150m EUR is about 128m GBP. If City are willing to put that much money on the table (and that's not even necessarily a final offer), I think this deal gets done. Take the money Daniel!
Spurs 21/22: Conte? Conte!!
- Thread starter DJnVa
- Start date
Sonny with a great goal but what a revelation Tanganga was. Moura was terrific & Skipp more than held his own. The atmosphere at the stadium was incredible as well.
What a win!
What a win!
Best cam of the goal I found so far:
View: https://youtu.be/qT23Cfohhnk
Edit: man, Nuno is immensely likeable:
View: https://youtu.be/LCqsLIOKzIg
View: https://youtu.be/qT23Cfohhnk
Edit: man, Nuno is immensely likeable:
View: https://youtu.be/LCqsLIOKzIg
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Bigtime start to the season. Encouraging how much better the squad looks when there's a real plan in place. I didn't get to watch closely, but the defense looked buoyed by Skipp, Japh, and a more composed Dier. I didn't notice Dele for the first 20-30 minutes. Son is a treasure. Lucas continues to be peak Lucas, which is probably OK for this team. Will be fun to see how this team comes together when GLC, Romero, and Ndombele (maybe?) are integrated. Lots of fun pieces to work with.
Dele really came alive 2nd half I thought after being somewhat invisible 1st half. More in the tackle than in the offense honestly. Given both the performance and Nuno's comments about using his box-to-box running ability, we might have to recalibrate what a good Dele performance looks like after years of using him as more of an attacker to diminishing returns.
This 3-pronged counter attacking unit of Son, Moura, and Bergwijn must be terrifying as a defence.
They can fly down the pitch. Moura can dribble past 2 or even 3 midfielders. Bergwijn motors all day long & passing better than he did all last season. Son is, well, Son.
BTW, Aké got a lot of crap for the goal but Sonny created the extra space himself by pulling the ball from inside the box to outside before striking.
The credit has to go to Nuno. This already looks and feels like a whole new team. Even when Kane & Son were potting goals left & right at the start of last season, it didn't feel like this.
It's one match and can't have a letdown against Watford. It's still damn exciting (relieved?) to see.
They can fly down the pitch. Moura can dribble past 2 or even 3 midfielders. Bergwijn motors all day long & passing better than he did all last season. Son is, well, Son.
BTW, Aké got a lot of crap for the goal but Sonny created the extra space himself by pulling the ball from inside the box to outside before striking.
The credit has to go to Nuno. This already looks and feels like a whole new team. Even when Kane & Son were potting goals left & right at the start of last season, it didn't feel like this.
It's one match and can't have a letdown against Watford. It's still damn exciting (relieved?) to see.
At some point Ndombele should no longer be counted on, no?
This is the 4th manager he can't quite seem to jibe with. Maybe it's him.
He needs a loan, maybe back to Ligue 1, to get himself sorted out. He was so, so good as a 21yo, doing everything as box-to-box mid should at a high level. That kind of talent doesn’t just evaporate. He needs game time and support to rediscover it.
Nuno did well developing midfielders at Wolves - Neves and Deondocker notably. But can Ndombele get enough run at Spurs this season to get his mojo back?
Rumors are that he's looking for a move--not sure if Spurs are willing to acquiesce. SoMe SaY tHaT's A M.O. oF tHe ClUb...
I think people are getting a little carried away with the quality of the performance yesterday. It was much better than anything from the second half of last season and the fighting spirit and more aggressive tactics were nice but Spurs still wasn't that good. Spurs still weren't able to get any kind of control in midfield, either with or without the ball, and really struggled to deal with the City press. The attack relied entirely on quick transitions, and when those didn't come off they couldn't really create anything. Sanchez continues to be a real weakness on the ball and neither PEH nor Skipp offered anything in possession. City spurned 2 or 3 great chances that were better than anything Spurs created (e.g. Mahrez skying over from 10 yards out) and probably deserved to get something from the game.
