Cartilage Free Captain

Tottenham Hotspur have a glut of young attackers in the squad right now, and despite the addition of Europa League there just aren’t enough minutes to go around for everyone. So it’s likely we’ll see one or both of Alejo Veliz and Dane Scarlett head out on loan this season, and possibly also Will Lankshear, depending on whether Ange Postecoglou thinks BIG WILLY LANKS is ready for limited first-team minutes in Europa and cups.

But today’s rumor is about Veliz, who today has been linked with a full-season loan move to Southampton, who promoted back to the Premier League last season after winning the playoff over Leeds. This is according to Eduardo Burgos in AS, who has been covering the Copa America for the publication this summer and has ties to South American football.

This would be a “dry loan,” i.e. a loan with no purchase option or obligation, meaning “Lumpus” would return to Spurs at the end of the season.

This would be a really good opportunity for Veliz, who had a miserable time on loan at Sevilla last season playing for a manager who didn’t want him and who was beefing with club leadership. I doubt that will be the case at Soton. Adam Armstrong is Southampton’s leading goal scorer last season and a solid Championship striker, but he’s been bad in the Premier League before, and Che Adams, Ben Brereton Diaz, and Ryan Fraser have all moved on. That means while the starting job is Adams’ to lose and Veliz would likely be competing with Sekou Mara (3G+2A in 564 minutes at age 21 and who is a very different striker to Veliz) for rotation minutes, there would be plenty of chances for him to play Premier League minutes for Soton this coming season.

AS isn’t the best source, but this feels like a plausible rumor regardless, and maybe the best situation he can land in. He’d join a bottom-half Premier League side in need of attacking depth and should get opportunities to play and impress, if he takes them. I’d be more than happy to see this loan come good, and hope Veliz would be able to establish himself well next season.

Good news, everyone! Tottenham Hotspur are on the cusp of making a signing... though it’s a player who’s already at the club. According to The Athletic, Spurs now have full agreement from Mikey Moore to sign a three-year professional contract with the club, and he will sign the paperwork on Sunday, the day he turns 17 and is legally able to do so.

You might be thinking “I thought this was done as far back as last year!” You’re kind of right. Moore had a pre-agreement intending to sign professionally last season, one that guaranteed him the ability to train with the first team and likely an accelerated pathway to a club debut and first-team minutes. But that agreement was apparently not binding, and there have been murmurs that a number of really big clubs, including from the continent, were attempting to poach him away from Spurs as recently as this summer.

So to get confirmation that Mikey intends to follow through with his previous agreement is fantastic. My understanding is that a three-year professional contract is the most we can offer a 17-year-old, so that’s what he’s signing. The Athletic also states that he’s been offered wages higher than any other youth prospect at his age, which is also a reflection of how important he is to the club’s future.

We’ve seen Mikey in preseason for Tottenham this summer, and he’s been quite impressive for a kid that young — looks like we have a real generational talent on our hands, if his development is handled properly. While I think it’s unlikely we’ll see much of him in the league apart from as a late-match substitute, I do think it’s possible and even likely that he’ll feature in the early-round cup matches and also the Europa League. I doubt he’ll head out on loan, as Spurs have frequently been reticent to send youngsters on loan before they turn 18.

Anyway, this is fantastic news! I look forward to the DONE DEAL article on Sunday!

good morning!

Apologies for the short hoddle today, as I want to wrap this up quickly so I can get back to wastching television.

And by that I’m talking about my new favourite show, Taskmaster.

I first saw Taskmaster a few months ago when I was staying at a hotel in Manchester. I instantly fell in love with it (Series 16). But since then I had the darnedest time finding a way to watch it in in America.

That is, until this past weekend, when I realised I could have been watching it on YouTube this whole time.

What is Taskmasker?, many of you might ask. Well, it’s a silly game show in which five celebrities (mostly comedians) compete doing silly tasks for two silly men, one of whom awards points arbitrarily to the five celebrities over the course of a handful of weeks.

I’m not sure what happens to the winner yet, because I haven’t reached that point. No spoilers! If most of the seasons are like Series 16, then I’m gonna enjoy them all.

I didn’t watch much television when I lived in the UK. The only shows I knew were Planet Earth II and The Great British Bake Off (series seven). You see, I didn’t own a television then and I couldn’t fathom the idea of paying a dumb television license fee. So I went the entire time without owning a television.

And so I didn’t watch UK television. Netflix and Hulu (and listening to Spurs on the radio) it was for me.

But, oh, if I knew Taskmaster was thriving during those days, maybe that would’ve changed things. It definitely wouldn’t have. I couldn’t afford the TV license anyways.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Flicker, by Jonsi

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold sits down with Ange Postecoglou

Aberdeen open Scottish Premiership campaign with win vs St Johnstone

Transfer news: Niclas Fullkrug joins West Ham for £27m

I guess I can’t put this off any longer — Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke appears to be genuine. But there’s a big gap between “genuine interest” and “holding a Tottenham shirt” and as always these things are particularly complicated.

