Spurs scouts spotted; players braced for exit

You only have to look at the comments in our player ratings of our defeat to Crystal Palace to see that many of us are desperate for Spurs to buy this window.

Whether it be in defence, midfield or attack – the papers, once again, have linked more players with a move to White Hart Lane this winter, while also linking current players with a move away.

Warm weather winter holiday

The Portuguese media, specifically A Bola, report that Spurs have sent scouts to their sunny shores to watch a game between Sporting Braga and Sporting Lisbon. The sources, who suspect Spurs of sending a scout, were also the ones who believed that Spurs scouts were in Lisbon on a frequent basis last year – watching Eric Dier.

A Bola are under the impression that Spurs scouts were at that very game to watch 28-year-old right-back Miguel Lopez. In the past week, there have been reports in Portugal that we are set for talks to sign the Sporting Lisbon man.

Portuguese media were unanimous in thinking that Lopes was on the verge of signing for us in the summer, but that a deal was cancelled due to an injury to the player. The defender has now returned to fitness and was an unused substitute in the game in question, but the assumption is that Tottenham have travelled to Portugal to meet with Sporting officials to discuss a possible deal.

A double deal to come out of Portugal?

As well as the game between Sporting Braga and Sporting Lisbon, it has also been queried as to whether Spurs scouts were at another game in Portugal – this time a game between Benfica and Guimaraes.

Portuguese papers take a guess as to say that Spurs could have been watching Benfica’s Argentine captain Nicolás Gaitán – who plays in an attacking midfield role. However, a sensible guess would be to suggest that Spurs were watching Benfica’s Dutch winger Ola John, as Gaitan has an asking price of around £30m.

In comparison, 22-year-old John, who scored Benfica’s second goal in a 3-0 win, is predominantly an inverted winger – a position Pochettino may look to fill. With Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend consistently linked with an exit, maybe it is John who could be a replacement. Rumour is that the player is available for around £7m and has been interesting fellow PL sides Swansea and Liverpool as of late.

Mirror mirror on the wall, tell us who’s off please?

As well as incomings, this window has been dominated by reports at outgoings at Spurs – something we would very much like to see for certain players. The players to be linked with a move out of North London today include the trio of; Kyle Naughton, Paulinho and Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Daily Mirror report that Leicester have tabled a £3m bid for Naughton, who Nigel Pearson believes can be instrumental in their bid for survival. Although Leicester are the only side reported to have made an official bid, The Mirror also add that QPR and Swansea remain interested.

As well as Naughton, The Daily Mirror also add that Paulinho may be subject to an official bid – the Brazilian, however, is wanted by Italian champions Juventus. Inter and AC Milan are still in the hunt for Paulinho, but it is accepted that they would only want to loan our number eight. In comparison, Juventus are preparing a financial package, according to The Mirror, that they believe will be enough to tempt Spurs to sell.

In conclusion to these reports, The Mirror finally conclude that Aaron Lennon is another player who has been given the green-light to leave – with Everton taking serious interest. As a result of these predicted outgoings, Spurs are said to be taking a keen interest in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s attacking midfielder – Eran Zahavi.

Abe-bye-no-more

Talks between Emmanuel Adebayor and Italian side Parma are said to be taking place, as reported by Parma Live. The site reports that the Togo-born striker will meet with the clubs representatives, Pietro Leonardi and Antonello Prieti, very soon.

Although it unlikely a deal will go ahead, due to Parma’s inability to afford Adebayor’s wages (which are rumoured to be around £110,000-a-week), there is good news to come out these reports.

The good news is that it is understood that Daniel Levy has spoken to Adebayor personally. Our chairman is said to have told the striker that he has been a disruptive influence at the club and plays no-part in our futures plans. As a result, you can only hope that an exit for our number ten, is sooner rather than later.

 

In this age of the 24 hour news cycle, we've all been conditioned to expect something new every 48 hours or so. I suspect fans expecting a lot of transfer activity at the Lane are in for a long month.
First of all, in terms of outgoings, I will be pleasantly surprised if we can shift more than 2 of our players this month. Adebayor (wages) and Paulinho and Soldado (selling price) are both difficult sells which probably cannot be done in a month. Kaboul and Capoue are simply difficult sales just in terms of pure quality. One has yet to show convincing form since his last long term injury and the other simply hasn't played enough times for any discerning eye to make a serious judgement on his attributes. That leaves us with Naughton and Lennon, who are our 2 most saleable assets this transfer window. We will do well to push both out of the door by the close of the transfer window.
Incomings: Pochettino and the Spurs board are playing a medium to long game. That means they understand that our long term problems are not going to be solved in one transfer window, or even in one season. It then follows that they are looking for young, intelligent and energetic players with a winning mentality to fit into the high energy, high press football that Poch wants us to play. With Paul Mitchell not being long in his seat, we're highly unlikely to have identified and scouted most of the quality we want, especially in this short transfer window. And that is not to speak of Carroll, Pritchard and other players we have out on loan, who have to be assessed at the end of this season. Our most urgent need is to get some help for Harry Kane, who will probably not last out the season if he has to carry the striking responsibilities on his young shoulders alone. Remember that we are on course to play the most matches in the Premier League if we get past Burnley on Wednesday. I will be happy if we can get in another striker / forward by 02/02/15. COYS!

 

Id be very suprised if we do any buisness at all as the powers that be arent really interested in the actual football team and are so clueless they think that theres nothing wrong with the disjointed squad of nobodies theyve aquired.
Its blatantly obvious we need a striker at least, and there are way too many wage thieves in the side that need forcing out the club.
Work needs to start to sort this mess out else this is not a transitional were in its just a waste of everyones time, like Levy and enics tenure!