Spurs finally 'sign' a big name striker
Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 12:23AM Antonio Michael Pedroza Whitham.
What? It's a big name, isn't it? There's four of them and they're bundled together. A mish mash of Mexican and English. For a snappy £1M (insert little finger to corner of mouth).
Done and dusted. Delegation sent over to thrash out the deal. Allegedly. All this according to the Daily Mirror who apparently first 'broke' the story two weeks back. It's obviously true, so kids, save up your money...it's gonna cost your piggy bank to get his name printed on your shirt.
Okay, don't go blaming me for this article, it's gone midnight and I'm only as good as the material I have to work with and considering the ITK community have spent the summer thus far reacting to the press and making sh*t up I'm waiting for one of their esteemed members to lay claim that they saw this one coming to restore my faith in...oh wait, I have no faith in them.
Of course, the alternative is that the Daily Mirror are talking nonsense and this Mexican forward with family based in Cheshire is not on his way to N17. If the Daily Mirror prove themselves to be on the ball then it will officially mean: Daily Mirror > ITK Community
0 goals, 12 games apparently. Oh well.
Wickham, Whitham...not that much of a difference there. Well, apart from several million pounds.
The summer transfer window just keeps on giving.
Reader Comments (63)
In all seriousness, if he's signed - if we spend £1M on the cheap then he's a backup player which means we must be ridding ourselves of one of our forwards at the very least. Two if we do in fact finally truly sign that 'big name' forward.
In my head, my theorising makes sense.
Any idea how done this is? When are we likely to find out?
Yera.......
sounds a little fishy to me
or the spurs folk are in mexico for the under17 world cup on right now...
The next Wayne Rooney. Jumping Jesus.
I live in Mexico and 'supposedly' its a done deal. He was meant to have signed for another Mexican club last week, Cruz Azul, but the deal was iced at the last minute and no one knew why. Now we do!
even more interesting we finally are ready to go bak to court woop woop!
are you kidding, you're considering that this might be true? he as good as said its bollocks. honestly.
This might be a good one if its true. Apparently he's Anglo-Mexican. He was born in Chester and has been playing in Mexico. He is what the experts say the new Javier Hernandez (Man Utd). Also interested in the player was Arsenal and Chelsea. He is also been chased by the English FA who have seen him play for the under 18's for Mexico. If the story is true, this is perhaps the rough diamond striker Spurs have been praying for. Also in the long term, £1 Million will be a snip for what he potentially could be worth. This is probably the reason Spurs didn't challenge Sunderland for the signing of young starlet Connor Whickham, bearing in mind he just cost Sunderland £13 Million pound. £12 Million saved and potentially a better investment. Well done to the Spurs scouts for spotting such a young talent.
its on his wikipedia page
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/transfer-news/Tottenham-news-Mexican-striker-Antonio-Pedroza-Whitham-is-first-signing-of-summer-for-less-than-1million-article753987.html
you dont think arry was talking to daniel on the phone from his holiday yacht with a bad connection and arry said 'i fancy that wickham kid e's a triffic prospect' - and the rest is history?
or even more likely, he was probably begging him to sign beckham on the basis that he's a cheap youngster.
thank god for bad signals!
if true this is surely a punt for the future, rather than one for the current squad, but i still like the idea. hope things work out better than peckhart, bostock, etc etc
Redkanpp will only ever play him if all 3 other strikers and VDV are injured, and even then he'll be tossing up playing Kaboul as a target man
So, we are gona sell the best young Mexican in years, to buy a young, untested, possibly rubbish replacement. Makes sense.
I'm with woden (above) - selling Mexico's 22 yo best player and buying someone who can't get into their U21 squad purely because of the PR value of his English heritage stinks to high heaven.
I'm also with Woden, and I'm willing to bet that Redknapp had hardly anything to do with this signing. Still, who knows? He can't be any worse than the current buffoons, can he?
Trific, top top player and a lovely lad, one of the nicest lads you'll ever meet, no trouble at all.
KEEP JONNY TWO SAINTS. COYS
All you Gio lovers need to deal with the fact that he is shit end of.