It's a good result but this is still very much a work in progress.
It's a good result but this is still very much a work in progress.
This is not wrong. I liked the aggressiveness of defense creating more quick transitions, that seems like a more sustainable way to play against these kinds of possession hungry teams than getting fewer of those chances with a Jose defense and betting on Son/Kane's ruthlessness.
The next two matches should be interesting, being a team Spurs should be significantly better than and a team Spurs should be somewhat better than. That'll help get a more complete picture of the new style than just a City match, which is its own beast.
In the past their counter-attack hinged on Kane dropping deep, picking up the ball, turning and then hitting a long pass towards one of the wingers. City eventually adjusted to that over time by sticking to Kane and often cynically fouling him before he could make that pass. Under Nuno (and without Kane) they came up with a different plan and that meant more pressure on the ball (while still conceding possession) and relying more on the dribbling of Lucas/Son/Bergwijn to launch the counter and they did that successfully.
Seems pretty obvious this comes from Kane's camp:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/08/17/harry-kane-tells-daniel-levy-stick-deal-let-leave-spurs-manchester/
Might need a sub, but it says:
--Levy won't take Man City's calls
--Levy is reneging on letting him leave if they didn't win trophy or finish top 4
--Levy said Kane could come back to training late
It's possible he's not taking their calls because the last bid reported was not want he wants. Levy is under no obligation to accept less than his price point.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/08/17/harry-kane-tells-daniel-levy-stick-deal-let-leave-spurs-manchester/
Might need a sub, but it says:
--Levy won't take Man City's calls
--Levy is reneging on letting him leave if they didn't win trophy or finish top 4
--Levy said Kane could come back to training late
It's possible he's not taking their calls because the last bid reported was not want he wants. Levy is under no obligation to accept less than his price point.
Their latest:
https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2021/8/18/22629754/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-rumors-harry-kane-thrown-gauntlet-demand-sale-manchester-city
That's accurate.
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Yeah, that was the one that finally got me to hit the unfollow button. Acting like jilted lovers.
The most naive aspect of this from Kane is that he both wants to leave but also wants to protect his reputation with the fanbase. You can't have it both ways, Harry.
I think Kane’s been handling this like someone who’s dipshit brother is his agent rather than anyone competent.
CFC’s been pretty cringey nonetheless in their articles, it’s been a lot less fun to read than usual above and beyond the fact that a bummer of a thing is happening.
He could have even had his cake and eaten it if he wasn’t following the advice of the galatically stupid.
Show up to training on time, say you love the team but need more ambition. Say you don’t want to leave them in the lurch though and expect a good return. Tell Levy you want out and to take the best offer but you’ll play the game.
You do that and a good chance you get both.
He has played this literally as poorly from the messaging and professional perspective as possible. It’s borderline criminal how badly he’s handled this, when it’s pretty easy not to have an entire country turn against you.
In reality I think Kane is actually right here, but he’s screwed up so badly I’m siding with Levy on this. You can keep compounding mistakes like he and his team are.
In my mind Tottenham lost Kane when they hired Jose, spent money unwisely on players who have offered minimal help and had a complete circus in finding a new manager. This is the game, Kane is looking out for his own interests because Levy certainly hasn't done that over the past few seasons have Tottenham have bottled away a promising core and Kane has nothing to show for it.
Personally, I hate heavily-editorialized articles masquerading as news pieces, and DGM has acted like a complete idiot during this entire process instead of just accepting that Tottenham blew it.
How does that justify coming in camp late, essentially missing the opening match by his own will, and now barely getting ready for match 2?
I think we all know WHY he wants to leave. The backlash is for HOW he and his brother are doing it.
