A short guide to understanding Tottenham in the transfer market
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:45AM #23 Ashley Young
Spurs: We like the look of your boy Ashley.
Watford: You can have him for £1M.
Spurs: Hmm. Ok, well you know what. We like him, we do, but £1M for a kid who hasn't proven himself in top flight football? Listen, thanks, but no thanks.
Watford: You're declining?
Spurs: Yes, yeah…we'll be looking elsewhere. Just don't think he's worth that much.
-
Watford: Hello again.
Spurs: Hi. Your boy Ashley has progressed rather well.
Watford: Fancy him more do you now?
Spurs: Might do, might do.
Watford: Thinking of making a bid?
Spurs: Yes, perhaps.
Watford: How does £9M sound to you?
Spurs: Sorry...What? (laughing out loud)
Watford: £9M. He has proven talent.
Spurs: Yes, but Christ, really? £9M? That’s extortionate. I mean, come on, £9M? Nine million big ones?
Watford: You're not interested again, are you?
Spurs: Just don't think he's worth that much.
-
Villa: How can we help?
Spurs: Ashley Young. We want him.
Villa: Ok. We value Ashley at a price of £... (interrupted)
Spurs: £20M
Villa: Sorry?
Spurs: We want to pay £20M for the player.
Villa: Oh, ok, well I suppose...
Spurs: Credit card or cheque?
Villa: Well we've not had time to...
Spurs: Look, if you want something more than just money we can throw in Bentley and Huddlestone.
Villa: Didn't Bentley cost you £15M?
Spurs: And? Just take your pick. Bentley or Huddlestone. Or take both of them.
Villa: Can we think about it first?
Spurs: Great, no problem. Give me a call with one hour remaining in the summer transfer window and we’ll go about thrashing out a deal.
The End.
Reader Comments (38)
Nailed on. Can we blame Comolli for this one?
I know he's slow and his mobility sucks but I hope we don't get rid of Huddlestone.
Ha ! So true. The way we play hard ball all the time and end up paying over the odds for players we don't need and letting the gems slip away. So so typical!
In fairness, it looks bad on Spurs as Ashley Young has kicked on from being just potentially a good player into an actual good player, however many more in similar positions (often at Spurs!) have failed to do this. As such, buying him whilst he was a kid would have made sense for £1M, but buying him for £9M when he had played less than a dozen Premiership games was a massive gamble on Villa's part and they could easily have ended up with egg on their face. Imagine if we had signed him and for whatever reason he hadn't developed as well as he has done! We'd have been classed as a laughing stock as yet another high-profile, over-priced (which he undoubtedly was when Villa bought him), kid turned out to be something of a lemon and he'd join the list with Bentley, Rebrov et al as one of Tottneham's expensive flops.
Now, he is a decent established Premier league player and is worth the £20M. So it would make sense to buy him if we can afford him and he wants to come. But anyone that says they definitely knew that he would turn into the player he is today is a liar or delusional.
I'll drive all the way from Sheffield and throttle Levy if we have bid £20M for Young. Hes a right footed left winger FFS! Still rather him than Downing.
£20M to trial the player with other clubs before we took the risk?
Simplistic but illustrates it perfectly.
Spurs: Great, no problem. Give me a call with one hour left in the summer transfer window and we’ll go about thrashing out a deal.
LOL
HA HA DID WE REALLY TRY AND BUY HIM THE 1ST TIME AROUND FOR 1M?
WHAT A JOKE IT DOESNT SUPRISE ME
GET RID OF JENAS (HE HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL, BUT HE WILL NEVER EVER PROVE IT)
U MAY LAUGH, BUT WHY NOT TAKE A PUNT ON MICHAEL OWEN? WHO ELSE WOULD REVIVE HIS CAREER BETTER THAN REDKNAPP??? HOW MANY OVER THE HILL PLAYERS HAS HE TURNED AROUND?
PLEASE COMMENT
YIDS
how to slander a football club ,without knowing anything about past or present conversations.surely you can do better than that.
this is just a bit harsh for my opinion.
I seem to recall Tottenham legend Keith Burkinshaw saying that he would be the real deal and that Spurs should snap him up....and he was the assistant manager at watford at that time so why the fuck didnt we listen to a top boss from our past and instead spend all our time hiding out in spanish hotels stealing average managers
In fairness "in the office" Lionel Messi could be dismissed as merely a left-footed right-winger but I don't think anyone would turn him down if he were available!
I'm not saying that Young is anything like that class of player, merely that playing on the "wrong" side as opposed to your strongest foot is not always automatically a bad thing.
Slander a club? Oh do put your panties back on your blithering melting-pot. Where is that famous Tottenham sense of humour?
Spot on Monkfish....I remember probably our greatest winger in living memory, Cliff Jones, was also right-footed but played on the left and was truly brilliant. Similarly Chris Waddle. I often wonder whether any of the "but he's a right-footed player playing on the left" brigade have ever played the game.
As for the article, again spot on.
It's actually funny that we always seem to take an age with most of our signings, which means either the stories in the papers are not actually close to the truth or we (Levy) have a habit of dragging it out for weeks and weeks.
Anyways - Young has been 'spotted' at The Lodge. Make of that what you will.
Bentley is apparently in Spain. I guess on holiday rather than deep in talks with a club out there. Unless...Real Madrid in £40M bid for Spurs Star!!
