Scott Brown is a little bit of a grey area
Friday, May 22, 2009 at 9:20AM Scott Brown is apparently on his way to Spurs. So say the assortment of ITK characters living up in Scotland and the ones who are said to be privy to inside information down South that confirm the Celtic midfielder is set to move to N17 for a cool fee of around £10M. You'll have read this already I'm sure on one or two blogs out there along with the usual busy forums that churn out this type of transfer tat long before the red tops get wind of it.
Except this time, it's not so much tat but tangible possibility.
So who is Scott Brown? What type of player is he? And are we over-spending? If, of course, this is actually happening. But for the sake of it, let's pretend it is.
I haven't seen enough of him and there is plenty of debate to be found at the minute where people throw around the usual 'Scottish football is shit' argument to validate their opinion that Brown is over-rated whilst other say he is a robust far more competitive and mentally strong version of Jermaine Jenas. He had an off season recently due to personal issues which affected his goal-scoring ratio (and has increased his yellow-card tally), but otherwise is highly rated and can handle himself more than most - which isn't a bad thing considering the thunderous nature of the Old Firm derby games.
It's easy I guess to spew out countless (recent) Scottish players who have failed to impressive in England (Barry Ferguson anyone?). Hutton hasn't done badly for us and looks more than suitable for the Prem and I'm sure that will be the case once he is back to full fitness.
Brown has a great motor and can run all day, capable of making effective runs into the box. He can track back and tackle. But apparently also gives the ball away needlessly and is young and still needs to develop his all-round game.
Bleeding 'eck, he is the Scottish version of Jenas.
For the price being quoted you'd except him to start alongside Wilson giving us a proper hard nut central midfield pairing. So what of Huddlestone, O'Hara, Zokora and of course JJ?
One of the ITK side-rumours relates to a £6M deal rising to £10M with a player moving to Celtic. Can only see Jamie making that move, if there is any truth in it.
Celtic fans obviously rate Brown but seem fine to take £10M off us. I need more in the way of opinion to understand if this is the right type of player we need. Apparently his first touch isn't great (Zokora anyone?) and doesn't have the passing range of Huddlestone. But his drive and passion is unparalleled.
So is Harry looking towards having a fighting midfield rather than a creative one? Or will Wilson and Brown boss it, allowing Modric to conduct offensive play?
Or are we paying Celtic £10M for a Palacios understudy - which is something we do need if we are working towards a strong squad. But £10M?
Is this a risk too far?
Willie McKay is his agent by the way.
Done and dusted then.
Reader Comments (26)
Not worth 10 million....maybe worth 5 million quid at most, especially without a trial in the premiership...
The type of aggressive mentality we need at Spurs. A fighter, a winner, but he's not 'world class' or on the road to being so and with all due respect to Scottish football, he's not a £10M player compared to his Premier league counterparts.
Still think this is a done deal though.
I like him, might be inflated price wise, but cracking player to have in the squad and I can see us bossing/dominating some games with him and Wison in the middle if we need to fight and win battles in the centre of the park. I'd snap him him.
Signing doesn't excite me. Hutton can't claim the RB position as his own with Corluka playing there and he cost £9M. Not sure £10M for a player that might or might not be a first choice regular is worth it. Upgrade on Jenas is required, but one that is more established and more creative than Brown.
If this does happen, then I think it could be an indication that Redknapp is building a team around Modric.
A brick wall behind the elusive left sided attacking player, modric and Lennon. Trouble is, that only leaves space for one target man up top, four into one doesn't fit and none of our current lot fit the bill anyway.
If it's 4-4-2 Redknapp intends to play next season then it's a bad move.
Spooky - Consider this a scouting report from Glasgow.
All of you thinking he'd be a good signing are fucking mental!!!!
I live in Glasgow and as such have to put up with the endless shit that's spouted by 'Old Firm' fans. Scott Brown is Barry Ferguson mk2.
I can honestly categorically tell you with every fibre of my being that if we signed him a bit of my love for Spurs will die.
He's shit. Yeah he runs around alot and snarls (basically a scottish Steffen Freund) but he's not got the footballing tools to make it in the premiership (I don't think a single SPL player actually has the tools to perform in the PL) His passing is mediocre, his goalscoring ratio is pathetic, his tackling ill timed and his attitude (billy big balls) will see him getting booked and sent off on a regular basis. REALLY NOT WHAT WE NEED!
i SINCERELY HOPE THAT HE DOESN'T ROLL UP AT WHL!