It makes me laugh they all say play him, yet whose place will he take then? Modric? VDV? How many players do you think were allowed to play cos last time I checked it was 11. Kranjcar is twice the player Gio is and even he don't get a look in.
He got his chance against YB last season and he was dog shit supposedly coming off the back of good form in the WC. Get over it he is rubbish.
Its been mentioned that his contract has expired and he didn't want to sign another one, so how come its cost us over a million???????
Can I ask how you rate Gio as the best Mexican player in years? How can you say that surely Hernandez is head and shoulders ahead if him?!
You are a bunch of fanboys he's been there 3 years ffs. Am I the only one who see's it?
Gio is not a class act he's a spoilt brat!! Has not got the attitude for the Premiership, will do ok in Spain but why did Barca release him?? coz he was never going to be the calibre of player that will be a hit at a BIG club, even his parents had to fly to the UK and appologise about their son to Levy.
This boy who may have signed has been looked at by the big boys and being in the Europa Cup he will have a chance to get game time as our 4th stricker so 1 mill is a good punt on potential, leave more cash for the one Massive signing we need up top COYS
Am I correct in thinking that this lad is being claimed as our first signing? Thought we signed Brad Friedel, for rather less, but, minor details aside, who knows whether this will become a good piece of business or not. Depends if the boy can score. Also tempted to say that yerss, only £1 million, but actually, that's a lot of money. Certainly a long way from anything that I can imagine having in my bank account. 'There used to be a football club over there'.
Looks decent, cheap, a prospect. I wouldn't get too excited however. Dos Santos came in with at a higher fee (a bigger investment), having been a graduation and broken through at a team like Barcelona scoring a stunning a hat-trick at the end of the season. He's been farmed out, not nurtured or given a proper chance as tossed to the side with the excuse of 'he likes the nightclubs a bit too much.' Well Harry, it's your job as the MANAGER to kick the young lad (and he was and is still young) into shape and get the best out of him.
Ya know, its called managing and coaching. He wont get near the first team, based on recent history. O'Hara, Bostock,Taarabbt, Caulker, Rose, Walker, Naughton, Bassong, Townsend.
The last 'bargains' we snapped up haven't exactly been blindingly successful. Krancjaer gets dropped like a brick despite his impressive debut season and goals and the other bargain Pienaar gets put on as often as he can proving ineffective in just about every game ala Jenas, which isn't on really considering his age and prem experience.
Just hoping that this lack of activity is because there are real irons in the fire and we're going to pop up with a Eto / Cavani / Huigain / Benzema / Marin.
Folkestone Yid: I can see why you have this opinion but my reasoning against this is that he was 18 and shouldve been managed properly and kept out of the bars considering our investment. All sounds like excuses to me. And the old age 'argument' that people keep saying about of 'why did Barcelona let him go?' Well teams do release players who still go on to prove their potential. Didnt they let Frabegas slip through their fingers? Didn't Man Utd let Rossi and Pique go? And did you see the team that Barca had in front of Dos Santos to try to break into at the age of 18?
We put up the cash to sign him, but as with alot of young players in our recent history we buy them and then don't give them a real chance to develop from the prospects we bought into the finished article. When you go in for them promising that our club is the right one for them, and they'll develop and then you dont play them, idle hands will find things to do (especially when young and rebellious.) Just seems all too easy to blame the players attitude to me. I dont think a player can be judged that much when they have never been given a chance to proove themselves in the first team. The younger ones are the ones that should be worked on the most as the established pros have reached a level and know what's needed to make it.
People keep banging on about not being given a chance well you have to EARN the right to be given a chance. He has been there 3 years to prove himself, he doesn't play because he is not any better than what we have (even in reserve) and you are deluded to believe any different.
With regards to him not being managed properly what a crock of shit. He is a bloody adult who gets paid good money to be a professional footballer. He knows what his responsibilities are he has chosen not to be responsible enough to knuckle down and work on his game, as I dint doubt he has some ability. Twitcher is not a day care centre manager it is up to the player to do the work, not Harry, especially bearing in mind the players he has in front of him with the talent they have as well. You get out what you put in, he puts in very little and he has only himself to blame.
