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Right then, what does the internet have in store for us today?  Same old rubbish really, although there was a bit of news that caught my attention.

Manchester City's Togo and former Arsenal striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, has been linked with a loan move to us.  Now, I'm no genius, but this is the same Manchester City that declined Craig Bellamy a move to us a couple of weeks ago, right?

talkSPORT have gone crazy over the rumour that Harry Redknapp is about to sign the player.  The tabloid-style radio station has even discussed his contract, stating Tottenham Hotspur have agreed to cover half the players wages.

Utter rubbish.

We can also forget Klaas-Jan Huntelaar signing for us.  He's made the move to yet another league.  If he can cut it in the Bundesliga, I'll take back everything I've said about him.  Can't see it myself frankly, therefore, expect him to be included in the vast list of players to be linked to us next season.

"At the end of his career, Huntelaar could be an interpreter - Holland, Spain, Italy, Germany...." - TonyRich

The Sun's Ian McGarry was asked last night on the BBC FiveLive Monday Night Club which players Harry is likely to sign.  He didn't mention any names, but it was obvious that he was alluding to Rossi, although he did say that there's very little chance of getting him.

What are we left with? Scott Parker, surely?

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Complications over Huntelaar Deal

Marco Borriello is a wanted man

Manchester City and Juventus are interested in AC Milan's striker Marco Borriello.

According to some media streams, City is planning to request the 28-year-old in exchange for Robinho, knowing that AC Milan want the Brazilian, but due to their lack of financing at the moment, will need to offer a player in a part-ex if a deal is to get off the ground.

If Manchester City or Juventus tie up the signing of Borriello, that leaves Milan seriously short on options up front, even if they sign the troubled Brazilian. I'm only putting one and one together here folks, but if Borriello does leave, can you see Milan letting Huntelaar leave to?

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Huntelaar in Loan Move to Tottenham Hotspur

The Mirror have reported that Daniel Levy is currently in talks with AC Milan over the possibility of bringing International Dutch striker, Klaas-Jan-Huntelaar, to White Hart Lane in a season-long loan deal.

The deal could include the option to buy at the end of the loan contract, with the sum reported to be in the region of £12 million.

Source: MirrorFootball

If true, I wouldn't mind any possible loan deal. I've had my doubts about Huntelaar for a while, but if the story were true and there were no strings attached, I think it would suit all parties.

If Huntelaar can hit the onion bag and prove that he's a decent player in the Premier League, £12 million wouldn't be too steep.

I'll wait on Luís Fabiano though. A little birdy has told me that he could be a Spurs player within days. We all know what we think about silly little birdies though. Therefore, until something is concrete, I won't be believing anything, although no one ever said dreaming was wrong.

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Harry's Interested in Huntelaar

Mediaset, the Italian media giant (owned by Mr.Berlusconi), yesterday revealed that both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have shown an interest in buying AC Milan striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for around €15 million (approximately £12.6 million). It also added that "Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, has been looking at Huntelaar in recent months and plans to sign the Dutch striker."

Tottenham Hotspur's pursuit of a striker has been the topic of discussion this week, therefore, you can imagine the delight on nearly all my fellow Spurs when they read this. Thing is, I was the only disappointed Spurs fan in the office.

I had to ask my associate Tottenham loving colleagues a question; "Just a thought guys, why are most of you wound up by the media hype that surrounds Klaas-Jan Huntelaar?"

As you can imagine, I received the dreaded blank stare. It was as if I had just said that Ashley Cole is indeed a decent chap.

So again, I posed a question; "How many of you have seen him play?" Judging by the comments I received, most of them didn't even know what Huntelaar looked like.

I went into one.....

"The simple fact of the matter is that Mr. Huntelaar was a goal scorer in Holland, but failed in Spain and in Italy. What makes him such an amazing candidate??

"I remember a certain Mateja Kežman; man could he score....in Holland. Since his move away from the goal-rush Eredivisie (left in 2004), in which he scored 105 goals in 122 games, Kezman has racked up an amazing tally of.........39 goals.

"Let's look at Huntelaar's stats: In the goal-rush (yes, I will call the Eredivisie that, for even Martin Jol's Ajax scored an incredible 106 goals, but still came second), Huntelaar managed to score 135 in 183 games. Pretty phenominal. But then, his goal tally dries up like an elephant's ball sack. Why? Because he left the comfort of the Goal-Rush league!