First, I’ve held off on writing up Solanke because up until now the links between Spurs and the player have been a bit tenuous and squishy. Spurs have been notoriously stingy with their transfer leaks this window thanks to Johan Lange basically locking his recruitment team in a black box, but there’s a ton of smoke in the air right now that suggests Spurs are working on a deal to bring Solanke into the fold this summer. Today, our good buddy Matt Law has a piece in the Telegraph (£) basically saying exactly that, and remarkably not taking a dump on Spurs as a club in the process. So you know it’s real!

Solanke, who came through Chelsea’s academy and spent time at Liverpool before moving to Bournemouth in 2019, was the Premier League’s fourth-leading scorer last season, putting away 19 goals and three assists, with a npxG+xA/90 of 0.55. That’s good! That’s the same amount of goals as Villa’s Ollie Watkins, and more than Son Heung-Min. That’s also statistically by far his best output in the Premier League – he scored 15 and 29 goals in the Championship in 2020-22 but had just six goals and seven assists (npxG+A/90 0.41) in 2022-23, Bournemouth’s first season back in the Prem.

Stylistically, Solanke is a decent target for Tottenham Hotspur as an outright No. 9 in Ange Postecoglou’s system — he’s good at putting the ball away from central positions in the box, pretty good in the air, and can drop deeper and play with his back to goal, all very important in an Ange-Ball tactical system that is designed around getting players into the box and finding them when open to create scoring opportunities. He’s also a physical presence in and around the box for Bournemouth, something that would be a welcome addition to Tottenham’s attack, especially on set pieces and off of crosses.

But the devil is in the details, and there are a few. For starters, Solanke is statistically a pretty awful passer, averaging less than 15 pass attempts/match, and completing about 70% of his attempts. I’ll admit to not watching a ton of Bournemouth last season, so I won’t comment whether this is a result of Bournemouth’s tactics or not, but the good news is that when Solanke did pass it was generally a progressive one intended to find a teammate in the area, and he ranked very highly among Premier League strikers in the progressive passing metric.

It’s also not clear whether he can recreate last season’s production in a new system. It’s a pretty big bet to make, and there are indications it could pay off in a big way, but it could also NOT work. Those are the gambles you make in the transfer window, however, and ultimately as fans we don’t have much of a choice but to trust that Johan Lange and his team knows what they’re doing.

Bournemouth are (naturally) also reluctant to let him go. He apparently has a £65m release clause in his contract, and that’s a HUGE number for a peak-age player coming off of one solid Premier League season, and there are suggestions that Bournemouth would want most, if not all, of that fee up front, complicating things. In practical terms, it’s pretty rare that clubs pay all of a player’s actual release clause, but figuring out the structure of that deal can be sticky and protracted. In short, he’s likely to be an expensive, peak-age signing, something of a rarity for Spurs under Lange, who has mostly been focused on young players with high ceilings.

There’s also the elephant in the room — Richarlison. Solanke isn’t a very versatile player — he’s an outright No. 9, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to keep both him and Richy in the same team. Targeting Solanke suggests that Tottenham might be trying to offload Richarlison this window, possibly to Saudi Arabia if the rumors are true. The rumored fee for a Saudi approach for Richy are about the same as what it might take to land Solanke, but if we’re trading an oft-injured player for an English one in the same mold then Spurs might also need ANOTHER striker to come in this window as a backup, unless they’re more keen on Lankshear than we thought. I’d be sad to lose Richy, but I guess I’d understand replacing Richarlison’s production with Solanke’s if financially it’s something of a wash. But Spurs then end up in the same situation they were in prior — one decent striker and a big ???? behind him.

In summary — I’m a bit torn. It’s a lot of money for a player that has a lot of potential, but some question marks as well, and signing Solanke could have a downstream impact on the rest of Tottenham’s summer. I’m not opposed to this signing, but it’s a big bet that a good player on a middling Premier League team can make the step up to the next level. The rumors suggest Spurs are ready to make that bet. Gambling like this just makes me, personally, a bit nervous as there’s a LOT on the line.

Our long national nightmare is finally over. According to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher has verbally agreed to move to Atletico Madrid, bringing to a close a saga involving Tottenham Hotspur that has lingered for months.

It’s Gallaghover.

I won’t go fully into all of the ~~~DRAMA~~~ that went into the Gallagher saga over the weekend, except to say that there were reports that he was banished from Chelsea’s first team, but then wasn’t, and was maybe given an ultimatum after rejecting another two year contract extension, but wanted to stay in London but also maybe not?

It’s complicated. And frankly, he’s not a Spurs player so ultimately who cares?