GOD I HOPE HE DOESN'T SIGN FOR US! He's not worth a penny over £3m
Jamiespurs -
A very very worried Spurs fan
Worth about 6 million for us at the most, no player exchange; all of our current midfielders are probably better even JOH and Zokora. Yes he has a strong mentality and a great engine, but he is a defensive midfielder not dissimilar to Cattermole (Palacios did play with him tbf) and lacks JJ's goalscoring ability. For 10 million I would expect someone with a better range of passing and more technical ability on the ball, though I suppose everyone is overpriced nowadays.
While a Palacios + Brown midfield would certainly give us defensive strength and win the midfield, we will also lack creativity and vision and struggle with possession in central midfield, which doesn't suit our build-up play. In another team he could probably be much more valuable, but we already have Palacios and currently lack a technical CM with Hudd's skill but JJ's engine. A squad player is not that important until we improve our first team.
This is all just a distraction.
Joey Barton is the real target.
killjoy -
At least Joey Barton's proved he can play in the premiership!
im abit worried about this for a couple of reasons....first off we seem to be moving towards a more physical combative type of player, and while im a massive, massive palacios fan, we should not forget the type of football that we have traditionally played...i dont want us to be a more expensive version of stoke or bolton....secondly this signing will surely signal the end of huddlestone? even if harry wants him to stay, surely he will want to move on....for me the palacios/huddlestone pairing is one im desperate to see given a real chance...huddlestone was magnificent against city and also got stuck in and won the ball too.
Cartel -
Don't you mean ' Huddlestone was magnificent against City in the first half, in the second half he disappeared'
Wilson would get knackered doing all the running for big tom. No doubt Tom's a great football but he's a lazy bastard. Only a few teams in the world can afford to carry a player. Spurs aren't one of them. If we're to have any chance of hitting the top 6 or breaking the top 4 then we need every player to pull their weight, Huddlestone isn't one of those players. I like him but he's a lazy bastard.
Hope Aiden McGeady comes with him, then it would be a good deal, McGeady on the left and lennon on the right. thatt would mmake us a top 4 side...
No.!.
Is this nailed on the wall definitely happening? Or is it just another rumour whereby we all get our knickers in a twist over nothing?
i dont think huddlestone can be picked out for being a lazy bastard in the man city game, the whole team went AWOL in the second half.....lets not forget that huddlestone was the reason we collected 3 points, with his superb passing, that defoe skillfully put away...huddlesstone also put it on a silver plate for keane......he is a match winner, apart from modric he is the only one who can unpick a defence with a single pass
Calm down JS FFS! ;)
TMWNN
Brown's terrible! If he was any good he would've been bought south alot sooner than now. I really think he'd be a waste of money and bring nothing to the team. I'd rather have Zokora in my team than Scott Brown!
Not sure he is the guy we need. I liked the Muntari link. This guys appears to be another Zokora. Surely we can do better. If only Carrick and Berba had hung around - 2 of our big missing links!
Maybe with Real Madrid changing managers we can get of get one of those defensive midfielders in.
I've not seen Scott Brown play for Celtic recently but his peformances for Scotland are usally very good. I think we were linked with him a year or two ago and at the time, I thought he'd be a good buy...I still do. He's got energy and creates most of the chances for Scotland...even against the likes of Italy or France. Maybe not a starter but a great understaudy to Wilson, who's unlikely to stay fit forwever.
And £10M...isn't that the going rate for an average player these days...all the prices seem vastly over inflated!
What do you mean Hutton hasn't done bady? Every time he gets the ball he runs forward then falls over, just after conceding possession. The bloke is hopeless.
Finding myself agreeing with JamieSpurs, very strange.
Brown, Downing, Cisse, Jones does that fill anyone with any hope for the future?
Toxic
What you trying to say?? ; )
Brown, Downing, Cisse, Jones
Not liking any of these. Downing is out for 6 months So that's one down...
Cisse and Jones HATE eachother by all accounts so I doubt we'll sign the 2 of them. it will be an either or situation.
I'm actually not aversed to keeping Bent to be honest. I think Keane prefers to play with Bent and JD prefers to play with Pav. I can see that JD's improved as a player since he last played for us and i think Keane and JD may well now be able to dovetail. Keane's going through a bit of a confidence issue at the moment but i'm sure when he gets over it he'll be the keane of old
Hmmm. Makes a change from being linked with David Villa.
Keane + Defoe + Modric + Lennon = the tiniest front four in the world. Not sure that will work to be honest.
'I'd rather have Zokora in my team than Scott Brown!'
Jockland has driven you mental JS. Get out now, but I fear it's too late.