been forthcoming for Shaw and Lallana both have been rejected.

Ornstein said: “Southampton have already rejected offers this summer for Luke Shaw from Manchester United & Adam Lallana from Liverpool.”

This news will surely give hope to Spurs that they can try to prize the aforementioned pair away from the south coast.

Trying to sign Shaw may prove to be too tough but Lallana’s signature definitely remains up for grabs.

 

Shaw would be a good signing. Lalana is overrated. Better to go for Rodriguez and give Lamela a fair crack. Sell daws, Townsend, Ade, Naughton, holtby, Lennon, Chadli and Kaboul. Go for Remy and Ba or even Lukaku. Resign Caulker and we'll do well. Should sign Micha Richards too!

 

John,
Cheers. I agree with your thoughts on Lallana, especially because we have Paulinho and Eriksen. I wouldn't turn Lallana away, but I wouldn't pay more than 18 Mil. for him. I'd also keep Dawson, but the rest of your list is spot on IMHO.
Best,
R

 

John (again),
I checked your list again and see a couple of others who deserve a fair crack again. I am curious how Poche might be able to be transform Townsend, and would prefer Ade to stay.
Cheers mate.

 

Townsend.
Why is he being linked with a move away. He looked really good at the start of the season, got injured and never had a decent run after that.
He beats people every time, can go either way , can cross and shoot with both feet, has great first touch in tight areas and is fast.
I know some people say defenders got to know how to play him by making him come inside. But that was when they doubled up on him. Surely that's a good thing for the rest of the team in its self.
The England Manager would have taken him to Brazil if he wasn't injured.
Please Poch , give him a chance before we do a caulker.
Bazza.

 

Sell Townsend!!!
Are you mad!!
Would love Luke Shaw...not sure we can make that happen though

 

Bazza I agree somewhat with what you have said about Townsend at times he looked really good however you said he could cross and shoot with both feet, I disagree their his shooting and crossing has a lot to be desired, did he even manage an assist? he is great at taking players on, that is his strength when he runs at guys, I just hope he can learn to pass, cross and shoot, if so he could be amazing.

 

Townsend really does divide opinion of a number of players with so called 'potential' i think townsend has all the ability to be a real force i just think hes lacked a decent coach to harness his skills and get the best out of him as an individual and a team player. I think Townsend eriksen and lamela could quite easily terrorise defences if the teams set up right with say a lukaku spear heading it. Id like shaw definately, and really think we need to sort our long term cb pairing.

 

Think we should spend some money on the defence this time ! Agree we need two cbs and a left back to really compete. Shaw may be a possibility as hes so young he could come to us and still be young in three seasons time when he may want to move on, as players do in the modern game. We need a new centre back partnership as dawson struggles at times, kabs fitness is suspect as is verts attitude. I'd let verts go and reinvest, with daws vlad and kabs keeping it competetive. Coys

 

Here tony parks has left the club as goalkeeping coach. Thanks tony for all your work at spurs. I was there that night in 1984 and saw you save the penalty that won us the eufa cup. Great night. Hope spurs have looked after the hackney boy. Coys

 

Townsend had two very good games and suddenly we all thought he was the new Bale. He is greedy, one dimensional and simply very overrated.

 

It seemed strange last year when buying a striker like Soldado who scores nearly all of his goals from inside the box and obviously needs service that AVB set the team up with Townsend on the right playing the inverted winger and tben with a license to lash at everything from 30 yards. How many times did we see Soldado running the channels looking for space only for Andros to smack every ball into orbit. Townsend is a show pony and incredibly selfish. maybe Poch can do something with him, who knows. cant be trusted on the right, better on the left. This young player has a lot to do to prove himself, one goal last year which was meant as a cross, no assists. not good enough, you can run with the ball all day but if you cant shoot or pass you wont get played.

 

Why ANYONE would considering getting rid of Andros Townsend, after ONE full season in the EPL, considering all the promise, talent and ambition he has shown for BOTH club, and country, is TRULY beyond me!!!

He is the BEST academy player to emerge from Spurs youth ranks since Ledley King, and is quite simply an EXCEPTIONAL talent.

Does he still have a bit to learn about the game at EPL level? YES!

Does he still have to improve his decision-making, and continue to show a willingness to develop as a player? YES!

Does he have to increase his levels of productivity in terms of goals and assists? YES!

