Holtby, BAE, Willian, Lamela, Capoue, Raul, Bale, Defoe

Little snippets from around the internet say that:

• Andre Villas-Boas tells us that Lewis Holtby has returned to training after the knee injury he suffered at the European Under 21 Championships where he was captaining Germany earlier this summer. This is a big season for Lewis who hopes to go with the full national side to the World Cup in 2014. To do that he will have to perform well for us when he gets the chance and force AVB to keep picking him. We have a strong midfield so it will not be easy to cement a place.
• Benoit Assou-Ekotto has a medical lined up with another club very shortly and has played his last game in a Spurs shirt. A player who divides opinion, I've certainly been in favour of him but last season he simply went through the motions whenever he played. That attitude has no place in a squad under AVB. He is another player you wish all the best to and leaves us with fond memories, just like Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker, who have both played their part for the club.
• Willian wants to come to Spurs, his agent however wants him to go to Liverpool, presumably for more commission for him and that despite stories of them not being interested Manchester United have put in a bid. Is this a case of try for Lamela and Willian to see which one comes off?
• Etienne Capoue enjoyed his debut - "It was a great experience, a great feeling to be out there. it was amazing to play a part in a win on the first day. It was hard work out there, but that’s my job, to defend and then join the attack." You did it very impressively Etienne.
• Erik Lamela's representatives are flying to London to discuss a move to us according to a source in Italy who gets leaks from agents. Gianluca Di Marzio is an Italian today journalist who specialises in transfer news and gets a lot of it right. He says Roma and Spurs have already met to discuss Lamela who Roma don't want to lose.  Last week it was reported by Gazzetta dello Sport that Roma officials flew to London after we made a bid for Lamela. The new story gains credibility when Di Marzio says he asked Roma officials about it and Roma suggested Lamela's representatives must be going on holiday!
• Raul has been wheeled out by Madrid to give his views on Gareth Bale. The campaign now is to try and convince everyone that Bale is overpriced. “He’s a brilliant player and would bring a lot to Madrid, but his price is too high" Raul is quoted as saying by Spanish sports newspaper AS. “Tottenham have overestimated his price. The Real Madrid board is working hard to assemble the best team possible.” The guy obviously knows little about the commercial side of football and the income a player like Bale would generate.
• Stoke City are considering a late bid for Jermain Defoe. 

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VIDEO: Transfer target Todor Nedelev £2.18 million winger

A report from Bulgaria suggests we are close to reaching an agreement for a young 20 year-old winger, Todor Nedelev. The suggested fee is £2.18 million (5m Belgian Lira).

Seen below playing for his club Botev Plovdiv, he certainly looks as if he has some talent from this You Tube clip even taking into account the poor defending. A major attribute though is his ability to use both feet, something that never ceased to amaze me with professional footballers paid vast sums of money to be the best they can be. Would you not become proficient with your weaker foot instead of missing chances trying to score with the wrong foot? Bobby Charlton did it and he didn't turn out to bad.

He has one cap for Bulgaria having represented his country at Under 19 and Under 21 level. He has been a professional since June 2011 and has therefore only played 56 league games scoring 15 goals. This season he has scored 4 goals in 4 league games and 3 goals in 5 Europa League qualifiers.

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Vadillo, Dawson, Dembele, Capoue, Halilovic, Bale

Real Betis sporting director Vlada Stosic has stated that the club have no intention of selling rumoured Tottenham target Alvaro Vadillo to anyone.

“We’re not listening to offers for Vadillo. We want to keep him,” said Stosic.

"Unless someone comes and pays the clause, or a figure very close to his buyout clause, then he'll be staying."

Pepe Mel, the Real Betis manager backed that view up: “There's nothing to talk about regarding Vadillo because as far as we're concerned he's not for sale.

“Obviously, if someone lays his full buyout clause on the table and the player wants to leave then there's nothing that we can do.”

Michael Dawson thinks the Spurs fans will love new signing Roberto Soldado.

“His movement and touches are fantastic.

“Fans watched him for the first time on Saturday, I’ve seen him in training and he can send you here, there and everywhere with that movement.

“He’s going to be a top signing and one I’m sure the fans will come to adore.”

Belgian international coach Marc Wilmots hopes orthopedic soles are the answer for Mousa Dembele and his ankle injury:

"Last night, orthopaedic soles were made for Moussa Dembele in order to improve his ankle injury. The foot specialist came late last night and worked on his orthopaedic soles. Moussa Dembele did train and has to get used to his new soles, but so far he seems to be in a good shape during the training."

