Fantasy January transfer window

With other clubs already active in the transfer window – including our target Wilfried Bony moving to Manchester City – any kind of transfer into our club is becoming increasingly unlikely. All of the transfer rumours so far have been players leaving the club – and yet, given the performances after the Chelsea game, I am struggling to see why.

Still missing something in midfield

What has been apparent is that in the past few games, we have missed Bentaleb and Mason in the midfield area. This has been naïve on our part; we knew from the start of the season the AFCON was going to take away some of our African players during this busy period.

With Bentaleb's increasing importance in the success of the team, highlighted by the magnificent performances of him and Mason in the 5-3 victory over Chelsea, it bewilders me as to why we didn't move quickly to bring somebody of a similar aptitude in. Furthermore, beyond the AFCON, it would bring competition for places, which can only improve the squad.

Deadwood still not shifted

Dubbed 'The Magnificent Seven' now, I believe only Eriksen, Chadli and possibly Erik Lamela have a future at Spurs. Soldado simply hasn't produced in front of goal, Paulinho doesn't seem to be motivated – although recently he has improved – and Chiriches cannot compete for a CB role given his complete lack of physicality.

This leaves Capoue – who has shown signs of something promising, however the addition of Benjamin Stambouli, a player who I like a lot, so I think Capoue could go.

This means that a large percentage of the Bale money has gone to waste – but it would also fund a potential move for players that suit Pochettino's system better. Moreover, it surely must be a priority to offload Adebayor, Kaboul, Naughton, and Dembele – these are players with no future at the club that are just preventing us from improving our squad.

Players coming in

Right now, the most important thing is bringing players in that suit the manager's system and style of play. Like others, I'd be happier to see Poch bring in players he knows than a marquee signing that flops. Despite this, there are a number of big name players that we could go for.

The name of Radamel Falcao is one that I do NOT think will happen, but with the player reportedly discontent at United under Van Gaal, we could offer to take him on loan next season, with a view to buying – and with a good finish to the season, this actually might happen. We would have to offload Ade, Paulinho and possibly one other to fund his wages, but with the Colombian a proven goalscorer in European football, it would definitely be an exciting move. Another potential move that appeals to me is Jay Rodriguez of Southampton.

Koeman has recently brought in Eljero Elia, who scored twice yesterday, so a move for Rodriguez that would increase his chances of playing first-team football but would also reunite him with Pochettino could reap benefits for Spurs. Another potential advantage of this move is that Rodriguez could play anywhere across the front three, and possibly even in Eriksen's role as cover.

Finally, a move for Morgan Schneiderlin is now a necessity. As covered earlier, any midfield partnership we put together seems to have a distinct lack of running to it – essential in a high pressing game. Dembele doesn't cover enough ground, Stambouli does all his work with the ball, and along with Capoue they don't have as much of an attacking mindset as one of Mason/Bentaleb. This is why it is essential to bring Schneiderlin in. He provides legs in the midfield, allowing us to employ the same tactic that worked so well for Liverpool last season – a midfield consisting of one fantastic ballplayer – Steven Gerrard (in our case, this would be Capoue or Stambouli, both of which have a good range of passing but won't be a box-to-box player) and a covering midfielder who does all the running – Jordan Henderson (Schneiderlin fits perfectly into this category).

As always with transfers, it is vital that players are as good or better than what we have at the minute. However, it is also worth keeping in mind the abundance of youth talent we seem to be bringing through currently. With the right players leaving, and hopefully the addition of one or two, we can make a firm push for (hopefully) a coveted Champions League place.

As ever, COYS.

 

Radamel Falcao : Can't cut it at the Manc Camp, on ridiculous wages
and become an expensive flop in same vane as Balotelli, Adebayor Soldado !! NO NO NO !!!!

Jay Rodriguez: Injury pronje and not worth the gamble. Had that with 'Sicknote' Anderton . NO NO !!

Morgan Schneiderlin: Seems to have settled with new manager and committed to Saints !! Why swap THIRD place and potential CL for FIFTH or SIXTH and the inferior EL ????

 

Annoys me when people say the "Bale money" is wasted. We've invested it in players. We'll no doubt take a hit on the likes of Soldado but as long as we get a reseasonable return for Paulinho and co I can't see how it's been wasted.

 

This is individual views - Falcao is a proven goalscorer at European level, he's better than Balotelli, Ade and Soldado combined. Personally, I think Rodriguez would be worth the risk - and with regards to Schneiderlin, I never said it was likely, but I believe we must put a bid in - or find someone else of similar stature.

I'm intrigued as to who you think we should go in for. Teams in the past have fallen away because they've missed out on players in January and so their squad is restricted - the two options are to sell the deadwood and bring players in, or keep using the deadwood.

mynameisJeff, who would buy Paulinho for any kind of money based on the form he's shown for us?

Probably sounds like I'm getting really defensive about my article, I don't mean to

 

Soldado, Lennon, Paulinho, Dembele, Capoue, Kaboul, Chiriches, Naughton - Out

Gaitan, Albiol, Zaza - In

 

As much as we would all like to see some new names, there is a lot of of pie-in-the-sky thinking here. First of all, as discussed in other articles on this forum, we need to shift players on our roster to bring in new blood. That seems to be proving as difficult as most of us suspected it would.
But even more fanciful are some of the suggested names to come in: there's just about no chance of Falcao coming to WHL as it would amount to football suicide for Man U to sell or loan him to us. Anyway, I don't think UEFA's rules about loans will be in our favour in such a deal.
Morgan Schneiderlin will wait for the summer before deciding on any moves if he has any sense and Rodriguez is simply a non-starter.
Kanoplyanka is an interesting case though, as mentioned elsewhere on this site. I took special care to have a look at him when we played Dnipro last season and his quality was there for all to see, even if he didn't really shift out of second gear at the Lane. I don't know what his attitude is like but, if it comes anywhere near his natural ability, then someone is going to get themselves one very good, slick, attacking and goalscoring midfielder. Why not us?
Good to see Stambouli beginning to settle in and show us what he's got. I realise we've had some bad experiences with some of last season's signings, but we don't have to jump down the throats of our new foreign signings if they don't come up to scratch in their first few games. Patience is almost always a virtue, as Fazio and Stambouli are showing this season. COYS!

 

Given that money is tight my three targets would be pre contracts for delph ings and Reid then try and get
them to released from there contracts eearly like we did holtby. Falcao well out of our price range. Rodriguez a,non starter due to his injury. Cannot see Southampton selling Schneiderlin or anyone else given the start they have made. Konopkplaya is a very realistic target as in Ntep. If we did manage to shift a few big names then two marquee signings I would like cabaye and berahino/benteke

 

Mason played like 5 mins in the chelski game...

 

My mistake, I meant just Bentaleb who was fantastic vs Chelsea, but Mason has also been class in games this season

 

The Bale money was wasted- Big Time