Klaas Jan Huntelaar 'linked' to Spurs

Here we go again. Well, it was bound to happen.

Apparently Levy is flying out to Madrid to negotiate the transfer of the Dutch striker, who Real spent £20M for last season.

Linkage to the story here.

Obviously I'm not dancing a jig of joy for two reasons. This may well be just some continental tabloid guess-work much like the work of the English red tops we laugh at every morning. With Madrid building a new version of the Galacticos there will be plenty of goings to help balance in the comings (ooh). Also, just how good is Klaas? He has hardly been given a chance and has only scored 8 goals in 20 apperances. With Villa on his way from Valencia, he may pushed further out of the running for a starting spot. Is he cut out for the EPL?

Interestingly, this has broken out in the press first rather than the seedy underbelly of a private membership Spurs message board, so lets see how long it takes for our pesky club insiders to update us with the latest on this particular piece of whorage. So no word just yet from the ITK grapevine yet, although many of them still believe Ruud is on his way to the Lane although the suggestions in the tabloids are we are unwilling to fork out 70K + per week. Snag hit there.

Huntelaar will be cheaper wage wise, although the fee will no doubt be steep. He cost Madrid a cool £20M.

Believable factor? I'd say about 70% we are interested or poking around with questions about his availability.

But wasn't he a player targeted by the likes of Manchester United prior to his move to La Liga? Linked to Utd, signs for Madrid, ends up at Tottenham.

Hmm. Believable factor dropping down into the sixties.

I have a 'man' out in Spain who supports the White Storm so have asked him if he knows anything about this and if there are any whispers out in Madrid about the players availability. Will update this blog post after I've spoken to him with any relevant update.

Loving these slow-news days, right? Makes a change to reading yet another 'Cisse to Spurs' headline I guess.

Modric to Utd?

Get a grip. It won't happen. Although one or two Spurs fans are worried that Fergie, rather than do the obvious and spend most of the Ronaldo windfall on a 'superstar' signing like Augero or Ribery or the lad from Lyon, Benzema - he'd prefer to spend a little less on proven Premiership quality such as Valencia and possibly Modric. More for your money sort of ethic rather than replacing one £80M player with a £60M one, which is what Ribery may cost, thanks to the mad mad footballing world we live in - completely detached from the reality of the economic crisis the world sits in.

Ironically, the dawn of the new Galacticos at Madrid means that every next best thing is going to be valued at an even more ridiculous price, leading to chaos and probable melt-down at a later date. Or maybe not.

Zidane was probably worth the £45M or so paid out by that zany Pérez. But even that was an incredible figure to part with but Real made the money back in silverware and shirt sales. Is Kaka worth £59M? Is Ronaldo worth more than both of them in a direct comparison? How much would Messi go for?

I guess these type of transfers will remain isolated in that it's always Madrid who do the buying, and in desperation are able to sign anyone for the most inflated of prices simply because they can.

So with the £80M set to burn a pretty hefty hole in his pocket (or sitting in a shoe box under the Glazers bed) one or two seem to suspect that Utd might look across to White Hart Lane once more to see what bargain they can pick up.

Modric and Lennon for £40M? <insert tumbleweed here>

The £30M spent on a certain moody Bulgarian has burnt Fergies fingers a little which will hopefully have him turning towards Germany and Ribery.

In all seriousness, our Modric isn't quite at the level that would have Utd knocking at our door. They've lost a superstar, so they need to draft in someone with the same sort of status.

Man Utd are one of the biggest clubs in the world with a small fortune at their mercy. The last place they're going to turn up at with a cheque book is N17. They want to win the league again, not finish 4th.

Fergie would do well in pinching Sneijder from Madrid. Quality player without the Hollywood hype.

How Ruud will Harry be?

With Huntelaar, Higuaín and Negredo - 'van Gol' is surplus to requirements at Real Madrid, even though prior to his injury he was outstanding. You wonder why they wouldn't want to retain the services of one of the best goal-scorers in world football. A goal-scorer that won them La Liga back in '07.

All round play is superb. Holds the ball up well. Can head it. Can goal-poach. Can team play. We all know just how good he is. Whether it was at United or for the White Storm. The reason for the cheap fee is his age (32) and the fact he is set to return from knee surgery again.