So on the one hand the fact that Gallagher is moving to Atletico for €40m after Chelsea reportedly quoted Spurs figures as high as £65m is super annoying, but there’s also some background info that suggests Spurs maybe weren’t as into him as previously thought? Tottenham were one of two Premier League clubs interested in Gallagher with the other club reportedly being Aston Villa, who had a bid for Conor rejected earlier in the window. I think there’s a decent chance Gallagher would’ve been very good for Spurs and we know Ange Postecoglou really liked him, but Occam’s Razor also suggests that the simplest reason he’s not holding up a lilywhite shirt right now is that Chelsea just didn’t want to sell to Spurs. And, y’know, fair enough?

Honestly I’m just glad that this is over and we can stop talking about it. Time to move on.

good morning!

It’s been a long, long time since we’ve last had a Mingus Monday. It’s time to Reset The Counter!

Today, Charles Mingus actually plays a supporting role to another bass legend, Duke Ellington. And then we have Max Roach. Together, the trio created one of the most spectacular jazz albums ever with Money Jungle.

The album was recorded in 1963, when Ellington was in his 60s and Mingus and Roach were still building their own legends. It’s unbelievable that this year marks the 150th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s birth.

I picked up this record at Amoeba in Los Angeles a few years ago. I brought it back to Connecticut and immediately fell in love with it.

This was the first time I bought a Max Roach record or a Duke Ellington record. It was a new experience for me to see Mingus in the background.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that an album recorded by these three artists stands the test of time. Particular highlights include the title track, Caravan and today’s Track of the Day - Fleurete Africaine.

Sit back and enjoy your Mingus Monday, featuring special guests Duke Ellington and Max Roach.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Fleurette Africaine, by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): Vicario and Ange both think goalkeeper’s struggles last season will make him better

Alasdair Gold’s talking points from Tottenham’s friendly vs Bayern

Raith Rovers sack their manager one game into new season

Tottenham Hotspur’s Asia tour concluded in Seoul today, with a defeat to Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.

With two sides, the match started with a high level of intensity which told as a terrible giveaway by Spurs playing out from the back gifted a goal to Bayern, courtesy of Gabriel Vidovic. The Germans doubled their tally soon after half-time, with Leon Goretzka taking two goes to beat Guglielmo Vicario after a quick break found Goretzka through on goal. Spurs fought back, though, and Pedro Porro hit a stunner of a shot from range to beat substitute goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.

There were plenty of minutes once more for a number of Spurs’ younger players, with the likes of Will Lankshear, Mikey Moore, and George Abbott seeing the pitch, but they were unable to overturn the deficit in sweltering Seoul conditions.

Here are my top 10 talking points from the match.

Both sides named strong starting XI’s, meaning a great test for both teams. It was on the defensive side where both teams were probably a bit less experienced, though it showed less off the ball and more on it as the greener back fives at times struggled to progress the ball. The contest, however, was played at an intensity belying the match’s friendly status, especially first half, with the match a serious step up from what had gone before.

Bayern and Spurs both pressed extremely high from the off, and it paid dividends for the Germans as Spurs struggled to get out of their defensive third. A poor pass from Guglielmo Vicario was seized upon by Serge Gnabry, and Gabriel Vidovic was the benefactor as he stroked home the rebound from Gnabry’s saved shot. The giveaways from Tottenham continued, and Bayern were probably unlucky not to score more. At the other end, Spurs’ press was also excellent, but unable to create anywhere near the same volume of chances.

Spurs were well below par in the first half, with the likes of James Maddison and Archie Gray especially so. With a triple change made at half-time, you could say that this was just standard preseason rotation... but it felt like something more. Maddison and Gray were two of the three pulled, and it felt like a statement of sorts from Postecoglou, as Spurs improved nearly immediately after changes.

There’s a lot of hype around Lucas Bergvall, and we’re starting to see why. Coming on as one of the aforementioned half-time substitutes, he made an immediate impact to the Tottenham midfield. His calmness, vision, use of space, and physicality were all plain to see, and he did not look out of place at all against a high-quality opposition. Could he start the first match of the season?

Perhaps lost in the ‘return of Harry Kane’ furor was the fact that another ex-Spurs player was to line up against his old club. Eric Dier was greeted warmly by his former teammates, and though he didn’t start he saw significant minutes in the second stanza. Elements of his performance would have been all too familiar as well, with a trademark errant pass creating a huge chance for Spurs upon which the Lilywhites were unable to capitalize.

Emphasis on the question mark. Though it’s important to remember the context of playing out of position against possibly Bayern’s best player in Serge Gnabry, to say Djed Spence had a mixed night would probably be generous. He was perhaps slightly culpable for Bayern’s opening goal, and though he had some decent defensive moments and a couple of driving runs forward, he struggled on the ball where his lack of technical ability was all too plain to see at times.