I wish people would stop fantasising over Gio he will never cut the mustard in the PL, not with us nor anyone else.
Yipee !!!!!!!!! Stop the press ! Probably send him out on loan. Well thats our striker problem solved. All we have to do now is fork out £500,000 on a world class defender, without even selling a single player. We must have been taken over by a Sheik yesterday :-)
i had a big sulky tantrum saying this guy is not moving forwards why are we such cheapskates!! arrrhhh, then my friend (who is mexican and friends with dos santos, erm drinking parter actually) told me this guy is awesome and 1 mill he doesn't believe! but doesnt think hes as good as dos santos either though. hmmmmph. we want messi, we wont be happy till we got our man! hahaha
We've got one crap Mexican who loves a party and after all the sex scandals involving Mexican footballers, if we have this one (I read he was free) then the girls of N17 will be quaking in their boots. The girls of Essex on the other hand will be bloody delighted!
Who the fuck is he? Everyone is talking as if they know he is half decent but how do you know? Because he's Mexican? He could be proper shit.
if he is so good then why wasn't he playing in the recent gold cup where mexico won... and dont tell me its his age cause if he was so good then he would be in the full squad regardless of age as is the policy in mexico....hernandez,dos santos,barrera all made debuts in their teens
Its all too much I am going to start drinking.
I'm also with Woden, and I'm willing to bet that Redknapp had hardly anything to do with this signing. Still, who knows? He can't be any worse than the current buffoons, can he?
- - - - - - -
People have to start remembering that Defoe Crouch and Pavlyuchenko scored 12 league goals between them since the January transfer window.
Torres Saurez Carroll and Dzeko cost £135m and scored 8 between them in the same period.
So lets lay off our strikers a bit....none are perfect I know but people slagging them off all summer long and being critical of Levy & Redknapp's "failure" in the january transfer window is really beginning to get on my wick.
As you can see, Levy could have spuffed £135m in January and we could have scored even less than we did.
Devonshirespur, why do you always concentrate on just the January transfer window?
I'm with Woden, Spurfect and TMWNN.
Mr. Vexed, you can keep repeating "He has been there 3 years to prove himself," but that doesn't make it true. Dos Santos has been out on loan for at least 2/3 of that time. He's been at Ipswich, Turkey and Spain in those three years. It's kind of tough to prove yourself at Tottenham when you're playing half a continent away. I don't think bouncing back and forth between 3 countries and 4 teams in 3 years is exactly textbook on how to develop young players.
If it's all up to the players to "put the work in" why do we have coaches and managers? How do we judge whether these coaches and managers are worth the substantial money they are being paid if it is all up to the players? Clearly, Racing Santander's and the Mexican National Team's coaches have been able to make effective use of the kid's talent so if he's not playing well at Spurs, you need to ask questions of Spurs coaches and manager. Especially given our recent shit record of developing young players (thanks, Harry.)
We used to be able to buy young(ish) players and see them come through to the first team: Lennon, Dawson, Huddlestone. The only recent breakthrough was Bale, and if it hadn't been for BAE's injury, he'd have been on the bus to Forest.
This has "marketing" written all over it.
Like we have done with Khumalo and have done previously with Asian players, it's being done to expand our name across the globe.
Of course, this is assuming we have actually signed him and it's not him/his agent trying to get a move to the Premier League. We've seen it before where players claim deals with us in order to get a move.
Well said Ziegemonster.
I've said it once and I'll say it again, Gio has NEVER been played in his best position for us. Watch any Mexico game that he's played in and he starts either up-front or just behind the strikers. For us he's only been used on the right wing as a sub for Lennon.
The boy has skills, he ripped the yanks apart in the Gold Cup final, even before that wonderful goal. Yes, he may need to get his head straight but we'll regret it one day if we sell him.
I almost fear for this other new kid.
Got to agree with ziegemonster.
I think most would agree sandro is a great talent, chances are Harry would put Parker in the team instead of him given the chance.
Only the injury to hudd that gave him his chance.
One thing you have to give fergie credit for. He gives youth a chance. Harry trying to sign Parker when we have sandro is something I couldn't see fergie trying to do at all.