But all these things are UNDERSTANDABLE, given that he has only played 1 and 1/2 seasons in the English top flight!!!

On his day, he has the capacity to be UNPLAYABLE, with his speed, dribbling ability, direct approach, balance, fearlessness and close knit control, proving a NIGHTMARE for defenders to deal with.

There is a VERY GOOD reason Erik Lamela, or anyone else, barely got a kick, on that right flank, in the EPL, for the first half/third of the season, and that was because Townsend was in FANTASTIC form.

Two footed, explosive and able to move inside the FB, or out, Andros has ALL the tools to become a WOLRD CLASS winger/player, and any talk of selling the kid is LUDICROUS, at best.

There is a BIG difference between a greedy player, and a player who is willing to take RESPONSIBILITY in an attempt to make a SIGNIFICANT impact on a match.

I mean, why would anybody EVEN consider selling a EXTREMELY talented,former youth, prospect, who is ONLY BEGINNING his development in the top flight, and has already made an impact on the International stage?

People MUST understand that Townsend doesn't, necessarily, NEED to create a direct assist to create opportunities for team-mates, as he is the kind of talent that demands 2/3 players always get drawn to him, which then presents more space for his colleagues to operate in.

I FIRMLY believe that Townsend could EVEN go onto to become a quality no10, in a similar mould to Bale, should he continue to improve.

Indeed, the biggest/best compliment I could give the young Englishman is that NOBODY seemed to be talking about Bale for the first half/third of the season before Townsend suffered his first destabilising injury (his wrist) against Hull.

I'll be AMAZED if Pochettino doesn't try to incorporate Townsend in the first team, as much as possible, let alone sell him.

Did anyone else notice how poor England looked tonight without the services of the Spurs wide-man?

 

It will be interesting to see if MP can do something with Townsend and Lamela. Right now Andros has fantastic skills but his decision making and shooting have shown him as being lacking as a finisher. for all of his abilities he has been frustratingly wasteful when the team looks to attack. this is an area that must improve, all the flowery descriptions of Townsends skills mean nothing until he can make real contributions to the team. I also doubt we will sell Andros although I dont expect him to be nailed on first teamer just yet. I still preffer him on the left. Credit to Poch he has done wonders with players like Townsend, if he can make it work a trio of Townsend, Eriksen and Lamela behind a decent striker could be lethal. but I still think Andros is a long way off the finished product.

 

we should go in heavily for lallana and shaw, we should make those two are top priorities, offering players like rose, assou ekotto, naughton, dawson, sigurdsson, holtby and chadli in exchance, i'd even offer all of those players for shaw and lallana, then we should sign lescott and richards to solidy the defense and we're set. we could line up as
lloris
walker, kaboul/lescott/richards/chiriches, vertonghen, shaw
paulinho/sandro, dembele
townsend/lamela, eriksen, lallana
adebayor/soldado

giving the places up for grabs to the players who perform best

 

I still think we need two more strikers Lukaku and Loic would good whilst losing any one of the current three. There is definitely decent midfielders at the club and i think it is an area where we suffer due to being over subscribed hence no one really settles into a position. Not sure we really need to spend another 20 million plus in that area. The focus should be on the forwards and defence. We need a left back and a couple of new centre backs, then we will be marching.

 

Agree with many of the comments on here, although we have zero chance of getting Luke Shaw if his price tag is £27 million! We need to look elsewhere for a decent left back. However, if Pochettino is going to raid his former club, Dejan Lovren is an excellent centre half and could play alongside Vertonghen (assuming he stays). I'd also see if we could secure the services of Jay Rodriguez from Saints? He's come on huge amounts under Pochettino and could flourish further? Lallana's best position is behind a front man and personally I'd like to see Eriksen there? If Pochettino can get Lamela playing on the right and Townsend on the left we don't need Lallana and frankly could invest the £25 million, which he's likely to cost, in better places... like Luke Shaw, perhaps...

 

I agree with Spike, I think there other areas of the pitch where Pochettino would be better spent focusing on.

As far as having players to operate behind the forward goes, I think Mauricio will fancy himself to get MUCH more out the players already at his disposal. I'm not sure how many the likes of Lennon, Sigurdsson, Chadli, Townsend, Lamela and even Dembele, scored/assisted between them, but I would guess it wasn't as much a 10 premier league goals, and 10 assists, respectively, between them.

That has to improve. And with the right BALANCE, MOVEMENT and TEMPO within the side, it will !!!

