Transfer options round-up

Willian is not to be, he would have been excellent for us but not to worry, move on to Pjanic, Eriksen is still a possibility.

There are plans in place for these disappointments happening. We have gone into this window with a strategy and we have been carrying it out with the backing of Joe Lewis.

Daniel Levy is prepared to pay more than he would normally do for certain key players and has done so. Soldado is an example of that as was Willian. These were signed because the club have the utmost faith in AVB, not that he makes all the transfer decisions, he doesn't, he has his input into the think tank.

Targets suggested by all parties are discussed, priorities set, we'll go for player A, if we can't get him then player B and player C. We have this for all the areas we are looking to strengthen.

Franco Baldini goes to do preliminary negotiations and arranges deals in principle before they get handed over to the money men to finalise. Some deals are on the back burner, you go and chat with the representatives of player C for instance so you have a complete picture of the rough costs of each option and whether they want to come, the possibilities of their club wanting to sell.

In addition you must have players lined up or in mind for most positions in the squad, you never know when you might receive an offer to good for one of your players and decide to sell.

Some deals you don't get you return to and try again, the selling club may not have been able to sell, the clubs the player wanted to go to didn't come in for him, there could be a whole host of reasons. How many times have we tried to sign Damiao for instance even after AVB said in February he doubted we'd be back for him, we were right at the start of the window.

This pieces seems to have morphed somewhat, it was to be a quick round-up for Facebook but seems to have expanded to a whole article so let's get back on track with quotes from Andre Villas-Boas:

“We’ve been very active in the market and the only thing I can tell you is that we will keep on adding to the squad. We’ve been linked with numerous names during the transfer window but what you can expect is Tottenham to bring more players in. That is the only thing I can tell the fans.”

Erik Lamela is expected early next week, wages were a stumbling block for the 21 year-old Argentinian but I believe that has now been overcome. Fabio Coentrao is having second thoughts, he is saying he wants to remain in Spain, perhaps it's Champions League football he's really after and young winger Todor Nedelev, who was watched again this weekend, is on our radar as is Real Betis 18 year-old winger Alvaro Vadillo.

Vlad Chririches is again the centre-half target we are after, he is flying in on Tuesday or Wednesday. Erik Lamela is is expected to be tied up around the same time, we'll also try for Pjanic but Roma won't want to be loosing all their players.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto needs to pass his second medical having failed the first to depart for foreign soil, we have had offers for Andros Townsend and Cardiff have come in for Aaron Lennon.

Defoe and Adebayor can both go but shifting Ade is a problem. We may be seeing another striker come in, certainly will if one of them goes, which may well be Damiao for a price more to Levy's liking than before. Can't see us getting Benzema because of his wages or Adem Ljajic of Fiorentina who is refusing to sign a new contract but you never know this window. Hulk still wants out of Russia and is another option if we can get Zenit to lower their asking price to around £30 million.

Enjoy what remains of it because you won't be seeing this type of transfer window again.

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