The only thing holding up the announcement of Etienne Capoue is the paperwork he has confirmed. Having passed his medical the 25 year-old will train with the team today.

"There are only some paperwork to sign now. I will be at the training ground tomorrow.

"Tottenham is a super club. It's the best club to continue my career. It should be official very quickly now."

Sportske Novosti report that the family of Alen Halilovic have agreed to a week’s thinking period, where after the seven day hiatus they’ll talk with Spurs again about whether one of Europe’s hottest properties will move to White Hart Lane.

His father, Saed who is a coach at his current club Dinamo Zagreb , wants him to play first team football now and as that won't happen straight away at Spurs doesn't want him to come, but he also doesn't want him to stay at Dinamo Zagreb either.

Spanish sports paper AS have Gareth Bale on the front page again and quote a source as saying: ”Bale has spent three weeks with the same plan. He does not want to train, nor play games… seems to have made a final decision.”

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Huddlestone, Livermore, Sacchi, Merson, Le Tissier, Lamela, Bartra, Rami

Hull City have reportedly agreed a £5.45 million fee for Tom Huddlestone. All that means is he can now talk to them but we have been here before haven't we, Huddlestone will talk, but will he actually sign a bit of paper.

By all accounts Jake Livermore has already agreed a loan move, Spurs will just be waiting until near the close of the window to make sure there are not a spate of injuries in training and they have to cancel it.

Former Real Madrid director of football Arrigo Sacchi has suggested that the club's pursuit of Gareth Bale is a "commercial stunt". Shock horror, no really! Perez and his ego eh.

"€120m is a huge amount of money," he told Meridiano. "I think it's just a commercial stunt. For Real Madrid to take a British player, it's probably for sponsor-related reasons."

Well of course it's commercial, why do you think the fee is so ludicrous. He is one of, if not the biggest marketing tool in football right now. You want commercial money through the door then you want Bale.

Paul Merson doesn't expect Spurs to finish in the top four without Gareth Bale.

“I’m ruling Spurs out on the basis that if Gareth Bale goes then you’re taking half of Tottenham out of the equation. Where would they have been without his goals last season?”

Matt Le Tissier agrees. “Spurs will probably lose Gareth Bale and without him they won’t be quite as a strong, while Liverpool aren’t ready yet.

“I went for the Reds to finish sixth above Everton; I don’t think they’re quite good enough yet for the Champions League.”

Plenty of talk now about Roma's Erik Lamela and a £30 million target.

Just 68 of the 220 players picked to start for clubs up and down the country in this World Cup season are predicted to be English by betting company Spreadex, with the influx of cheaper foreign talent continuing to soar. Serves to demonstrates that we have no hope on the international stage.

Tottenham are said to be interested in Barcelona central defender Marc Bartra as the 22 year-old has become frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunity. Bartra’s agent has been quoted in the Spanish media as saying: “Bartra is 25,000 times better than Song as a central defender.

The rumours of Valencia centre-back Adil Rami being on the radar are true I hear but there is nothing concrete to report by way of an approach.

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Atsu, Parker, Huddlestone, Livermore, Carroll, Townsend, Damiao, Rami, Defoe, Sigurdsson

Christian Atsu the Porto winger who played under Andre Villas-Boas is once again being mentioned as a target. That lovely journalistic phrase that has no source and with information the journalist wouldn't know anyway is used, "Spurs are weighing up a move." So some journalist knows what is being discussed behind closed doors at White Hart Lane does he? Sounds like pure guesswork, make enough guesses and some must be right.

Hull City are in advanced talks with Tom Huddlestone over a £5 million move. Don't get your hopes up folks, Huddlestone has had advanced talks for over a year with half a dozen clubs and never puts pen to paper. He is not on big wages but lacks any ambition. He is the anonymous employee who never misses a day, does a dead end job and never complains, he just does it and thinks the company thinks the world of him for doing it. Hull are trying to tempt him though by taking Jake Livermore on loan so he'll have a buddy alongside him!

Championship side Watford who narrowly missed promotion last year and have started well this year, want highly-rated midfielder Tom Carroll on loan. I would have thought a Premier League loan would get him the game time he needs to develop.