Raul it seems is untouchable, which is good news for us. Or anyone else that might be looking for a cheeky bid.

It's not exactly one for the future, but may well be a shrewd effective signing. Davidsesque, but more even more effective on the pitch as well as off it. His presence would bring stability up-front. Whether he partners Keane or Defoe, you can see him fitting in with ease. And you can see him displaying a ruthless appetite in-front of goal. We’ve haven’t quite got back our mojo back since the Keane/Berba break-up last summer.

I won't be upset if this happens. No Spurs fan should be. With Modric pulling the strings and possibly another creative player added to the fold (whether it's on the left-hand side or down the middle) we may well be on a merry jolly in 2010.

But fitness wise, it's a risk. Then again £1.25M is not a lot compared to £16M which is what we usually spend this time of year. So apart from the hefty wage he'll still command, there is little risk. Or maybe there is?

But if he does get injured and Bent has been sold and Pav moved on, we are back to square one.

Although I'm making the assumption that Pav will be moved on. You get the feeling that Hiddink hit the nail on the head citing complacency as the real reason behind Romans average form so not sure how he will regain confidence if he has to sit on the bench for most of the season with the undroppable Keane and RvN upfront. And Harry might get back £10M or so from selling Pav leaving him with plenty of left-overs to use up on other signings. £1.25M is nothing in todays market.

We need four strikers cometh the start of the season. Four that will be willing to work as part of a squad (i.e. no crying when on the bench). So logically if RvN does sign then we’ll start the season with him, Keane, Defoe and Obika. Logically? I did say assumption earlier so let's see how much influence Pav's agent has in the matter and whether Harry really does need to raise those funds.

Conundrum time then for Two Points Eight Games Redknapp. If he’s still manager of Spurs of course. What, you’ve not heard? Milan Mandaric apparently has sent out an army of pigeons to drop off  invitations requesting Harry's return to his spiritual home of Fratton Park. He's got the key to the city you know. We are doomed.

Jesus wept.

Stay tuned for tomorrows exclusive headline: SPURS TO RE-SIGN GARY DOHERTY.

It’s time for the Ginger Pele to come home. Start believing.

Tabloid exclusive: 'Germany invades Poland' - How Ruud

It’s Sunday which means regurgitated transfer news is once more vomited from the mouths of the media as we choke on yesterday’s food for thought. It's like Groundhog day with carrort chunks.

Apparently Harry is having a clear-out. No seriously, he is. Let’s disregard the fact that all clubs have clear-outs of varying magnitude from one season to the next or that Harry inherited a squad of players and that he is quite obviously not going to hold onto any deadwood because there’s no logical point to it as he wants to build a team of his own doing.

We’ve heard this gem about five times already since the end of the season. Along with the ones about Cisse, Santa Cruz and Gio. It’s almost like the journalists and editors of newspapers have some type of memory disorder, re-printing the same garbage week in and week out with complete impunity to criticism. And yet I can clearly see the irony of my good self once more shaking my fist vigorously towards them with blog article attack at the ready as I repeat my complaint.

The cycle can only be broken with an actual player signing for us.

Gio hasn’t impressed and doesn’t appear to have any future with us. Linking him away from the club is the most direct cause of action his agent can take but at least this time the rumours are being printed in Spain so we may see him escape back to La Liga. I'm sure he won't miss the English nightclubs.

Ruud van Nistleroy is being linked in a £1.25M bid. I think this one is brand spanking new (although we were linked a year or so back).

Another rumour that’s been knocking around for a few days relates to Paul Robinson returning to WHL.

Seriously, what next? A dead parrot?

Richard Dunne done the rounds back in January and I’m not alone in thinking this is would be a sideways signing.

But along with Ruud, you can see Harry doing some triffic bit of business with these two ‘experienced Premiership’ players, adding a bit of steel to the squad. Even though Ruud is likely to suffer from injury quirks and Dunne is no better than what we’ve got.