The Extra Inch talked about this on the pod earlier this week. Their take was that NES looked at Dele and recognized that whatever limitations he has in training (per Mou--what an ass) don't exist on matchday and that he's a willing runner and capable of being a B2B MF. Having him as the AMF in a MF3 still lets him be the late arrival to the box and utilize his attacking skills. After a few seasons without having a best position, it's surprising and possible that this is the fit. If so, what a huge turnaround, albeit one that should be reasonably expected coming from the Mou shitshow.
Perhaps the best part of all of this is that this doesn't necessarily rule out Dele playing in other roles. If NES has the front 3 play very narrow often like they did against Citeh, it's not hard at all to see Dele flourishing in that setup too.
First time reading that Man City is relenting to Levy's price tag on Kane:
https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2021/8/18/22630451/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-rumors-manchester-city-preparing-150m-bid-start-negotiations
"Now THAT’S more like it. Less than a day after Harry Kane’s camp reportedly “threw down the gauntlet” in a one-sided Telegraph article by Jason Burt demanding that Tottenham Hotspur sell him to Manchester City, there’s now a new report in the Independent from Miguel Delaney stating that City are preparing a £150m bid for Kane in the last two weeks of the transfer window."
The striker is also being left out of the Spurs squad for the Europa qualifiers in Portugal this Friday.
https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2021/8/18/22630451/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-rumors-manchester-city-preparing-150m-bid-start-negotiations
"Now THAT’S more like it. Less than a day after Harry Kane’s camp reportedly “threw down the gauntlet” in a one-sided Telegraph article by Jason Burt demanding that Tottenham Hotspur sell him to Manchester City, there’s now a new report in the Independent from Miguel Delaney stating that City are preparing a £150m bid for Kane in the last two weeks of the transfer window."
The striker is also being left out of the Spurs squad for the Europa qualifiers in Portugal this Friday.
Man City is who Kane should be mad at in this. They spent 100 on a luxury player like grealish (they have 5 high priced players in that spot), but have made lowball offers for Kane, the position they need the most.
Levy was always going to sell once it got around 150/60m.
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It makes sense if you think less about it as "what do Man City need?" and more "what does Pep want?". The man loves an attacking midfielder and is deeply suspicious of a striker. I imagine they've had to show him a lot of video of Kane dropping into the midfield for him to even entertain the idea.
I don't think this is quite right. For some reason Pep seems to be single-mindedly fixated on Kane, to the point where it looks like City are going to overpay by quite a lot compared to other strikers out there given Kane's age and injury history. Like if you're going to spend that much on a striker, just buy Haaland or Mbappe.
Eh, Pep certainly doesn't like Gabriel Jesus that much as an every day player, but he also oversaw peak Lewandowski years at Bayern and Augero scored a million goals for him.
My conspiracy theory, that I'm not sure I fully believe, is that Man City is trying to buy English relevancy so people don't just think of them as the middle east oil club.
Buying the most popular players from England is an attempt to buy respect.
I was more joking than proposing a serious theory, but he did seem to want to move on from Aguero his entire tenure there, it just kept not working.
Mbappe doesn't play the middle as well as the other 2, and while Haaland is the MF truth, I'd rather have Kane for the next 2 seasons if I can put City's supporting cast around him.
I wouldn’t. I’d rather pay 300 million or 400 million for Haaland. What he’s doing at his age is absolutely absurd.
I venture into the Spurs thread in peace—I wouldn’t expect any of you to be happy to sell your talisman to City and of course you’ll have anger toward City. The British media don’t make it easy in the way they report on bids being in or bids never happening. Bid amounts are always being fabricated and the daily news cycle churns to drag the process out in this excruciating manner. This situation seems even worse because for some reason it has been decided that Kane’s brother is the incompetent villain here and that narrative seems to really cause Spurs fans to froth at the mouth. I remember some of that happening with Sane supposedly related to his mother. It’s all just too protracted and difficult for fans to process.
