The media, when it comes to Spurs, generally has its head in a tizzy, all a dither. The trouble is that Tottenham’s meteoric rise under Harry Redknapp has raised expectations – allowed the news to be subverted in a certain way and given credence to outlets who wish to tout extremist stories. I can’t be the only one tired of hearing that if Spurs don’t earn qualification for next season’s Champion’s League they’ll have to ship off their best players. Are we honestly supposed to believe that Spurs’ financial situation is such that if they finish fifth rather than fourth in the League it’s goodbye to the likes of Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric?
Daniel Levy and Harry Redknapp’s main aim this summer is sure to be to keep hold of Tottenham’s best players. Given the size of Tottenham’s squad and the fact that Harry will be looking to bring in a world-class striker this summer (something that’s likely to be costly) there will be players who find themselves transferred out of the club. These players won’t be Spurs’ top performers, however. They’ll be the fringe players and it’s unlikely that too many Tottenham fans will lose sleep over their absence.
With this in mind, who needs to go and how much money can Tottenham expect to garner in return for their sales? Harry is an expert when it comes to the transfer market (I hope he wouldn’t mind me saying that) and will make sure that his club gets the best deals possible. Player’s worths here are estimates – feel free to remonstrate with me if you feel I’ve over or under-valued a player.
First up there’s right-back Alan Hutton. It’s pretty likely that he’ll leave this summer – if the tales of his dressing-room bust-ups with Harry Redknapp have any veracity. Despite starting the season well injuries and his attitude have seen him frozen out. He remains a decent enough player and one that should get Spur’s £5-6m this summer should he move on.
Despite Tottenham’s well documented struggles upfront, there’s no room at the club for Robbie Keane who’s currently on loan at West Ham. I expect he’ll be moved on permanently this summer. He’s a natural goal-scorer who has proven himself in the Premier League. Spurs should be able to get about £5-7m for his services – particularly if he starts playing regularly for West Ham before the end of the season. Another striker seeking more first team action is Roman Pavlyuchenko who could fetch Spurs anything between £9-12m should he leave. Niko Kranjcar is also likely to move on and may be worth around £5m.
As for the midfield, a particularly crowded area for Tottenham, I expect to see Jermaine Jenas, Giovani dos Santos, Jamie O’Hara and David Bentley move on. Jenas isn’t getting enough games at Tottenham and will likely seek out first team football elsewhere – I’d value him at around £4-6m. Giovani dos Santos is currently on loan at Racing Santander where he’s performing well. There’s every chance that Racing will look to keep him or another team will take him on. Given his youth (21-years-old) and his ability I’d say he’s worth at least £9-10m.
Jamie O’Hara’s currently on loan at Wolves with a view to making the deal permanent. He too has been performing well for Wolves and it’s highly likely that they’ll look to keep him on should they stay clear of the drop-zone. I imagine Spurs will demand something in the region of £3-4m for the 24-year-old. David Bentley arrived at Tottenham with a massive price-tag: £15m. At this stage, however, Spurs would be willing to take a massive loss to get rid of the winger, who’s currently on loan at Birmingham City. I expect that they’d be willing to sell Bentley for anything between £5-7m.
That may seem like a large list of players, but as many of them are already loaned to other clubs and most of them don’t play on a regular basis, their sales wouldn’t represent too much of a loss. The revenue they would bring in however would be useful in Harry’s pursuit of players to help him challenge at the top of the table. It’s win-win for both the players and the club.
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Most of the values are about right and it won’t affect are squad very much atall, especially with the likes of Naughton and Walker to come back in. Think the 9-10M valuation of Dos Santos is a bit ott, think we’ll be lucky to get 5M
I can agree with most of the players suggested to leave. I would keep only O’Hara and between JD and Pav I would keep the second. The main point is that the new players to replace all those must absolutely be intelligent and to have a strong personality and a winner’s character. Otherwise it won’t make much difference. I am glad that at last Harry has acknowledge and underline it.
Hutton £6m, Keane £6m, Pavlyuchenko £10m, Kranjcar £8m, dos Santos £4m,Bentley £8m,O’Hara £6m. Total £48m.
One RB has to go -Hutton is favourite. Keane and O’Hara deals are virtually done and dusted – believe it’s £6m each. It’s either Pav or Crouch to go. The Bentley deal may need add-ons to reach £8m, but Levy always drives a high price. Remember we got the full £16.5m back for Bent in the end. Don’t want to sell Kranjcar, and might consider giving Jenas one last chance. We also need to sort out the Woodgate/King situation
All of those seem right to me however am I the only spurs fan to have noticed crouch and pav have the best link-up play in the spurs team. Pav is like a different play wen next to crouch and also we haven’t lost a game yet with these two side by side. I also think jeans is settled as a squad player he does tend to perform well as a sub due to his pace against the tired legs of defenders who have had bale and Lennon run at them. And we keep talking about a big name striker wen were looking to sell one we have! Giovanni was brilliant pre-season for us wen I went to see them live and now he’s scoring regularly for racing and the fact he’s 21 goes in our favor! Realistically we should sell bentley, o’ hara, keane, Defoe, palacios, Hutton, bring walker back to WHL loan naughton out to a pl club I hear they can both play either left or right side which is handy coz we do need cover for BAE seeing as against wolves he was playing through tonsillitis! And bring in an experienced striker not a big name look at Torres 50 mill down the drain we definitely do not want that to happen! ATM let’s just concentrate on getting 4th then worry on who to buy and sell
Cudicini- free
Naughton 4m
Hutton- 6m
Bassong 6m
Woodgate – retired
O’Hara- 7m
Jenas 5m
Giovani 4m
Krancjar- 8m (will go dont want him to)
Keane- 6m
Pav- 10m (like him but should go)
Defoe 12m (Want him to go! pleasse)
THATS 60 MILLION- I think Defoe and Bassong are the only 2 who could stay altho either arent happy not being first teamers. Jenas wont go coz the saps happy being cover.
Our squad then needs a winger as option a reserve left back who can play central, a reserve goalie and 2 strikers.
Heinze LB+CB 3million
Marin 15million
Anelka 7million
Lukaku 18million
Id be happy with those
It’s not a question of who leaves, it’s more a question of who wants them and at what price? Before we buy its obvious that we need to recoup an awful lot of money as the players we need to elevate us aren’t in the mid range bracket. Those mentioned in many posts were available last summer and again the winter window, but its the lack of interest in them as our only assets are the likes of Bale, Modric, in other words those we need to retain. Buying back Keane was a huge, expensive mistake on Harry’s part, Bentley and O’Hara could have been used to ease our load on the team, so my gut feeling is the purse strings are very tight, and a big sale ids on the cards soon! We must unfortunately get Woodgate and King off the payroll and admit defeat, perhaps get Samba or Cahill in before they’re priced out of it!
I don’t see most of those players leaving. It’s a matter of want and no one wants them at the prices we want to sell them at… we will be lucky if we get 30 million out of that lot.
Arry gets tons of praise for lifting teams (and rightly so), but he does it with a huge squad and spends a lot… when he bolts after next season we are going to be juggling 50 players in the squad.
Seen it all before:
2009:
But despite their improved form, Tottenham would consider bids for Roman Pavlyuchenko, Darren Bent, David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Alan Hutton, Huerelho Gomes, Tom Huddlestone, Gareth Bale, Didier Zokora, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Giovani dos Santos, Gilberto, Ricardo Rocha and Kevin Prince-Boateng….