"Since his move to Spain and Italy, the once prolific striker has scored a total of 15 goals in 45 matches!

"And we want him to sign? Based on what? I suppose we could sign him and loan him to Ajax. As a Spurs player, he'll probably get a bucket load. Shame though, as he'll do it wearing a Ajax shirt.

"So please, can someone explain to me what all this fuss is about?".

Robert in accounting spoke up first; "Jaymes, look at Ruud van Nistelrooy and the original Ronaldo. They all scored in the Dutch league and also found it fairly easy scoring in other leagues".

"Bob, you've just answered your own question mate. They scored in OTHER LEAGUES! Huntelaar has played in other leagues, yet cannot score."

At this point, the conversation went dead, not because it wasn't interesting, but because the only Arsenal fan in the office, Trevor, walked in and put an end to it.

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There will be loads of you who disagree with me. Please don't take any of the above personally. It's just that as Spurs fans (and football fans in general), we seem to get our thongs in a twist every time a foreign player with some history gets linked with us.

If we do sign him and he goes on to score a bucket load, I will be as delighted as my fellow Spur, but the facts don't lie. Chances are, he'll come here and not settle, which means that he'll need a TomTom for directions on where the onion-bag is.

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We don't want you either!

I read the Sun's article on Huntelaar rejecting a move to Spurs and thought; 'hold on a second, who said we wanted you?'

Fair enough, Harry was interested in the summer, but that all changed when Crouch was signed. Milan took the punt on him, spending €15 million (£13 million or so). Oh how they wish they hadn't.

The lad has played a total of 8 games (correct me if I'm wrong) for them and scored an astonishing 0 goals (don't correct me because I'm right mwahahaha). He's also looked well off the pace, which, playing in Serie A, is an extremely difficult thing to do, seeing as it's the slowest league this side of the Milky Way.

In the article, Thanks, but no thanks, I likened him to the rich variety of strikers that have taken the plunge out of the Eredivisie, but unfortunately, have never made it.

Harry thought that £13 million for him was too much and so, spent that on Crouchie (or Crouchy). That in itself shows you what Harry makes of the Dutchman.

Just before I go, I want to dedicate this article to all the people out there that will probably write a comment (or two) about how wrong I am and that they'd have taken Huntelaar over Crouch any day as 'Huntelaar is world-class'.

PS. For those that do leave this type of comment, I've added a picture of him so that you at least know what he looks like, as I'm fairly confident that the majority of the 'Huntelaar Lovers Fanclub' have no idea what the chap looks like, let alone seen him play.

Ta Ta

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Thanks, but no thanks

There was a time (last summer) when I would have welcomed Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to The Lane. Thankfully, those days are long now gone. It was only a few months ago when we were all talking up the lad and saying how good of a signing he would be for us. A.C. Milan fans were doing the same thing. You should hear them now.

Working in an international accounting firm means that we get to meet quite a few people from the continent. Today, I met an A.C. Milan fan who found the time to tell me all about his clubs' recent woes. Not all the blame was pointed at Huntelaar, but Milan just aren't themselves at the minute and the Dutch striker is getting an earful, because it's his job to stick the ball in the net but as yet, he's shown that he doesn't quite know where the goal is.

Today's warning from my Italian colleague was short and shrift; "Stay away from this player!"

The Eredivisie has a knack of producing players that simply cannot do it when they get taken away from the comfort of that league.

Mateja Kežman and Afonso Alves spring to mind. Kežman was quite prolific in the Dutch League, scoring 105 goals in 122 games for PSV. Alves to, was fruitful, notching up an astonishing 45 goals in 39 games for Heerenveen.

Unfortunately for Kežman, his luck in front of goal run out when Chelsea splashed the cash on him. The Serb scored a measly 4 goals from 25 games and hasn't hit the headlines since his move away from the Premier league. Alves also failed to live up to expectation, scoring just 10 goals for Boro in 42 games.

I wouldn't want to throw Huntelaar into the same basket as the above two mentioned players, but his record away from the comfort zone of the Eredivisie doesn't read well.

Since his big money move to Real Madrid in January 2009, he's scored 8 goals and that's including his spell in Milan.