Once again QPR want Scott Parker but wages remain the issue. Parker doesn't really want to leave but he would be so far down the pecking order he'd never play in a World Cup year. Their have been reports that he would be speaking with Roy Hodgson to see if playing in the Championship would damage his chances of going to the World Cup so only if he gets the right answers would he go. If negotiations are heavily underway perhaps he has received those assurances. However there are reports that Fulham have now entered the fray which would be a more sensible move for him.

QPR also want Andros Townsend back but surely he also would want to play in the Premier League. He is unlikely to get much game time at Tottenham being behind Bale, Lennon, Chadli and Sigurdsson, with possibly another to come. His future at Spurs depends upon the system AVB wants to play when Sandro is fit or Capoue is confirmed, will it still be 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3? If it's the later we are likely to sign another striker and his days are numbered. Clearly the spell at QPR last season brought him along and he would surely do a job for a Premier League team, having shown up well in pre-season cameos.

According to French sports daily L'Equipe, Zenit St. Petersburg have offered Internacional £21.47 million (€25m) for Leandro Damiao which meets club president Giovanni Luigi's inflated valuation.

Andre Villas Boas has declared that Jermain Defoe and Gylfi Sigurdsson will not be sold this summer, according to SkySports. Adebayor is the striker the club are desperate to shift, universally disliked it seems the club want shot of him.

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly turned to Valencia's £9.5 million (€11.06m) rated defender Adil Rami in our search for a new centre-half. Toby Alderweireld is also continually talked about but ITK suggests we rejected him early in the window as having a major weakness in his game.

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Parker, Defoe, Vertonghen, Cabaye, Dembele, Bernard, oh and Bale!

A quick round up of the afternoon Spurs news.

We have turned down a QPR bid for Scott Parker it would seem, there may be an improved offer on it's way. It would be a surprise if Parker went down a division with the World Cup coming up next summer. They also asked about Jermain Defoe Harry told the London Evening Standard, "I'd love to have Jermain. We made an enquiry but at the moment he's not available."

Jan Vertonghen feels it's touch and go whether he can make the season opener on August 18.

"I'm making a lot of progress. I'm starting to run. The next game is nine, 10 days from now, so I will be quite close. You never know what can happen and I always aim for the best and hope next week I'll be very close."

Spurs desire to land Newcastle ace Yohan Cabaye had been confirmed by PSG manager Laurent Blanc.

"He is a very good player, I have not changed my mind. I read that Tottenham are also interested. Newcastle, Tottenham or Paris, I hope he will be at a big club in September."

Mousa Dembele wants a better Tottenham performance on Saturday and shows a great attitude, we weren't good enough last time, let's improve.

“It’s a very important game for us because there will be a lot of players back and we would like to begin our season with a good feeling at White Hart Lane,” said Mousa.

“It’s going to be important for us, to show the fans as well that we are ready to do big things this season, so they have confidence in us.

“You never want to lose 5-2, but sometimes that can act as a bit of a shock, a wake-up call, and we see we still have work to do.

“It’s a blessing as well that the game was in pre-season and we can get together and say ‘okay, we need to do more, so let’s do it’.”

And finally Florentino Perez is making noises about not talking about Gareth Bale again and whilst not talking about him says  €100 million is to much for him, good, you won't want him then will you.

"We talk with lots of people and we will see what happens in all our negotiations with this player [Bale] and others," Perez has said.

"We do not usually talk about other players out of respect to the player, the club and the president with whom I have made a good friendship.

"If I do not talk about names, I do not talk about money, [but] €100m seems a lot to me, a lot for everything."

Finally one we can cross off the list Bernard, he has joined Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukranian Champions were the only club to meet Athletico Mineiro's valuation of the 20 year-old.

Last night's article: What does Soldado offer?

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Gareth Bale

The Gareth Bale saga rumbles on with quotes from Iker Casillas, Ledley King and those famous newspaper 'sources.'

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If you missed it the article last night looked at what Roberto Soldado offers Spurs and suggests you won't see much of him on the left hand side of the pitch (opens in new window): What does Soldado offer?
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Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas has told Spanish paper AS: "We still don't know if it's [Bale] official or not. There has been a lot of talk about it in the last few days, just like in every pre-season."

