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It is a glorious day everyone. Kevin will finally let me discuss Tottenham Hotspur transfer rumors again. It's a shame that posts like mine draw more eyes than the amazing piece The Sleeper's Sleep wrote about fan identification and the "y-word". If you've somehow stumbled upon my post due only to transfer rumors then I implore you, before you do anything else read that post (I'll even link to it a second time: HERE).
The January window opens in a little more than a month and in that time there will be lots of rumors, despite Harry Redknapp claiming that there will be no January signings. I firmly believe that we have a very strong squad, but I disagree with Harry Redknapp when he says that the squad is strong enough. In my mind, building a team is not something you only do in the summer. You have to constantly be buying and selling players in order to remain competitive.
It will be interesting to see, in the months ahead, what effect, if any, the de-listing of the club. Will we see an influx of investment and thus more money to buy players? Also, will we see the trend of buying young players continue or will why buy more experience "superstars"? I have some many questions and so few answers. What I do have are rumors. Check them out after the jump.
Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lukas Podolski: One thing Tottenham Hotspur does not have enough of is Germans. Another thing we don't have enough of is strikers. The folks over at Premiership Talk managed to add one to one and came up with two, in the form of Lukas Podolski. Podolski left Bayern Munich for FC Cologne back in 2009 and it seems that he is eager for European football again. Podolski is an excellent player for his country, but I've been less than impressed with his club performance. That said, the idea of Podolski and Bale cutting in from the wings is almost enough to make me want inverted wingers.
We Hebben Meer Nederlandse Spelers: Spurs are often linked with central defenders, particularly Gary Cahill, but this one is a new one. Jan Vertonghen is a competent centerback, leftback, and holding midfield player. Why he'd want to leave dutch Champions Ajax for Spurs, I have no idea, but this rumor says he's considering it. The £10 million price tag seems a bit low for the Dutch player, but I'd take him no matter the price. Vertonghen would provide a lot of versatility to the club and allow us to play all sorts of crazy formations. Imagine a three-man back line with Vertonghen sitting in front of it. Wouldn't that be fun?
You Can Never Have Enough Right Backs: Tottenham have always had a lot of right backs. Sure, they all seem to be injured right now, but that's not the point. Adding Sporting CP's Joao Periera, as this rumor suggests, makes no sense. He's valued a at £8 million, which isn't bad, but for a bench player is unnecessary. I think we all see Kyle Walker as Tottenham's long-term right back and Vedran Corluka is only 25 and is a competent replacement (though at some point he may leave for a first-team role somewhere else). Let's not also forget that Younes Kaboul can play right back and Kyle Naughton is on loan at Norwich City. I'd much prefer Naughton/Corluka be the long-term back-up for Walker than this Portugese guy.
More From Portugal: The most interesting part about this particular rumor, is that it says Everton and Tottenham are both in for Benfica midfielder Pablo Aimar. Everton don't buy anyone ever and even if they did they're certainly not going to outbid Spurs. This rumor makes me laugh. As far as Aimar himself, he's a good player, but at 32 he doesn't seem to be the type of player that Daniel Levy is interested in. He plays regularly and in the Champions League for Benfica and I can't see him wanting to come to North London to sit on the bench. His experience would be an asset to the club, but if he's more expensive than Scott Parker it's not going to be worth it.
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before: It seems like it's been a few years since we were linked with the purchase of Celtic's Scott Brown, but here it is again. Putting aside that Scottish football is completely shit, Brown is a decent player. He would have been a good addition to the club. I say "would" because we have Scott Parker now. Brown is Parker Lite, but at 26 has a few more years left. The Celtic skipper is out of contract at the end of the season and if Spurs really wanted to get him that would probably be the time to do it. He offers essentially the same things that Parker does, so with Sandro and Tom Huddlestone all still in the squad his addition makes little sense. If one or both of those players leaves this move makes a lot more sense.
£10 Million Is A Lot For Luka's Back-up: Queens Park Rangers find themselves in the middle of the table, due in no small part to the contributions of playmaker Alejandro Faurlin. The Argentine midfielder has attracted the interest of a number of clubs, but Q.P.R.'s new owners will not let him go on the cheap. Arsenal are also interested in Faurlin and honestly that move makes more sense. Tottenham have a lot of central midfielders. They do not have a true Luka Modric back-up, as we saw in the West Bromwich Albion match this weekend, and Faurlin would certainly be that. £10 million is too much though. Pass.
The Row Z Sweepstakes: Let's take a few minutes to look at some players we could be selling. Roman Pavlyuchenko is a player that could attract a lot of interest, or at least we all hope so. Rumor has it that Aston Villa and Everton (lol) are interested in the Russian striker. Also, French club Lille are, allegedly, interested in a swap of their striker Moussa Sow for Pavlyuchenko. I don't think an English club is Pav's likely destination and as much as I like the sound of the Sow deal I doubt it will happen. Pav's likely destination is Russia, plain and simple. Until I hear a good rumor about Zenit St. Petersburg or Rubin Kazan being in for our Row Z Assault Rifle then I will continue to feign disinterest.
Italian Giants In For Tottenham's Giant: Scott Parker has been a revelation for Spurs this season, but you know who else has been really good? Younes Kaboul. As a result, the Frenchman has been linked with a £14 million move to Juventus. There is absolutely no way this happens. Aside from being, thus far, one of our best central defenders Kaboul is also a competent fill-in at right back. I know Kaboul has some mental lapses and £14 million is a pretty good sum of money, but we have to hold on to him. Who knows how many more miles William Gallas and Ledley King have left in the tank.
Player We're Not Being Linked With But Should Be: Maybe you've forgotten now that we signed Emmanuel Adebayor, but #WeNeedAStriker. Ergo, we should be linked with Tim Matavz. I know, he just joined PSV this fall and I don't care. He's good. The Slovenian striker has six goals in ten matches for PSV. Matavz is 22, just like Leandro Damiao. He's 6'2" and can play up front on his own, just like Leandro. Matavz cost PSV €7 million, Leandro may cost us £25 million plus. This move will never happen, but that won't stop myself and Ryan Rosenblatt from keeping our fingers crossed.
Player We're Actually Going To Sign...This Week: Well, as I mentioned earlier, Harry says we aren't going to sign anyone. As much as I'd like for Spurs to sign Leandro Damiao, it's not going to happen. We've been linked with a number of other young Brazilians (Oscar and Casemiro specifically), but the player I think we're most likely to buy is Barcelona defender Marc Bartra. If I remember correctly, he is out of contract at the end of the year and, with Barcelona being where good young players go to die, now may be a good time for a change of scenery. A good young defender is certainly something we could use. Someone to partner Steven Caulker for the future. This seems like the quintessential Levy signing.