Good morning.
That old devil called Luka Modric again and the first out of the traps are The Mirror with a cobbled together piece that wants deconstructing and putting back together in a more logical order. Let’s kick off with the valuation of the pocket sized Croatian.
£22m they say. Now before the first of you screams the place down with er… screams of, ‘£40m and not a penny less!’ take a moment and consider two things. Firstly the valuation of fans is rarely in tune with that of football clubs. And by that I refer equally to under-valuations as well as the over estimates.
Secondly, Levy & Co. kept an uncompromisingly straight bat when it came to Modders. The boy has a contract with us with what, four years or whatever on it to run. There’s no buy out clause and there’s no gentlemen’s agreement.
Next to be factored in are the purchases made by the the supposed vultures themselves. Manchester United have just bought Shinji Kagawa. This is undoubtedly a player Slur Alex has bought to operate in a space that Modders could occupy.
“He’s simply a great footballer his movement is insane. I wouldn’t like to play against him.” Mats Hummels
“Kagawa can keep the ball in the smallest of spaces and is a quick decision-maker” Ryo Miyaichi
The most real threat is potentially from Chelsea. The Blue Racists are shopping with some gusto buying gifts galore for their new manager; but arguably have yet to buy a player that so obviously duplicates Modric.
And so to Leighton Baines. We should buy him. The fact that Slur Alex is whinging about the price is neither here nor there. United talk a big transfers but the reality is they are under enormous financial constraints. £15m is probably ‘toppy’ but we have a card up our sleeve here.
The Pienaar deal stank and indeed still stinks to high heaven. We bought him and yet it was painfully evident not only we didn’t know what to do with him, but his heart belonged to Goodison.
The wiseacres will chip in here, ‘but we bought him to make a quick buck on!’ But this is clearly rubbish. From who? Only Everton and nobody else in the whole wide world want him …and they’re skint members.
I don’t know the truth of why this all happened but what I do know is we have an excellent bargaining chip in relation to Baines.
Why Baines? Well, he’s very good at playing football would be the first box I’d check and second of all is the choice he would give us. Benny divides opinion and this is born quite rightly out of frustration. He’s the coolest left back in the west, but he’s not routinely the greatest.
Next season will be a tough campaign. If Arry manages to survive last season then it’s likely he’ll only be offered a contract of token length. Hence the out and out punt taken by a couple of papers yesterday in relation to this.
Champions League qualification will therefore be non negotiable despite what blabberchops has to say on the matter. There too will be the Europa and dare I even suggest it, domestic pots and pans to chase.
In conclusion, it will be fascinating to see what Levy & Co do upon their return to business next week. I have a suspicion they won’t be mucking about.
You gotta love a raunchy president.
You have to see the figures of 22 million (offered) and 32 million (asking) floated around re Modric simply as part of the media’s attempt to get Modric to Man U.–a similar tactic to their attempts to get him to Chelsea last year. At least 40 million cash as openers and no part deals involving Carrick etc. might be reasonable.
I do not see Baines as much better, if at all, than ABE. Lennon skunked him easily last season. Better to look for a really top striker than waste resources on him.
As to Man U they should focus on buying Terry to play alongside Ferdinand.
What about, Rio, Hernandez and 20mil?
We really need another forward or 2 depending on Adebeyor, I have no idea how much money is in the kitty.I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of our so called superstars go to finance the above.
I hope this Vertoghen deal is done.
Snow White and the Huntsman……dwarf porn
For me its 30ml + Berbatov.I know he left us on jet plane for greener pitches never to return again but the guy is quality and could do a great job for us up front.He has played little in the past 18months so should be fresh and can play with just about anyone up front.Get rid of Niko and with the money from him and through in a Bentley + a bag of peanuts and maybe Baines could be ours.Flog Charlie and a few other odds and ends and get Damoiu .All we now now need is a playmaker and i would go for the guy at Ajax.We would have a great shot at the league.Come on big D make these happen.
of all the areas to strengthen, I would say LB is low priority…especially as Baines would cost £10m-£15m + Pienaar. We have BAE (not everybody’s cuppa) and the new belgium lad covers left back, as does Bale.
With Krankie going, we need cover at LW and RW. We should be going for Hoilett IMO, he can cover both wings, he’s cheap (approx. £5m). The the rest of our kitty can be focused on the strike force.
For me….Remy, Adebayor and Dembelee.
Problem is with Vertonghen covering LB is who plays in the middle? I understood he was a direct replacement for King and with Gallas on his last legs, that leaves Caulker(?), Kaboul and Dawson, who we all know without Ledders is a liability to say the very least. Equally in each of the past three seasons Daws has suffered a long term injury. I’d also go for Gordon as cover, provided he’s fit and able, and get shot of Gomes, taking whatever we can get. I wouldn’t touch Ade with the proverbial and Remy’s performances against Arsenal were pretty shabby to say the least, huge outlay for a massive risk on both accounts, and one we can’t afford to get wrong-Dembele-definately, but I’d go for Fletcher who was outstanding in a very poor side