Not we'd like to sign Gareth Bale, we are trying to sign him but 'we don't know if it's official or not.' Interpretation of that could mean what you want using literal translation or a bit of licence. It could mean the only thing to agree on is a fee, it could mean we are trying to sign him but it hasn't happened yet, it could mean we are Real Madrid of course it will happen. It just depends what you want to read into it, the papers love that sort of thing. He went on:

"Last year it was Modric and now it's 'the Bale saga'. The president and Jose Angel Sanchez (Real's director general) always do everything to try and bring the best players to the club. The current squad is complete in every area but if a player like Bale comes along, he'll be welcomed."

That part is an acknowledgement that he is a quality player but backtracks on the initial part of the statement, 'do everything to try' suggests a deal is far from certain. Carlo Ancelotti may not be prepared to talk about Bale even though he has talked about Bale but plenty of other Real Madrid players will, anything that helps to keep the pressure up through the media. They want to gender an air of inevitability.

The Mirror suggest the cost of the move is not welcomed in the Real Madrid dressing room. Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos forced out Jose Mourinho they tell us and go on to give us an account of a dinner in a Los Angeles restaurant with players, staff and directors all present.

Bale became the topic of discussion it is claimed and one of the senior players is reported to have said that he was "surprised that Perez was willing to pay so much for one player" and that another asked, "What about us?"

A third player was adamant that Bale was not needed, and that the squad Carlo Ancelotti already has is strong enough without him.

That sounds like a few either worried about their places or surprise at the cost of the fee, clearly they don't understand the commercial side of football, or it could all be blown out of proportion or made up of course. Sounds like a paper attempting a new angle to suggest they have exclusive news on the saga when in fact it's all pretty meaningless. Others of course will claim it's dressing room unrest but that's only because papers throw in words like 'adamant' when in fact they have no idea of the tone actually used. You takes your pick and makes your choice.

Further reports suggest a £14 million different between the clubs, others £18 million and yet more that the two clubs are nowhere near each other in valuation, that's all before the payment structure question raises it's ugly head.

From a Spurs point of view legend Ledley King suggests the Bale transfer speculation won't affect the other players.

"At this time of the season, you are not sure what's going to happen," King said at the launch of the club's new interactive online game Tottenham Turfies.

"I'm sure every club is the same. As players you learn to deal with that.

"You just get your head down and concentrate on performing your best for the team and that's what the players will be doing."

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Capoue, Huddlestone, Cambridge 0 Spurs 5

The president of Ligue 1 club Toulouse, Olivier Sadran, in an interview with French radio station RMC suggested their 24 year-old defensive midfielder Etienne Capoue would be joining Spurs.
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Last night's article (opens in new window): What does Soldado offer looks a at what we can expect from our new striker
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When asked about the potential of a move to White Hart Lane for the player, Sadran said of the versatile French international, "He will go there."

Reports suggest talks are taking place today on a 4 year deal for around £8.6 million (€10m) + £2 million (€1.72m) add-ons.

Capoue's salary in 2012 was £814,518 (€948,000) which is £15,663 (€18,229) a week. Even doubling that would still only leave him on around £31,000 (€36,080) a week, well within our budget. Standing at 6' 2" (1.89 m) he can also provide cover as a central defender, a position we are short in.

His signing could spell the end for Tom Huddlestone. Cardiff City has a bid for Capoue accepted 2 weeks ago so could now firm up their interest in Huddlestone instead who would be surplus to requirements at Spurs this season. We could expect to recoup £5 million (€5.82m) of Capoue's fee if Huddlestone joined Cardiff.

A young Spurs team played a game away at Cambridge City and beat them 5-0 last night with goals from Bentaleb, Falque 2, Fredericks and Ceballas.

Tottenham XI: Miles, Fredericks, Ward, Ball, Stewart, McEvoy, Coulhurst, Ceballas, Falque, Bentaleb, Lamerias.
Subs: Vigouroux, Gallifinco, McEnett, D McQueen, A McQueen.

Cambridge 0 Spurs 1 - Bentaleb makes no mistake with a great effort from distance that Barrett can do nothing about.
Cambridge 0 Spurs 2 - Shaquile Coulhurst chests a ball down into the path of Yago Falque and he fires home from the edge of the penalty area with a low drive.
Cambridge 0 Spurs 3 - A speculative long range effort from full-back Ryan Fredericks deceives Zac Barrett and ends up in the back of the net
Cambridge 0 Spurs 4 - Falque makes it 4-0 with a close range effort.
Cambridge 0 Spurs 5 - Ceballas curls a superb effort into the top corner leaving City’s substitute keeper Enol Ordonez no chance.

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