Shame about gds, the lad has talent, a left footed player mainly used as a right winger. But we have bale and vdv - be better selling one of those to keep him? Probably not and we have to keep within our squad of 25 as well remember.
Earlier on when I checked this out on Wikipedia, I'm sure it said he'd scored 3 goals in 12 for his current side, and someone had already put current club as Tottenham on the 'career history' section... it's since been updated to 0 goals in 12 and no mention of Spurs... I find it hard to believe Harry would go for someone like that, unless he's seen a lot of good things he can work with other than goals. Time will tell...
YES CANADAYID! That's exactly right, he's not a winger. I don't think he's ever played up front or in the hole for us - I would sure have loved to see him get a couple of games up there.
Now, this doesn't mean he hasn't been lazy and such when it comes to training and being a professional. I think there is some truth to most elements of this story, and I can understand Harry's frustration (and Gio's frustration).
Anyhow, COYS and let's hope the new boy with the EA Sports FIFA free agent name has some talent and a work ethic. :)
These things I believe:
-GDS is still worth a look, and I hope we keep him.
-this striker signing is a development move. we will not be playing him first team except in early Europa and Carling Cup escapades.
-not playing for the Mexican national team is hardly a reason to poo poo the player. That assumes that the Mexcian national program has their shit squared away which I think is hardly the case. Beaucoup politics in that neck of the woods. Chichi didn't have his first national cap until 2009. (and in speaking of Chichi, we have to also remember he's benefited from probably superb striker coaching at Man Utd.)
-I don't think we've found the absolute best spot for VDV yet. Maybe it's in the hole, but maybe not.
-Having a glass of red and a dog walk is unlikely to benefit the tactician's mind.
-We need a good solid rotation of players this season with the Europa schedule. This is the time to get ALL players involved. Again, a perfect time for this new signing, as well as getting GDS out there. This is a good chance to get the younger players seasoned up for regular season duty, especially if we get injuries, which we will.
-the cucumber sandwich is an enigma to me
-I'd welcome a change or two in the coaching staff. perhaps we're not getting the most in this department as ziege suggested, however my knowledge in this more of a gut feel than anything
-Keane needs to man up and get onto another team no matter the circumstances
-we don't need any more midfielders
-BAE will have the greatest season of his career this year, and will score twice in the first 8 games of the season. He will have no idea how to celebrate these events.
You make the point regarding him being used by the Mexican NT and Santander, with all due respect neither of their players at their disposal are of the standard of Spurs, hence why he doesn't look half bad for them, he is not better than the others in his position in our squad. With regards to the being farmed out on loan, that is because he just isn't doing it. He would be picked regardless of age if he was good enough. He isn't, it's as simple as that.
It's ok people saying 'I'd like to see him being given the chance in a couple of games', all very well until he doesn't turn up for a few of those games, then everyone will be on Harry's back saying what are you playing at. You want it all ways, I want to just win, he obviously doesn't fit into that. I'm fine with that. He isn't a striker, and how when we have VDV can you say we should play him in the hole, that is just idiocy, he may have promise, but we are aiming for top four, we are not Wigan happy to be a stepping stone for players to gain experience. Every game is a tough one, there are no givens (as last year proved), who exactly do you think we should play him against?
Talent he may have, yes, ability - not yet. He has to show them, and this would apply in training moreso than anything he is of equal or better as an option as to what is already there. You don't see any of that, and base it on a goal against a piss poor outfit in a tin pot cup.
And also, may i add, I am not a hater, i'm a realist. I hope he can prove me wrong at Spurs, I really do, I just see things for how they really are. You lot just get caught up in the hype.
Spooky - I really think you should do one of those videos in that monotone yank voice like you did for the Jenas for Gio! Would be funny me thinks, they are class!
Agree with Vexed. The argument seems to be "HR is a shit manager therefore the GDS issue must be all his fault."
You can lead a horse to water...
We've always been crap at developing yougsters, the Redknapp era doesn't have the monopoly on this. Who of note have we produced since Ledley King?
