Today in transfer news that makes no sense and will never happen, the Daily Star has linked Spurs with West Brom's 30 year-old center-back Jonas Olsson. To replace Benoit Assou-Ekotto. At left-back. What?
The part about Benny leaving makes some sense, and this rumor piggybacks off the recent stories linking the Cameroonian with a move to Fenerbahce. According to the Star, supposedly BAE is already in Istanbul for a medical. While the bit about the medical sounds totally made up, Spurs fans have long expected Benny to depart this summer and with rumors of his impending Turkish transfer swirling, it looks only a matter of time before our LOLing cult hero moves on.
Where it all falls apart is the idea that Spurs are going to spend actual money on a 30 year-old who doesn't even play the same position as Benny to replace him. The article says he will provide cover at center-back and at left-back, but there's several reasons why that's really dumb. First, he's not a left-back. Not even "not a left-back" like Jan Vertonghen is not a left-back. He's really not a left-back. He played left-back a few times six years ago when he was still at NEC Nijmegen. And has not played there again since.
So that's dumb.
It's also dumb to think we're going to bring in another center-back. We're almost certainly not. AVB has already said that he only wants 4 CBs at the club next year. We've already released Gallas. Now we have 4. Exactly the number of CBs AVB has said he wanted. If we do need another center-back, it will not be an aging backup on the cheap.
Otherwise we would have just kept William Gallas. If we do bring in another center-back, it will almost certainly be someone in the mold of Toby Alderweireld--a young, promising guy to build a future around--rather than a midtable old guy looking for a last paycheck.
This entire rumor seems extrapolated from one barely tangentially related quote:
"I love the mix of football and London and the feeling when you're down there. That's the ambition in the future."
Swedish guy stuck in the Midlands enjoys only major city in England? Oh he's on his way to Spurs for sure. Great job, journalism.
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