If anything comes of this "swapping Pav for Huntelaar" story, I can see him starting life at The Lane just as Pavlyuchenko left it, on the bench. And yes, I really do think Pav will leave in the January sales and to be honest, I don't blame the lad.

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Would you sign Michael Turner?

I personally think all this talk about us being interested in Michael Turner has only circulated because Hull are also playing in the Far East and more importantly, because we need to sign a defender.

Michael Turner is a great centre half. I've seen him play a few times and the lad means business. Whether we can get Hull to part with their star player is another matter as they're having problems of their own in signing anyone decent.

If it was a tussle between us signing Turner or Bassong, I'd definitely go for Turner. He's stronger on the ball and scores a few to.

On another note, it seems that Darren Bent has made his way back down south after Sunderland agreed and then disagreed on the amount we want for him. Depending on what you read, Levy was holding out for around £15 million. That's a decent price for a striker that will most definitely get them 20+ goals a season.

Robbie Keane and Villa have also been mentioned in the same sentence. As I've said before, I cannot see Keano starting many games in the Premier League now that Crouchie has signed. Would I be sad to see the lad go? Probably not.

Oh, and apparently, we're still interested in Huntelaar. Real Madrid need to submit their 25 man squad for the season soon and the talk in Madrid is that he won't be a part of the new-look squad. That will signal a race to sign him at a knock down fee.

If we do end up getting him and he scores a few, expect Defoe to be unhappy. Everyone says that you need four strikers, but no one tells you how you can keep them all happy!

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Huntelaar is still plan A

"There's a lot of talk about who I may or may not be after but Huntelaar is the one I like", said Harry.

This is interesting. All the talk has been about Crouch joining us, but it looks likely that Klass-jan Huntelaar may be our first significant signing of the summer.

Harry Redknapp summed the player up by saying "The lad is a very good goalscorer". He sure is, or was in Holland.

Talk around the place at the moment is that Arsenal are interested in him to, so if we are to sign the lad, Harry's got to move fast.

If we do get him, we'll have 3 out-and-out strikers in Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent & Klass-jan Huntelaar.

Don't be surprised if we sign Huntelaar and Crouch. If that happens, I can't see Pavlyuchenko or Bent sticking around.

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It looks like Crouch will be joining us

The scenario being played out at the moment with both Harry Redknapp and Jermain Defoe sending love sonnets to Peter Crouch can only mean a deal is on the cards.

I thought we would end up with Crouch, I just didn't think it would be this soon.

Harry himself said that he was after 2 or 3 players that could add class to our current squad. If that statement meant anything at all, can someone please explain to me then, how, and in what way Peter Crouch can accomplish this?

We're apparently waiting on Huntelaar to decide if he wants to join us not. Let's hope Crouch is plan B and the option of signing Huntelaar is plan A.

Hell, I'd even want Negredo, a player that's never played in the Prem, above Crouch.

With all this business about us being linked with strikers, I think it's pretty obvious either Bent, Pavlyuchenko, or both will be on their way.

If we hear another word from Harry on Crouch, expect it to be a done deal.

COYS!!!

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Is Harry telling us fibs?

So then, Harry's gone on record and said that he knows nothing about the Negredo deal.

Hmm. I remember him saying the exact same thing when asked about Cudicini.

Still, he could actually be telling the truth. To be honest with you, I hope he is. If the reports that we'll be spending £15+ million on him are accurate, then I'd rather keep the cash in my pocket, or spend it on Huntelaar (that's if he's interested in joining us).

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Is it the Real deal?

I've received a few emails asking me if I know anything about us signing the Real Madrid stars, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Arjen Robben.

The truth is, I know no more than the next person. All I know is that Huntelaar is apparently wanting to join us and it also looks as though Robben has done a u-turn and said that he wouldn't mind joining us either.

I personally don't know what to believe? Would I welcome the above two to the Lane? You bet I would! I think the majority of us have seen Robben play and so we know what he'll bring to the table. How many have seen Huntelaar play? I have only seen him play for Real Madrid on two occasions. He was rubbish in both games. Whether he'll be any good in the Premier League is another matter though. From what I've heard, Huntelaar is a confidence player. Therefore, if we do sign him, we may see him flourish again under Redknapp.

You can email me about anything you like, unless you're selling pharmaceutical goods or sex toys; I've got enough of them.

Jaymes at THBN dot co dot uk

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COYS!!!

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