I read somewhere that Mason was playing with an injury all season and he's only just had it operated on since the season ended. Take that with as many pinches of salt as you wish.

Either way his is one of the squad spots that clearly needs an upgrade.

Imagine facing a midfield trio of Dembele, Wanyama and Dier. Would bully everyone they faced.

For me we need better ball players. Yes, he can put a tackle in but give me a player who can do the dirty stuff and has the ball ability any day. Those are the type of players we should be targeting.
I would rather keep Bentaleb and give him a run of games to get his game time back. Big fan and potential Dembele replacement in the making no doubt.

I'm firmly in the camp that 2 new CMs are needed - one DM to compete with Dier, one box-to-box CM to compete with Dembele.

If Bentaleb isn't, for whatever reason, coming back into the fold, then a second ball-carrier is needed to fill the Dembele role when he's out. Axel Witsel is the name I've been banging on about but he'd be expensive, albeit he's about as good a like-for-like swap as you could possibly get.

comment by groovyduringthewar (U1054)
posted 49 minutes ago
He will provide competition for Dier and Alli, in who gets the most yellow cards cup.
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is there a single spurs article that you don't comment on groovy? fack off you boring old pisssbag

I hope the rumours are true about Wanyama. He is exactly what we need. When Dier and Dembele are missing we get over run in midfield as Mason and Carroll just don't have any physical presence.

Problem is our relationship is pretty bad with Southampton at the moment, particularly regarding nabbing Alderweireld under their noses.

Wanyama will cover both Dier and Dembele and there will be plenty of games to go round due to resting, injuries and suspensions.

We have Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Wimmer as our main three cm's with the highly rated but untested CCV as 4th choice. Signing Wanyama would mean Dier could fill in as RCB in an emergency.

It has been said that Bentaleb seems to be knuckling down in the last month so hopefully he will be back to his best next season. At CM we will then have Dier, Dembele, Wanyama and Bentaleb and that is very strong.

The two main signings id love to see at Spurs this summer are Batshuayi and Wanyama - Pace and power .

Any other signings after that would be a bonus.

The transfer activity i would love to see in the summer -

Rumoured £60m transfer kitty would get us Batshuayi (£35m) and Wanyama (£25m)

Sell - Chadli - £10m, Mason - £6m, Carroll - £4m, Yedlin - £3m = £23m

With the £23m from player sales buy Schurrie or Arnoutovic.

Fazio to be released and loans for Winks, KWP, Onomah and maybe Pritchard.

Our squad for next season -

GK - Lloris, Vorm, Mcghee

RB - Walker, Trippier

LB - Rose, Davies

CB - Alternierend, Vertonghen, Wimmer, CCV (Dier as cover)

CM - Dier, Dembele, Wanyama, Bentaleb

AM - Lamela, Alli, Eriksen, Schurrie, Son, Clinton

CF - Kane, Batsyuayi, Harrisson (promoted from youths)

Wanyama just does not strike me as good enough.

I watch him and Southampton play a lot just through sheer interest and I see such a limited player.

He is admirably strong, and a competent tackler but besides that I feel he offers very little. Really lacks pace, agility, mobility and varied distribution. Can also be quite clumsy with his touches.

I just feel that for a Spurs side attempting to better or at least match last years exploits, Wanyama just doesn't seem to be a great option. He doesn't improve the first XI, and in my opinion, isn't better than Eric Dier.

You can't improve by simply adding squad players. You have to bring in real quality that forces current first teamers to compete for their spot. Wanyama isn't that at all imo.

comment by Watch out or you'll get the Kane!!(previo... (U12707)
posted 54 minutes ago
For me we need better ball players. Yes, he can put a tackle in but give me a player who can do the dirty stuff and has the ball ability any day. Those are the type of players we should be targeting.
I would rather keep Bentaleb and give him a run of games to get his game time back. Big fan and potential Dembele replacement in the making no doubt.
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I'm with you there, on the type we need and keeping Bentaleb as 'Dembele'

I would sacrifice a bit of steel for a bit of silk in the player we buy. We currently have Dier and Dembele, who are both nails. Bentaleb isnt shy of the dirty stuff either, and if played with another DM would bolster us.

I don't think we need a destroyer. Someone in the mould of Schneiderlin, or a young Huddlestone, for me.

Sometimes Dier and Dembele can be overkill if teams drop off of us. Someone who can distribute wellwoukd be ideal. If they are competent at centre back then all the better

Mason should be deployed as a hard working Attacking mid. He should'nt be a replacement for Dier or Dembele.

Wanyama is DM. Yes Schnerdelin would be great but would you drop Dembele or Dier? We need to be reasonable.

Dembele is out for, what, 4 games at the start of next season? In an ideal world, he'd only get back into the team on merit, not by default.

would take a class act to keep dembele out the side on merit.

when fit one of the first names on the sheet.

he is quite simply a key player.

comment by Chronic (U3423)
posted 35 minutes ago
would take a class act to keep dembele out the side on merit.

when fit one of the first names on the sheet.

he is quite simply a key player.
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...which is exactly why any players brought in need to be very good themselves. There's no point buying players just to warm the bench, and Dembele is also not completely irreplaceable, as awesome as he is. He's out for 4 games at the start of the season, there's not point getting a mediocre replacement just because you don't want Dembele to lose his spot when he's available again, otherwise Spurs will end up in the same position as this year where the backups just aren't up to the task.

im not disagreeing...

Dembele is a key player now, but he wasnt until Klopp's first game.

Dier was not a regular at CB or RB this time last year, let alone midfield.

Its not a case of buying someone TO replace these guys. It is buying someone who COULD push and replace them, or can do a job similar to them in the potentially long season we have ahead.

We should not be looking at squad bulking, but squad improving. Getting quality in to push what we have, not be a Europa stiff as in prior seasons

Wanyama is a brilliant player, he'd be a better fit than Dier for sure.

Wanyama would be a good fit both in the team & on the bench.
Crucially Kenya have been eliminated from ACON so we would not lose him for 6-8 weeks in January 2017.

As for him being a better fit than Dier, I think Dier has been immense & will only get better. For England the other night he did not put a foot or a pass wrong

comment by Andy Carrot (U2440)
posted 19 hours, 24 minutes ago
Wanyama is a brilliant player, he'd be a better fit than Dier for sure.
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what are you talking about mate?

On the one hand i think he would make us a stronger squad overall purely through being a superior player to the likes of Carroll and Mason

On the other hand it would be an underwhelming signing for me, because i don't think he is anything special. Would bring some physicality to the side but i am not sure we lack in that department after the slaying of Chelsea . I'd like someone a bit more creative to come in personally - not sure who that may be though

Whats this Croatian lad like, Luka? Coric. Talentvand position in the midfield

Never seen him play a full 90 minutes i am ashamed to say mate, so can't give much insight other than what i've read online about him, or seen in highlight clips. He looks to be uber technical and a bit Modric-esque in terms of playing position, albeit a tad more attacking, diminutive stature and ability to pick a pass / dictate play in tight situations using either foot. One of those rare players where you know the ball is safe when in possession. Would love to see what Poch could do with him but i don't read too much into these rumours personally

Couple of clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0GodpGo2ZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgatdF2oH8I

Yeah, rumour schrumour.