We are talking about QUALITY international players here and the managers job could well be focussed on extracting more from a group of talented players, both individually, and as a collective.

Like I say, I think Spurs would be better off focussing their attention towards other areas of the team, such as a:

• Left Back - To provide SERIOUS competition to Danny Rose.
• A Deep-lying Playmaker - (although Tom Carroll/ Nabil Bentaleb COULD fill this role, depending on how much faith MP is willing to place upon them) To give the a different dimension. .i.e. Somebody who CONSISTENTLY spots a pass EARLY,can feed the ball QUICKLY between the lines, and has the ability to carry the ball, too .
• CB - I'm NOT sure Spurs need a 1st, 2nd, or first choice CB, with Vertonghen, Chiriches and a seemingly fit Kaboul all at the club. But an experienced campaigner, or a bright, young prospect to replace Michael Dawson very well prove helpful in either the short, or long term.
• Striker- I would cash in on one of our strikers now and look to replace them with a younger, more dynamic model. Someone who is only just beginning to establish a name for themselves in the world of football, and is ready (potentially) to lead the line at a club like Spurs.
  
  If Spurs could get rid of: Dawson, Naughton, Paulinho (only for a healthy profit), Falque, Livermore, Holtby (only because I DON'T think he suits the 4-3-3 system Poch is likely to play) and Adebayor.
  
  And bring in:
  
  Left Back- Alberto Moreno/Felipe/Alex Sandro/ Fabio Coentrão.
  
  CB -Brede Hangalaand.
  
  Deep-lying Plamaker- Ever Banega/ Ander Herrera/ Asier Illarramendi/ Fabien Delph
  
  Strikers -Christian Benteke/ Romelu Lukaku/ Alvaro Morata

...I think Spurs would have had a GREAT summer.One player from each category and I think the overall quality/balance/dynamic of the squad would improve CONSIDERABLY.




One of the most underrated players in Europe. A, simply, WORLD CLASS talent who would be PERFECT for Spurs in a three -man midfield (or a two, in behind a three, allowing Dembele the option to playing higher up the field) ... Ever Banega.





Pochettino WAS actually, seriously, linked with Banega whilst at S'hampton. If he can identify that Spurs could REALLY do with a player of that ilk in the CM, then there is EVERY chance Banega will be on his list of targets. Ever would also be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than Lallana due to Valencia's Financial problems.

 

I think Hangelaand would be a decent shout to b fair. My team would be something like Lloris walker Lovren vert Ashley cole dembele sandro eriksen lamela Townsend(on the left) with soldado remy and lukaku competing with the no 9 spot. deploying two strikers in the early rounds of all 3 cups and teams that park the bus at WHL and remember remy can also play out wide as did lukaku v the goons to great effect. In this day and age I think with max squad sizes you are better carrying players that can play multiple positions increasing individuals game time. Players to go naughton rose dawson Livermore holtby kane adebayor BAE Chadli
players to come in Lovren alderweild A.cole(controversial I know but world class left bk on a free)??? Remy 8m and Lukaku or Benteke.

Keepers/ LLoris Friedel
Rbks / Walker Fredericks alderweild also cover at cbk
Lbks / A.cole fryers
Cbks / / kaboul lovren Chiriches JV covers at lbk
holding mids sandro capoue
box to box mids / dembele paulinho
no 10s eriksen sygi who both can also cover as left mid
wide men/ townsend lamela lennon
forwards / soldado remy lukaku/benteke
players to loan out to premier league or high end championship carroll bentaleb Prichard coulbilay coulthirst veljkovic

Add to the above konopkplaya. Prob out of our range with utd looking likely but that could open a door for a move for welbeck. I know one or two on here may not rate him as I myself didn't when judging him as an out and out forward but the more I've watched him closely playing on the left of the attacking 3 the better he gets.
He's quick links play and really stretches defenses espeically with his runs in behind the gap between the right bk and centre halfs and will get 10-15 a season from there which is what we are missing from midfield. Added to that he's still developing works back and proven in the prem

 

Townsend is a talent and for me suffered last season from being played out of position, as were most of the team. I want to see Andros on the left running past defenders and whipping crosses into the box which Soldado will lap up. For me Soldado is poacher,a Clive Allen type player and with the right service, he can become a true legend. I think Pochettino knows that and will get the best out of many of the players who just didn't turn up last year.