Sandy signs
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 3:00PM Transfer sagas. We do them better than anyone. During the duration of the deal that appears to have taken Sandro from Internacional to White Hart Lane (pending medical and the dreaded work permit) we've done little talking out in the open. Other than Harry's rehearsed sound-bites to questions from the media about how he thinks 'the chairman' is working away at it, we've not given much away. It's been impressive from our side. No need to be in the know until everyone is made to know.
All the hullabaloo that has kept the guessing at Richter scale 8.0 has come out of Brazil (not quite epic - that honour belongs to The Sock aka Diego who hit around 10.0) with the deal - on the surface - yo-yo'ing from collapse to maybe from one week to the next. I even got distracted with suggestions that Real Madrid were sniffing around, which is believable considering the noise made was loud enough to attract their limitless pot of money and acquisition greed. That and someone saw some documents, but let's not talk about that.
As per usual we all take every written word as variants of gospel. Sort of. Not always believing it to be factual but still deeming it worth of commentary and making assumptions based on the half-truths (gospel) in the aftermath.
Politics, deflection, mis-quotes, lies, guesswork…whatever you want to tag them as, you never quite knew how far-gone the progress of signing this young rough diamond midfield player was because of all the hype. I'm sure a representative from Internacional (or was it their chairman, I forget?) suggested that the clubs partnership (to loan players to us) was not even finalised. There was always a lopsided viewpoint which for the rest of us translated as: This is a difficult transfer. Even the player got involved and in the end the clue was in the statement about learning English in preparation for a possible move. The words 'done' and 'dusted' finally whispered quietly for the first time.
All very colourful and erratic. Which is what you come to expect from the boys from Brazil. Regardless of how we've got here. We are here. And if you strip away all the message board discussions and red top twist and turns, you might find yourself believing that this deal wasn't as tricky as it looked.
We showed interested. We signed him. Months later, but still, signed.
73 appearances for his club. Three goals. And one full international cap (and has captained the Brazilian U-20 side). I've not seen enough of him to form a true opinion. I'm sure most of you are in the same boat, and tbh, when it comes to players from abroad there is always a risk element, mostly around adapting to the culture and EPL. And the types of Brazilians who travel over here are never the sexy types. But then we don't want that. What we need is more steel.
So, who is Sandro?
He's young. He's athletic, very strong but perhaps not the best passer - so they say. We wanted an understudy for Palacios - we've got one. Uncanny. And to bring in a player of this ilk means that he must have some potential because we're going to have to be patient (look up the word in a dictionary) for him to bed in. Unless his mental strength and confidence is such, that he will be happy to be thrown into the deep end and come to terms with English football quickly.
Does give us options in the middle now, and quite possibly spells the end of Jenas. Yes - JJ is a different type of player (not sure what type he is - I'll let you know the day he reaches his potential) but with Huddlestone, Palacios, Modric and now Sandro - we have enough in the middle to swagger it up even more than usual. New cult hero in our ranks?
/prays
The more cynical amongst us might think this deal is part of the relationship we have with Internacional and them loaning youth players to us in preparation for any potential move they make to Europe. Is this a sweetener? A long term deal? Does the player see the next five years of his career at Spurs? Does his former club get any % of any future transfer?
The even more cynical amongst us would go one further and question why the likes of Kleberson, Denilson and Lucas are supposedly ahead of him in the defensive midfield pecking order for his country.
Where's that dictionary?
Talking of cult heroes check out Spurs' Cult Heroes - the first published book from All Action No Plot blogger and writer Michael Lacquiere. I'll give it a proper review when I get my copy delivered. Be sure to check it out anyway, available from the Spurs official site, WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play…to name a few. Shop around.
Blanchflower, Mackay, Jones, Chivers, Gilzean, Jennings, Hoddle, Perryman, Greaves, Mabbut, Ginola, Nicholson, Gazza…list is endless. Well, it's not exactly endless because he'd never have been able to get the book out, but its jam-packed with legends.
Will be giving away a copy soon. Stay tuned.
Reader Comments (60)
You look like a bit of cock after your 'Sandro to Madrid' headline.
Jus' sayin'.
To the tune of "Sandra D - Grease"
Look at him, he's Sandro C, joining Spurs took eternity, he won't let you pass, and he dislikes the arse, a yid called Sandro C.
I'll join in but I'm not starting it in the middle of the Park Lane.
I'm Brazilian. I watched some games of this guy and think we got a promissing DM with some ability.
And I hope Gomes will help in his adaptation.