In the end I think it is certain that City are offering well above the British transfer record for a 28 year old striker. Although it wasnot quite the case by end of last season I think Levy generally plays the PR game well and has managed to work this situation well to his advantage. I don’t have many Spurs fans in my real life circle but I think I’d be talking with them about why fans should be rooting for the winning of negotiations as the measuring stick. Yes, Levy managed to keep Modric, Bale, etc for marginally longer and build his hard man reputation but what is he accomplishing? In the end he often sells the player late in the window and then you don’t have time to spend the money that comes in.
The player wants to go and the offer isn’t insulting. It is fine for Spurs to value him even higher than Citys offer but the constant leaks to the press and the overall posture is often so combative. Maybe the market for Kane is there in Jan or next summer, I can’t say, but while it is never easy to sell your top player once that was out there in the open I can’t help but feel that Spurs best interests were in minimizing the impact of losing Kane more than maximizing the return. Levy should have been focused on negotiating a clean exit and having good targets to fortify the squad. Instead the sides may or may not be negotiating and many of the targets you’ve been linked to haven’t wanted the move. Of course maybe that’s what has happened and the British media is just creating this storm, of course
I venture into the Spurs thread in peace—I wouldn’t expect any of you to be happy to sell your talisman to City and of course you’ll have anger toward City. The British media don’t make it easy in the way they report on bids being in or bids never happening. Bid amounts are always being fabricated and the daily news cycle churns to drag the process out in this excruciating manner. This situation seems even worse because for some reason it has been decided that Kane’s brother is the incompetent villain here and that narrative seems to really cause Spurs fans to froth at the mouth. I remember some of that happening with Sane supposedly related to his mother. It’s all just too protracted and difficult for fans to process.
In the end I think it is certain that City are offering well above the British transfer record for a 28 year old striker. Although it wasnot quite the case by end of last season I think Levy generally plays the PR game well and has managed to work this situation well to his advantage. I don’t have many Spurs fans in my real life circle but I think I’d be talking with them about why fans should be rooting for the winning of negotiations as the measuring stick. Yes, Levy managed to keep Modric, Bale, etc for marginally longer and build his hard man reputation but what is he accomplishing? In the end he often sells the player late in the window and then you don’t have time to spend the money that comes in.
The player wants to go and the offer isn’t insulting. It is fine for Spurs to value him even higher than Citys offer but the constant leaks to the press and the overall posture is often so combative. Maybe the market for Kane is there in Jan or next summer, I can’t say, but while it is never easy to sell your top player once that was out there in the open I can’t help but feel that Spurs best interests were in minimizing the impact of losing Kane more than maximizing the return. Levy should have been focused on negotiating a clean exit and having good targets to fortify the squad. Instead the sides may or may not be negotiating and many of the targets you’ve been linked to haven’t wanted the move. Of course maybe that’s what has happened and the British media is just creating this storm, of course
I wouldn't put too much stock in all the noise in the press. I think Levy will ultimately sell and is just holding out to get the highest price he can. I suspect Spurs already have targets lined up for spending the money. I think the Romero deal was an example of this. It'd be better to get the business done faster, but getting full value for Kane is critical. City have already reportedly gone up from 100m to 125m, so the strategy is working, and I suspect they will go higher. It's a negotiation and ultimately we can only judge these things by the result, not by the posturing and leaks in the press in the meantime.
The "Kane's brother is bad at this" thing is probably somewhat overblown for the sake of putting a narrative on the drips of press nonsense, but this process is making me understand anew and even somewhat appreciate the whole loudmouth super-agent thing by contrast. Having a Mino Raola or a Scott Boras just throwing out all the flak and taking all the heat while the player keeps his head down, does his thing and makes anodyne statements seems a lot better for the player and even for the fans than whatever Kane's team has been putting together as a PR strategy.
Hell though, if he doesn't get sold and has a good season, I don't expect his issues with the fans to be as permanent as some are bloviating. It's rarely the wrong move to rely on the goldfish memory of sports fans or media.