The argument is not that clear 555 , in fact the argument is that HR never gives chances to young players except when he sees no other option left (Bale , Sandro )
That he does not like certain players for whatever reason and even if they put in a good shift , they are left out the game after. Pav, Kranj being the main examples.. The look on his face when Pav started scoring last season said it all really.
He talks bollocks about those players in public if and when they dare to misbehave , but ignores the blatant misbehaving of his buddies or even worse ... lets em play on , week by week , without at least trying to change things around or try some players when games are shut tight or look almost lost.
And above all , that (thats my opinion) he does not know how to handle modern young flair footballers and especially the foreign ones. He did great at spurs , but i will repeat it over and over again - he has the best squad of players that i have ever witnessed at spurs in my 20+ yrs as a fan. Except for Crouch , who i loathe as a player but that's because i am a purist when it comes to football. Crouch does not belong at Spurs , even if he really puts in the effort. , he really does.
The future is bright, the future is lillywhite ?
In HR's vision the future is old , very very old and at the helm of the England squad.
But that's just an opinion , as is yours , or vexed's or ... i suppose you see where i am going there.
Belgian, I respect your opinion but sometimes giving youth a chance brings with it a risk, a risk which you might not always wish to take. The inference is also that the youth you're bringing in is potentially better than what you already have. Maybe it's just down to being risk averse rather than some aversion to young players. I agree we could do a lot better, but the main point I was trying to make is that there is a vocal anti-HR contingent who are using the fact that GDS hasn't come good to give themselves yet another reason to call for a new manager. As Vexed said, talent is one thing but without application it's going to come to very little. Why didn't he shine at Ipswich like Taraabt at QPR. Why didn't he do well in Turkey, with a chance to prove himself, or Santander in order to have the cream of Europe waving chequebooks at Daniel Levy? There are plenty of reasons to slate HR but this isn't one of them in my opinion.
Mr. Vexed, statements like this: "I just see things for how they really are." would be somewhat easier to credit if you didn't betray your complete disinterest in reality with statements like this: " base it on a goal against a piss poor outfit in a tin pot cup."
1. pro Gio posters are harking back to his performance in the world cup, his second half of season form for Santander as well as the Confederations Cup. If you actually read what other people wrote, you would know that many of us North American posters watched not just the entire US Mexico match but the whole tournament. That cracking goal was a suitable finale to what had been a fantastic tournament long performance by Dos Santos.
2. That "piss poor outfit" finished ahead of England in South Africa, drawing head to head and winning the group. It was essentially the same world cup squad that played Mexico last week because...
3. Far from being a tin pot, the Confederation's Cup is hugely important to Concacaf participants because of its impact on Fifa rankings and seeding for the World Cup. This is especially true for Mexico and the US, because only one the Concacaf teams will be seeded which historically has meant one gets a fairly easy route to the round of 16 and the other ends up in the group of death. Also, even "friendlies" between the US and Mexico are deathly serious and intense affairs.
" With regards to the being farmed out on loan, that is because he just isn't doing it. " Evidently it has escaped your notice that we no longer have a reserve side. All of our young players are farmed out on loan. So does that mean that all of them are crap and should be sold? Danny Rose anyone?
In short, Mr. Vexed, while you are entitled to your opinion, you clearly don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, and it seems to me the real fan boys on this site are the "In Harry We Trust" crowd, who seem to view any criticism of the dear leader as blackest heresey and evidence of goonerdom.
I understand the fear of change, but face it fanboys: Harry will be gone by next year at the latest. Either he gets banged up for tax evasion or he takes the England job. Because, as he has repeatedly demonstrated, he doesn't give a teeny, tiny toss about Spurs, the club, the players or the fans. If anyone is using us as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, it's harry.
So it's reasonable to be concerned about the long term damage our short term manager may be inflicting.
If if iiiiiiiiiiiif.
We had a more ballsy manager he might have given dos Santos a more prolonged opportunity. The board/chairman must agree with Harry's assessment. We signed the kid for £4.5M...you would think there was enough there to push him into the side.
Anyone remember how he handled his Ipswich loan?
So, is ballsy the new competent? ; )