I agree with the comment made about 'taking risks'. Sometimes, no always, we don't sign the right player at the right time, as seen by Young and the £1M offering. I think at the time plenty of Spurs fans scoffed at the money Villa spent on him although one or two thought we could have matched it. The problem is, we struggle to make decisions like that but are then happy to spend a lot lot more on the 'highlight player of the month', like Bent or Bentley, and fork out £15M + for them.
Spookys article should be taken with a pinch of salt.
You win some, you lose some I guess. We got Lennon at a bargain and did not see the potential of Young. We even got Carrick and Berba at good prices. If Young came to us for 1 million when he was still raw - would he have been given a chance. Looking at around at some other players we have, you some how doubt it.Don't forget that all this activity is why we also love the club. Things would be kinda boring otherwise right!
I really really really REALLY hope we a sign Young.
Lennon - Palacios - XXXX - Young
XXXX = Jenas? Brown? ?????
We would tear it up if we complete the line-up with a tasty box to box midfielder who is better than what we got.
abe - Agreed.
Some players make moves and it all goes wrong for them. I think with Young, there was some uncertainty because of the hype he had directed towards him which inflated his value. £9M was steep regardless of whatever potential he had. The fact we can sit back and watch someone else sign him and then possibly go in and sign him after he has proved his worth goes someway to prove our stature.
Still kicking Commoli when hes down. At least 25 of his 31 signings were decent, or are still developing some were excellent (Berbatov)
Even Ekotto who we wrote off is now one of our better players.
Anyone who says they can tell whether an 18 yr old is going to make the grade is deluding themselves. As 'abe' says 'you win some; you lose some. Lennon was a good punt; Bentley was not.
I would say over a period of time despite Harry's reputation he is no better at picking them than Commoli was.
Comolli did sign some decent players. But ironically, someone like BAE who was signed by the DoF for his 'coach', failed to set the world alight until the DoF structure was scrapped and a new coach was bought in. Do you see the irony here? The whole point of Comolli was to work with the coach in bringing in players who would improve the team. He didn't actually do this where it mattered.
Left-wing - nothing.
Central midfield - Signed Zokora.
Others: Kaboul, KPB, Ghaly.
You chaps do know that had we signed better players in Jan during the 2006 season we probably would have cemented 4th spot long before the final day of the season.
Comolli was not very good, and citing the players who have improved or done well doesn't prove me wrong. As a DoF he failed.
Epically.
Wee bit unfair. We did buy, among others, Dimitar Berbatov for 10,9m quid and make a 20m quid profit, and we did get Aaron Lennon for 1m - and that's a profit of ever so much, I'd guess, if we ever sold him, which I hope we don't. We also sold Keane and got him back cheaper, which was fun, though not for Liverpool. We'd also make a tidy sum on Hudd if we sold and we have already sold a few others at a profit, so let's be fair. I personally never wanted Bentley OR Young. I've changed my mind about at least half of those two. Win some, lose some ....
Have we signed anyone yet?
The whole Berbatov/Keane fiasco is the perfect example of how backwards Comolli and Levy worked.
Machine, oil yourself up buddy. Your hatred for Comolli is getting rusty.
If the deal involves getting rid of Jenas it's win win at any price
Ross Mac,
Get rid of Jenas (who had a great end of season & actually looks like fulfilling all that promise) & take a punt on Owen. Simply shit. U sound retarded mate (no dis-respect to retarded people)
If u're not, u must be a gonner in disguise.
MALTASPUR
HA HA DID FIND YOUR REPLY FUNNY
I STILL THINK JENAS IS SHIT AND ANYONE WHO GOES REGULARY TO THE LANE WILL AGREE WITH ME, EVEN IF YOU DONT?
AS FOR OWEN, I JUST THINK THAT HIS RECORD AT LIVERPOOL & MADRID IS SOOOOOOOOO GOOD, WE COULD GET HIM ON THE CHEAP AND TURN HIM BACK INTO THE PLAYER ONCE WAS.................?
IF HE EVER HAD THE CHANCE TO TURN HIS CAREER ROUND THEN REDKNAPP IS SURLEY THE ONLY GUY WHO COULD DO THIS?
YIDS
Jenas has scored 8 league goals over his last two seasons. Is that really good enough?
Potential? No thanks. I want first team players that are doing it now.
Young would be a good signing. Even though he's right footed, him Modric and Lennon playing in front of Palacious and another ballsy, but slightly more attack minded midfielder (definitely not Jenas) would be great.
Lennon and Young could even swap sides. Lennon gets injured? Then Young can play right-wing. Point is - we sign Young then Modric will play down the middle with Palacios.
Brown arrives, he'll be a alternative option in the middle with Modric out on the left and Young on the bench, Aaron on the right. Gives us flexibility.
Hoping praying this happens.
Amazing how a post about a player from another club still gets turned into a slanging match about Jenas. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound...
Potential is utterly meaningless unless it's actually attained. Jenas has had several seasons to step up but hasn't, even when given the responsibility of vice captain. He is an average run-of-the-mill midfielder, not particularly good at anything but not awful. We only miss him when he's not playing because his replacement (Zokora) is a lot worse.
Personally I would like to see Young at WHL. Not bothered that we missed out on him before, I just want to see the first team improve and Young is proven Premiership quality in a position that we need filling.
Bentley to Villa.
Jenas to someone.
Huddlestone to Celtic on loan.
Everyones going gaga at the minute.
typical tottenham.
Yes let's concentrate on one example and ignore all the other times where we were proved to be right!
Are you a journalist by any chance?
And you must be a Daily Mail reader if you don't get irony and satire and parody. Chill out.
No matter the day, no matter the month, no matter the year...Spooky always 'gets' them.