Hell though, if he doesn't get sold and has a good season, I don't expect his issues with the fans to be as permanent as some are bloviating. It's rarely the wrong move to rely on the goldfish memory of sports fans or media.
Levy hasn’t leaked anything to the media other than “our striker with 3 years left on his contract isn’t for sale”. Which is what every chairman of every club ever says during every transfer window.
every leak has been by Kane’s camp to try and force a move and they’re doing it in the worst way possible as absolute amateurs. If Kane had real reps the move might be done already.
I don’t think it’s overblown how bad his team has been. Forcing moves happens all the time without turning a country against their captain.
I agree it’ll all mainly be forgotten though with the media cycles moving on after the window shuts.
Another reason to hire a super-agent is that clubs have to worry about jerking them around too much because it's a repeated game and the club will have to deal with that agent again in the future. Whereas certainly nobody cares about getting on the wrong side of Charlie Kane.
Come on this is a naive take. Kane wasn’t leaking that he was supposed to return to training and Kane’s side isn’t leaking all these “Levy won’t sell at any cost but heres the cost he would sell at “ stories. All parties in this are using the media for their purposes but you’re so white hot angry about Kane’s brother you can’t see the rest
Agree with Teddy, everyone imo is doing their job to get their desired outcome. It's tough for Spurs fans because ultimately we know this is the end of an era for Tottenham and we are losing our best players because the team has failed to be competitive in recent years.
The only naivety here is by Kane’s team on what they think a gentleman’s agreement is.
Every player across the country that participated in the tournaments were due back at training that day and Kane didn’t show. The reporters were at the ground watching Lo Celso and Sanchez walk back in after copa. They saw Kane wasn’t back. I’m sure Spurs confirmed to journalists off the record that he was expected back but that’s hardly a leak. Meanwhile again yesterday Kane’s camp gave multiple stories about how they feel wronged and the end of the story it even says “Spurs declined to comment”. Also the number he might sell at? That’s coming from something Charlie Kane said at a wedding.
I don’t have a problem with the transfer at all, but to say that Kane’s reps have handled this fine like all other transfers defies belief. I really don’t understand how anyone can believe that.
Grealish went to training, has real reps, got his move. I have a feeling ndombele wants out, isn’t even training, but has kept everything professional so he may get a move. Kouma seems to want out of Chelsea, but has a real team handling it and he might get sold without fanfare. Kane is the biggest name here, but if he just plays the transfer game like a professional, none of this would be happening.
I don’t have any hatred for Charlie Kane other than my hatred of bad PR when good PR is easy, I’ve been doing it for a living for years.
I wouldn’t and haven’t said they’ve handled this fine. These type of top class player breakups are always messy but this one has been especially messy. But you’re acting as if Saint Levy is just sitting in his office at WHL nose to the grindstone while the Kane camp lobs grenades. He’s doing plenty with his media contacts and part of the reason why Charlie Kane is getting so much grief is because Levy is putting all that out there. There’s no version of this where Levy isn’t a major actor in how we got here and Kane himself is almost surely telling the truth about whatever gentleman’s agreement they had. Which is, I agree, a dumb thing to rely on and amateurism on display.
I agree with others that you can see why the super agents act the way they do in transfers. If Kane were working with Mino they’d have made this entire situation far more uncomfortable for Levy and probably would have made it all even uglier but in a more normal way. And the agent would be the greedy bastard giving simple man Harry bad/greedy advice driving him away.
I agree with others that you can see why the super agents act the way they do in transfers. If Kane were working with Mino they’d have made this entire situation far more uncomfortable for Levy and probably would have made it all even uglier but in a more normal way. And the agent would be the greedy bastard giving simple man Harry bad/greedy advice driving him away.
I don't disagree with either of you, fundamentally.
Regardless, the Levy calculation is 150+ and deal gets done. Does the non-City market bear this out? Probably not. But that's the market in play.
City and Harry (or Charlie) crying for less doesn't make sense, nor should it really matter.
