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.
We’re very unlikely to find a like for like replacement for Modric.
I’d like to see either Huddlestone replace him (better passer, more goals from midfield, better defensively, but not as creative or as mobile)
or Peanut (More goals from midfield, good at linking up with wingers/strikers, can create).
Who else would we replace him with?
Not sure if serious?
Huddlestone is not a better passer then Modric.
They score about the same amount of goals.
Huddlestone is not better defensively then Modric. Both are rather naive even do Modric work harder defensively and Huddlestone have the physical advantage.
But you are right, Modric is more creative and mobile.
Vertonghen deal is just about done,I don’t think we need any more defenders,if we get the loans back,and get of Rose’s back.Should have got Kagawa and shown Modric the door.
To me its all about getting a couple of class strikers,let Ade go,we can do a lot better and he seems to get very lazy once he’s got a contract(ask fans of all his previous clubs,come to think of it ask fans of all of the Arry’s previous clubs how they rate him)A new goalies needed too,I like the Swansea lad.
I KNOW
(sorry- won’t use this again)
I’ve been trying to work out what it means,I’m not too bright.
I KNOW!
(is mysterious ITK poster who said we were going to sign some belgian chap and our preloved manager was toast or some-such)
Isn’t 22m exactly the same as Chelsea’s opening offer last Summer? Levy must be thinking this ‘international fuck with Daniel week’…
:-D
Vertoghen will be a great addition – hopefully we’ll never see Rose in a Spurs shirt again (a lovely lad I’m sure but simply not good enough)
If Modric goes then surely Peanut can help in some way to cover? I thought it was very interesting in Harry’s rambling rant that when asked about Peanut he said that he couldn’t get in the team because he could only play on the left and that’s where Bale plays (he said the Bale bit with a straight face too). Peanut went back to Everton, played centrally and was amazing. We’ve also got Huddlestone back, Sandro fit and Livermore to play central. I just hope that if Modric is sold he goes abroad.
Ultimately this summer if we get Vertoghen it’s all about getting a striker and maybe some cover for Lennon.(and a new manager).
Goalkeeper is next summer’s priority.
We should sell Mods and get Mario Gotze. they play in similar roles and Gotze is young and may well be one of the best midfielders in the world in a few years time. The kid is class and could grow into a figure head for us. Not that Harry red nose even knows who he is. Poor old lamb chops, he is still trying to sign Gazza from the kebab shop down the road.