Is good to see more brazilians in a Spurs shirt.
COYS!
We all thaught that Modric would not adapted to the prem, to small to weak for the prem and look what he has become, Sandro will be great for our club, will take us to the next level.
HH, what a mug. I guess the fact that Spooky mentions it IN THE ARTICLE doesn't count hey? I bet everyone stops reading this blog now because of it. Jeez, give it up.
Thought this would never happen tbh.
Never seen him kick a ball like most of you so I shall hold off on my Pele comparisons for now.
Most prospects flop, even Brazillians, so I will wish him well but expect little if he does finally arrive.
In my defence, I did use a 'question mark' at the end of the Sandro to Madrid headline. I do love a get-out-clause.
HH are you for real? Talk about cheap shot.
Sandro - happy with this. Considering the French targets cited i nthe summer this deal will be relatively cheaper, more affordable. Passing isn't as shabby as being suggested either.
Author of Comment
I think Mr Hotspur was jesting.
Welcome to Tottenham Sandro!!
Yeah Spooky, you must be a bit of a cock, its not like you copied and pasted something from the 'community', past it off as your own, nothing comes from it and you start the process over again. Not like that at all.
Chaps. Talk about Sandro. Let's not get side-tracked.
Haters!
Sure this isn' Sandra? Harry said she was dynamite in front of goal. Better than Bent in any case...
Could people please show HH some respect, he's actually a really neat guy.
Has it been completed already? Fee was agreed as far as I've seen and the chap was due for a medical today/tomorrow? But has he passed it and has his visa been signed off? Plenty of time to screw it up yet I fear.
Let's hope he does come and his potential (for greatness) can be fulfilled. Personally would rather have Sissokho but there you go. If we can't shop at Fortnums then we'll HAVE to be patient for this investment to pay off.
We'll show HH some respect when he shows everyone else some respect.
Work permits scare me.
'Milk the cow and he will score!', or however the song goes. Bye bye Jenas :-)
Hope he's better than the last outfield Brazilian we had, the god awful Gilberto. Or perhaps better than the ironically monikered Rodrigo Defendi. Neither exactly set the world alight did they?! But I'm all for another Palacios in our ranks, think Wilson has been the reason for upturn in fortune. Big shoes to fill then. Hope he's got big feet.
Jep - chill. It's not even him.
Ladies, Pleeeeaze! Enough with the bickering... it's like the queue for the bread counter.
Hopefully a very good deal in a Mascherano take no s**t but still be able to set up a winner kind of way. Like the tattooed Argie will probably take time to settle but good cover for Sarn't can't be a bad thing. £6.5m isn't much in this day & age and we'll probably recoup that waving off JJ with our hankies :)
Waving off JJ... What a happy thought. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Actually it was not really Spooky's fault for taking the Madrid one up , it was mine for posting it ...
Final 15 minutes of In Bruge to play out in your future. Some time soon.
At least this is done and dusted now rather than another prolonged transfer merry go round during the summer months. World Cup is going to send some clubs mental with who to splash money on.
(By some clubs I mean 'City')
Aftrnoon chaps. Good news indeed. Would be ironic given our current plight if he were to twist his ankle entering Spurs Lodge and be unble to take part in the medical.
There are a couple of things we need to bear in mind here;
1) Inter have qualified for the Copa Liberace... etc. which I belive runs unil August. Inter stand a good chance of progrerssing to the latter stages, therefore we may not get to give him much of a preseason with the team
2) As Spooky says, he seems to be an understudy to Sarge. therefore they may not play alongside each other to much.
3) Some of our other bright young things such as THudd, Bale and Lennon took time to develop into the players they are now (in THudd's case around four years).
What I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't expect immediate results from Sandro. We may not see him regularly start for a couple of years.
Glad he's signed though. I hope I'm wrong and he's awesome and he helps us smash our group in the CL!!!
COYS!!!
http://www.tottenhamhotspur-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/spurs_training_photos_509510/index.shtml
Good news! Check out the link. Defoe, Hudd and Pav all in training. Even a couple of Lennon doing some sprints, so Ihope he's not too far away!!
Should we be organising a party, you know to give JJ the big send off we deserve
Yeah, we'll have the party after he's gone.
The fact he's already learning English says to me that he isn't just using us as a stepping stone.
Haven't seen him play at all to be honest, and with the fact that he hasn't really played for his country I can't see how we're going to get a work permit sorted....
Anyone?
Maybe Ms Lloyd could marry him?
frontwheel. that's a cracking idea.