Regardless, the Levy calculation is 150+ and deal gets done. Does the non-City market bear this out? Probably not. But that's the market in play.
City and Harry (or Charlie) crying for less doesn't make sense, nor should it really matter.
I mean, you said you thought his brother was fine. Maybe that doesn't mean "handled it fine", but I just happened to disagree that Charlie Kane has been anything other than a disaster for Harry, with the biggest issue being not adding any out clauses to his contract, but also this amateur way of forcing a move.
And "st. Levy"?, I'll repeat what I've said at other times here, Levy is the actual villain here. He's screwed up so much over the last 4 years that every Spurs fan should be mad at him (I'm glad he finally hired a DOF at least). To a degree it's why I'm so annoyed at Kane's reps. They've bungled this to the point of having Levy look like the upstanding person here, even though he's not. And every move and statement the Kane team has made (including stupid things like not saying anything after Spurs win this weekend, when he's tweeted after every Spurs game his entire career) has made him look worse.
I'm a relatively new yid, so take this with a grain of salt but I'm not as bothered by this Kane saga as others. I do think Charlie Kane is an amateur playing a sophisticated game and getting outclassed, but other than Kane's relationship with Spurs fans and maybe some England NT fans I don't think it will matter much.
More importantly, I think Levy/Paratici 1) want to extract as much value from Kane's sale, 2) while still leaving enough time to bring in another striker, and 3) didn't want Kane to play for City or perhaps even be a City player for GW 1. IOW, I think this gets resolved in the next week with a fee of £ 140-160M, with the delta made up in add-ons.
And if Kane ends up staying, Spurs win the EPL and all is forgiven. For you Ted Lasso fans, the scene where Jamie Tartt was about to make his return debut for Richmond and the announcer says "fans can be a fickle bunch, not sure if they'll accept him back" and then there's a cut to the pub with the fans singing the Jamie Tartt tune is instructive here.
More importantly, I think Levy/Paratici 1) want to extract as much value from Kane's sale, 2) while still leaving enough time to bring in another striker, and 3) didn't want Kane to play for City or perhaps even be a City player for GW 1. IOW, I think this gets resolved in the next week with a fee of £ 140-160M, with the delta made up in add-ons.
And if Kane ends up staying, Spurs win the EPL and all is forgiven. For you Ted Lasso fans, the scene where Jamie Tartt was about to make his return debut for Richmond and the announcer says "fans can be a fickle bunch, not sure if they'll accept him back" and then there's a cut to the pub with the fans singing the Jamie Tartt tune is instructive here.
I completely agree that he'll get welcomed back eventually if he stays and performs. Fans will be the goldfish. The Gerrard comparison is apt.
I don't think it's crazy to think fans have turned on him right now though. WHL was chanting "are you watching Harry Kane?" for the last 10 minutes of the match this weekend.
I am enjoying the active Spurs thread though. Probably going to wind up being a 6-8 placed team this year and we'll probably not have a ton to talk about after the window closes.
You never really know with transfer business. Its entirely plausible to me that the clubs have already agreed a fee in principal but they're keeping it quiet until Spurs sign some players or the whole thing is contingent upon Spurs being able to bring in certain replacement targets. For example, if they can't bring in Lautaro or Vlahovic, a Kane sale this summer probably looks a lot less attractive.
If I recall, this is essentially what Levy did with Bale. They had the deal agreed for weeks but kept it under wraps while Spurs spent the money, then Bale was formally sold on one of the last days of the window.
If I recall, this is essentially what Levy did with Bale. They had the deal agreed for weeks but kept it under wraps while Spurs spent the money, then Bale was formally sold on one of the last days of the window.
Yes, IIRC Levy spent that whole summer denying that Bale was for sale at all. This is to avoid the situation Barca got into post-Neymar with Dembele and Coutinho where you get robbed blind because your counterparties know you are flush with cash and need to buy immediate replacements.