Ashley Young is a right-winger who players left-wing for Villa (I think he's naturally right-footed but please do correct me if I'm wrong) and a former target who we turned down the chance of signing first time round due to the excessive £7M (or whatever it was) fee. Back in again according to the red-tops for £8M + Bentley in the opposite direction. Chelsea the other interested club.

And did someone say Joe Cole?

I’m waiting for the Downing rumours to re-emerge (more so than they did last week with the story that Boro were finally willing to let him go) and conclude with an undisclosed fee to Spurs thanks to his broken bone.

Petrov and Babel are two former targets and tabloid favs of the transfer grapevine which will no doubt do the rounds (keep track and you’ll notice there’s a rota).

Young won’t join and I hope he doesn’t as I’m not convinced he’s half as good as people think he is. He’s decent but we can do better, unless we can’t, but even if we can’t he won’t come to us. He’ll want to step up to a Top 4 club. Which is ironic as he isn’t Top 4 quality. Which would then make him perfect for us.

And breathe.

Neither will Cole join – who I think was linked via the message boards. Not sure the press have picked up on this one quite yet. I doubt we’ll go anywhere near Santa Cruz (just not worth the transfer fee being quoted) and Cisse to Spurs is pure fantasy.

Robinson? Amazing journalism there. Someone got paid for that. They actually got paid sterling. No dis-respect to Robbo who was a personal fav of mine during his time at WHL, but he signed a long term contract at Spurs and then fluffed it along with the ball in practically every game. Shocking lack of management and loyalty saw him get worse and never better and eventually sold to Rovers. We then spend £9M on a replacement. Now, having him return while the replacement is sold on would quite simply be the most comical clusterf*ck ever. Let's be done with it and just re-sign Ian Walker.

Which then leaves us with Ruud. He has the pedigree but like I said, does have injury issues. He’s been out for ages at Madrid. But his form prior to that was ridiculously good. For £1.25M I’d snap him up. But then, how do I know this isn’t just another Sunday daydream from a monkey with a typewriter?

Once more, I turn to my precious bottle of twenty-three year old rum and search for the answer at the bottom of it.

All Quiet on the Tottenham Front

Frazier Campbell has returned to Utd and the lad is already being linked with a move to Hull. Sunderland are looking at Darren Bent and there’s this rumour from a ‘you know who deep throat nudge nudge wink wink’ who is sharing info that out £14M Russian forward has handed in a transfer request. No doubt the tabloids will pick up on this and run with an exclusive in 3...2...1...

I'm bored.

I don’t know whether it’s the sudden realisation that we were never quite as interested in Gareth Barry as we were led to believe, which ironically included me taking Redknapp's comments at face value and then pretending not to take notice of some of the red top headlines who had us competing with City for his signature. A touch of hypocrisy. I preach that people shouldn't listen to the hype, yet part of me did and wanted to believe it. Just a little part. No, not that part. I'm talking percentages in the commodity of belief. About 2% if you're interested. It was a weak moment and I must repent. Barry has also repented it would seem. Bless him.

Regardless of all this it didn't quite get the juicies flowing. Not in a 'BRAZILAIN WONDERKID DIEGO TO SPURS' kinda way (remember that transfer saga and Pleat's antics?)

Nothing has got the juicies flowing since the season ended. But then it has only just ended. I guess for once we're not quite at the forefront of the tabloid backpages, with City and Chelsea dominating for the moment.

I don't mind us going about our business on the quiet, but this is Levy and it's Redknapp and I doubt it's going to be all hush hush. But then it's not a bad thing if all we get is dis-information and then suddenly from left-field we sign a left-winger, with no leaks pre-contract shared online or in the press. Out of the blue is the way to work it.

But then, that's no fun.

Maybe the people who follow ITK gossip have it right. It’s like crack. It’s addictive as hell and will probably destroy you in no time if you keep on taking it in. But boy, what a rush.

Damn it, I'm conflicted.

Currently, there are plenty of names mentioned but nothing overly attractive flattering its eyelids at Levy and his cheque book.

Even Corluka is whoring targets, citing Srna and Krancjar as players Harry is apparently keen on. Some fans are jumping on player quotes (‘I am available for a club who wishes to have me’) and hoping, wishing Spurs take note. Carvalho anyone?

