A Quietly Good Window So Far

Parking the Kane debacle and looking at the recruitment we’ve done so far I think we are quietly having a good window, and doing the kind of recruitment that has historically served us well - buying more under the radar players for middling prices. We all know that when we go balls deep on a record signing it goes belly up.

From what I know, have read and seen of Udogie he looks a real talent. Can defend and attack well and is quick, will be nailed on as LB in Anges team.

VDV also has the pace to play high, has good duel winning data supposedly but is tall and good in the air which will improve our ability to defend set pieces.

Maddison’s quality has been there for all to see for some time, but he looks seriously up for it as Spurs - taking Kane’s number, captaining the team for part of his debut, great set of debut stats including two assists. He also always wanted the ball and immediately had his head up looking to move it forward, never hid once. He’s the kind of player we’ve been crying out for and is coming into his prime, could prove to be the signing of the summer.

For me Bissouma also feels like a new signing. I was chuffed when we got him but Contes stubborn incompetence and an injury stopped him getting started. He was absolute quality for Brighton, better than Caicedo was for them and we saw on Sunday how he can dominate a midfield. Caicedo and Rice at +£100m are absurdly overpriced in comparison.

When Bentancur comes back we will have an excellent midfield trio there along with a much improved back line with VDV and Udogie. I think a lot of pundits and oppo fans might be sleeping on us and our potential to do well this season - especially as we have no Europe to worry about - purely because of losing Kane.

The issues remain as to whether Vicario is Prem quality. Bottling the Raya deal when we’d agreed terms may come back to haunt us. We absolutely need a striker and quality CB before the window closes for me to feel we’ve sufficiently strengthened and mitigated the Kane loss - it will be unacceptable if we don’t buy in these two positions, so it’s far from a 10/10 window yet, but I think the strategy of buying low key quality players that are tailored to the managers system feels better than the dreadful, scatter gun approach we’ve had for the last few years which left us with a disjointed squad full of deadwood we can’t shift.

Incidentally my Leicester supporting mates are very happy with Winks, has looked quality for them by all accounts.