Speaking of which, after his performances this season I'd definitely be keen to get o'hara back involved again. The guy lives and breathes spurs and is clearly developing into a decent PL player. He's not as defensive as we first thought though. i think he's more of a replacement for hudd, minus the cheeseburger addiction.
Sidetracking slightly, the Spurs' Cult Heroes book is bloody good.
centre midfield options next season of Hudd, Sandro, Wilson, O'Hara and palacios is pretty decent. But i would still rather see a bit more money spent on some central creativity. For me Modric gets bullied in the big games and I am sure he will be targeted. Still not sure O'hara has what it takes and will be happy being 4th choice.
I like the options it gives us. I can see Pav leaving in the summer and a proper physical target man coming in, so that we can play 433/451 if and when we need to, with Sandro & WP in the middle, providing steel. In that situation, a free roll for modric with Lennon and maybe Bale coming from wide areas would be solid and attacking.
Harry seems to know what he is going. Lets hope that 5th place and a cup semi is good enough for Levy as it was enough to get Jol the sack.
Are we cloning The Sarge in the summer then devonshirespur?
Wilson and Palacios in the centre :)
If only
Can we all hope for a Wolves win tonight and another nail in the spammers coffin? Just want to see Upton Park turned in to a mosque.
Upton Park and the clap banners will overcome all diversity !
Shouldn't Levy be getting some props for pulling this deal off? Come on Spooky, write another "Dear Mr. Levy" letter but this time exulting his negotiating skills.
With the arrival of Sandro, who is going to warm bench? THudd or Sarge?
Talking of Spurs cult heroes, any one see this article in the Times about Dave Mackay getting compo off The Damned United film makers for distorting history
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article7070334.ece
Having had to live in the east end for 3 years (my ex's flat) and putting up with the locals, it's always great to see the spammers suffer.
Please do feel free to sign up to the West Ham relegation party on Facebook. Recommended by all discerning yids...
I hate to be a conspirator here and try to burst the bubble, but I am afraid that Sandro’s signing is not just an ordinary signing. His ambitions followed by his knocking on the of Brazilian national team could have sneaked in a clause in the contract that would guaranty him certain number of Spurs first team appearances. The ambition of young player of his stature should not be ignored and/or dismissed, because riding the pine would certainly end his chapter of possibly playing alongside Ronaldinho and co. Such request, if made, would not surprise me a bit, but could end up being a double-edge knife. He might end up being another Sarge or better, or we might have a problem MCity had (or still has) with the mentioned Ronaldinho.
Today on my lunch break at Thirsty Lion Pub I had a chance to watch replay of our win at Stoke. With already seen it live, this time I focused more on Kaboul’s game. Contrary to what some said, the man was really hustling and tackling, heading the ball out, covering, passing, delivering crosses from the right and even shooting on goal (although Huddlestone-like wide or high). By seeing all this in a less stressful atmosphere, I can now better understand why Harry praised Kaboul so much and completely agreed with him. Good thing is he’s only 24, and with more tutoring from Sarge he may end up being perfect alternative in case Sandro saga turns into disaster. Too many inhere judge him by his performances from first time around in Spurs shirt, and blow out of proportions every little mistake he makes. They don’t want to realize that he excelled his game at Pompey and is different (much better) player now. Harry knows this, and I trust his judgment more than the negative opinions of few posters inhere.
?
It's a bit early and I might have mis-read, but did someone above suggest that JJ is learning english?
Someone needs to tell him it's italian, or french, or spanish that he nees to learn, or pompey chav.
Author Of Comment - still licking stones I see.
The comment made under my name wasn't made of course, by me.
But the Spookster is so fucking desperate for some class of life on here he's all too keen not to check the IPs.
Sandy. Like Sandra, but lesser.
Have a happy sorry wank, people.
HH
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiit!
Some people are so touchy. You'd think being paid to blog would put you above petty bitching. Spooky seems to have angered the lord of rumour and BS merchant. Pepare to fell HH wrath!
;-)
And HH is such an attention seeking whore he completely misses the fact that I did check the IPs. In fact its obvious the original poster wasn't HH from the style of writing. Wasn't half-way-up-own-arse. Keep browsing in, you insufferable melter. I need the hits.
Class of life? What a cock.
Rise above it Spooks. He has mental issues.
Sandro makes Denilson look like the Incredible Hulk and in reality Denilson is aids.
average player for average team
Thanks. Can we also have your opinion on the troubles in Iraq?