2+2=4? Nope not really. It's more Fibonacci sequence. Ain't got a sodding clue.

Elsewhere, there is still no indication whether Mansion is staying on as our sponsor or what the new kit looks like (other than that white training shirt with the yellow strips).

It’s the calm before the storm and along with every other Spurs fan, I’m suffering withdrawal symptoms after a season where almost every second was lived out like it was a 1000 days.

I guess I need to look elsewhere for an alternative non-transfer related football fix until something breaks out on the Sky Sports ticker.

Whether I end up lurking in message boards waiting for the very gossip I lambast most days or just go cold turkey remains to be seen.

For the moment, I rest easy in the trenches. With a bottle of rum.

No cheeky bid for Gareth Barry then?

Last summer he wanted Champions League football with Liverpool.

This summer he's opted to talk to City - who are probably the one club to have had a bid accepted by Villa - meaning even if another club matched the bid they would still fail miserably in matching the wages on offer.

Does this mean Barry has a gun pointing at his head, forcing him to earn a ridiculous amount of money for a team that’s arguably only considered big due to the investment pumped into the club from the Middle East rather than any recent history - because they are the only viable option?

Villa came closer to 4th spot than City did this season (the latter nowhere near it) so if Barry wants to better himself by playing in the elite European cup competition, is he not better off where he is? Or are we to believe that signing for City is not about the money but its about matching his personal ambition with Man City's aim to be the very best?

People seem to forget the fact that Chelsea were Top 4 before Roman turned up with his money and the instant rock'n'roll attraction that pulled in the likes of Jose and any top class player willing to play over here in the EPL.

Can anyone really see Mark Hughes cracking it in the next season or two without a true foundation in place to accomodate all the super-star signings? Or will be be shrewd and build logically? Signing Barry would suggest that. The owners will continue to tempt the likes of Kaka and David Villa, but in reality they are unlikely to sign.

By the way, yes, I'm bitter that we won't be signing him. No idea whether we've even managed a cheeky bid or not but I guess he rates City as the only club outside the top 4 who have a chance of breaking up the monopoly. Maybe he wont consider us for the simple fact that we shag it up all the time so we are not a viable option due to our transitional habits.

Surprised he hasn't waited to see if Arsenal could afford him - but then they won't be offering him anything near what he'll be able to command at Eastland's. Then again, maybe they did inquire and got turned down.

So at the end of the day, can you blame him for going to City (if he does)? Arguably, you could say City have the best chance of getting into the top four mix because of the money they can offer to players. And there's obviously a buzz about the place because of the belief and hype surrounding every signing.

But spunking money is no guarantee for success. We know that more than most.

My opinion? It will all end in tears. Fingers crossed.

the truth is not quite out there at the minute

If you believe the tabloids Harry is considering selling Modric and replacing him with Joe Cole. Richardson is an £8M target and for some reason Gareth Barry is mentioned as a possibility when in all probability he is more likely to go to Arsenal. And then there's the story in the Sunday Mirror about the Portsmouth takeover and the suggestion that the new owners want to bring in Redknapp for what would be his third reign at the club.

Shocking.

To make matters even worse, this is meant to be the new Spurs kit (sponsorless for the moment):

More rumourwhoring here including source for above

Shocking.

It’s Sunday. Still time for me to go to church and pray that the truth will out. And that it’s a little less ugly than it’s looking at the moment.

Scott Brown is a little bit of a grey area

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.

Carlito's Way is this way and that way

Here's one for you.

Back page, Spurs 'gutted' that their £18M move for Tevez (one that Carlos is liking) might well be dashed by Liverpool who are prepared to splash out £50M on the Argentine. Then a few pages into the Sports section, we are told that Rafa has a £30M war-chest for new players but has to sell in order to generate more funds.

Wonderful creativity from Kia Joorabchian.

Can someone please think of the children?

'Messi to Spurs' because I read it on the internet, innit

Someone asked me what happens to football bloggers in the quiet summer months. I answered, 'Quiet? Are you f*cking kidding me?' Once the transfer window opens, it's a little like the finale to Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Sunnydale is obliterated by a hellmouth.

And ground zero for our particular summer transfer hellmouth is the internet.

Once the tabloids exhaust all their football agent information they look towards the various message boards and copy and paste any in the know stories they deem worthy of the back pages…i.e. all of them. You'll be surprised how many message board threads end up on the Sky Sports ticker as 'exclusives'.

We've already been linked to Muntari, Upson, Cisse, Tevez, Ballack and Drogba (I kid you not), Cruz along with rehashes of Jones and Downing. And that's just a quick overview. Add to them the various continental players that have cited Spurs as a possible destination and you're just getting started. And it's still May. But all of these are your bog standard examples.

The In the Knows have yet to awake from their winter slumber.

We all know (bullshit radar on full pelt) that most of the players mentioned above (about 97% of them) are not genuine targets. Agents and players are in the habit of using our name just to put themselves out there. Others are just desperate for any kind of media coverage to get their current club to offer them a better deal. Others are simply delusional (yes, that's you Cisse, you fruitcake). The 3% are probable targets in the way that logically we could see them in a Lilywhite shirt because they fit the profile - i.e. affordable, required, Spurs type signing.

Others are likely because they fit Harry Redknapp's transfer target profile. Which might or might not be a good thing. Though he did strike gold with Wilson.

I got a lot of stick several months back for 'having a go' at the In The Know culture that exists and the quite prominent grapevine of whispers that many of us our privy to by simply being a member of any given Spurs forum. ITK's are people who are, well, obviously in the know. Whether its because they know people at the club or know people who know people or have some other deep throat connection that results with information about a possible transfer being shared online.

Now and again, some strike gold with their information. It's rare, and equally interesting how other signings come out of the blue and are never picked up by the very same people who would have you believe Kuyt (we ended up with Berbatov) or Torres (like this was ever on the cards) is about to sign. You'll always spot a bit of ITK info as they usually sign off with 'take it or leave it' or 'believe it if you want to' and talk in percentages (i.e. He's on his way, deal is about 87% done, likely to happen but you never know, might be a last minute glitch, wants more money than we've offered, but looking good).

It's a 'don’t shoot the messenger' ethos they live and die by. Although some do take it far too seriously. Not that they are always solely responsible for the info as sometimes they are simply passing on something that has been given to them. The problem is that there is no way of knowing whether the info has been dressed up or has been given to the ITK as a joke/dis-information.

True ITK's, you'd think, would not want to share any information, for reasons as to avoid placing the deal at risk and being discovered by other possible would-be-interested clubs.

People who spot a player arriving or leaving the Spurs training ground is altogether a different kettle of fish. That's not really ITK, is it? If you see someone out and about. Then at that point it's not really something that the club are trying to keep under wraps.

Guess this where the necessity to know something before everyone else drives people to extreme measures to get hold of said information (climb trees overlooking the Lodge) that might suggest who is about to sign for us. Even though it wont change the fact that said player may well sign. Is there a difference between knowing something 24 hours before it happens and just waiting for it to happen?

I guess, what is far more interesting is transfer deals that fail and the reasons behind the failure (remember the epic 'Diego' tug of war with Santos?). The Duff saga is a perfect example of when ITK info is far more interesting, although there is nothing to suggest any of it is ITK. Anyone could have told you he signed for Newcastle for the money.

I offended one or two people several months back because I criticised the culture (some people who dare to be critical of ITK people are banned from forums). I'm not going to stir up trouble again. I do think the obsession with some ITK's who post cryptic messages that could be translated to mean absolutely anything is tragic. But do agree that the information is there…take it or leave it. Take it seriously or don't. It's probably on par with anything you read in the tabloids anyway. And like I said, sometimes, one in two hundred, get it right.

Any ITK info posted on this blog during the summer months will be credited to the originator and will only be posted if the original 'rumour' was posted in the public domain. Anything that’s privately shared will stay that way. Wouldn't want another fatwā issued my way.

So, hold onto your hats, and expect to drown in a flurry of sightings and medicals and morning press conferences.

Here's to signing the new Zidane. That's Zidane, not Zokora. Thank you very much.

Can you tell I'm far more mellow with all this now?