Porro szn? The fullback is so key to this Spurs side, and he appears primed for a huge season, playing big minutes all through season. He continued his goal-scoring ways as well, hitting an absolute rocket of a goal. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of those in the coming months.

It’s hard to build anything when every time you have a chance of a break you’re fouled. As is typical of a Guardiola disciple, Vincent Kompany’s side appeared well versed in the dark arts, regularly disrupting any Spurs momentum. It got to the point where the referee could have arguably started handing out cards, even though it was a friendly.

To quote Dustin, anyway. Obviously, Bayern made a number of substitutions, and this was a preseason match; but the younger players on the travelling Spurs squad did not look at all overawed by the occasion. I’ve mentioned Will Lankshear, Jamie Donley, and Mikey Moore a couple of times this preseason, but it was Alfie Devine who really impressed me today, with tidy passing and intelligent play. Hopefully we can get him a good (read: better) loan.

There are some positives to take away from this match... and some lessons as well. With the start of the season two and a half weeks away, Spurs’ fitness has been well and truly tested, and you can see the patterns of play taking shape. There are though still some question marks, with the defense in transition coming under the spotlight today, as well as the fit of some players to Ange-ball. The team, the coaching staff, and the front office are all going to need to keep working hard over the next few weeks if Spurs want to turn this new era into tangible success.

Screw it, we’re gonna win the league.

Tottenham Hotspur’s preseason tour continues in South Korea, and now things take a step up: Spurs take on German giants Bayern Munich for the first of two friendlies before the commencement of the 24/25 season.

These fixtures were apparently agreed as part of the Harry Kane transfer, and it’ll be an excellent yardstick for Spurs’ progress. Up to this point, they have been playing teams that are below Premier League standard; with the obvious caveat that Vissel Kobe and the K-League All Stars are in the middle of their season, so were carrying a level of fitness and match readiness that challenged Tottenham.

It’s another quick turnaround, meaning there could be rotation once more with some new faces involved: specifically, Destiny Udogie will potentially make his return from the quadricep injury that ruled him out of the latter part of last season. Unlike the large travelling squad Ange Postecoglou has to select from, however, Bayern Munich are struggling somewhat for senior players. The likes of Harry Kane, Leroy Sane, and new signing Hiroki Ito are all injured and some of their international representatives are only just now reporting back from their breaks.

It’ll still be a fascinating match-up, one I’m looking forward to.

COYS!

Lineups

How to Watch

Bayern Munich vs. Tottenham Hotspur (friendly)

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea

Saturday, August 3, 2024

Time: 7:00 a.m. ET, 12:00 p.m. UK

TV: Not televised in USA or UK. Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Paramount+, SPURSPLAY

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

We have rules against “relentless negativity.” Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Don’t knee-jerk and post outlandish or hurtful things just because you’re frustrated.

Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

NO SPIDERS!

Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

Want a fresh transfer rumor? You know you do, and I’ve got you covered. Today, there’s a rumor from Telegraph reporter Mike McGrath that Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a potential move for 23-year-old Burkina Faso and Manchester City fullback Issa Kaboré.

Kaboré spent last season on loan at a pretty bad Luton Town team that got relegated back to the Championship, but Kaboré himself wasn’t awful at his job. If you’re an FBRef green bar junkie, his stats don’t exactly pop — good tackle and progressive carrying numbers (inverted fullback klaxon!) but his passing looks pretty uhhhhhhhhhhh.

That said, his £12m price tag is reasonable and considering Luton were a bad team last season there’s cause to cock your head, squint, and convince yourself that he could be serviceable depth at the right back position, should Tottenham sell Emerson Royal to AC Milan as expected.

OK, I hear you shouting at your screen BUT WHAT ABOUT DJED SPENCE and you’re absolutely right about that — the Djedessance seems to be in full effect and he’s done better than anyone had any right to expect from a player that Antonio Conte dismissed as a “club signing” a few years ago. But hear me out — it could very well be that this rumor is emerging because the club hasn’t quite decided whether Spence is good enough for what Ange wants out of the position. If that’s the case, then keeping options open for a serviceable right back who has proven to be a Premier League caliber footballer is probably a smart idea.

I’d like to see Spence be given the chance — he’ll have a good opportunity starting next week to train and play with Spurs’ first choice defensive line, and that plus the second Bayern friendly at the Tottenham Stadium should be illuminating. Financially it’s better to use the resources you already have and we have a Djed Spence at home — but if for whatever reason Ange Postecoglou takes a good hard look at him and thinks he’s not the guy then it’s a really smart idea to have a backup plan in place.

So keep this one in your back pocket for now, because it looks like some dominos are being set up, at least contingently.

Thus far, Tottenham Hotspur have been making do in preseason without any of their regular central defenders, thanks to this summer’s European Championship and Copa America tournaments. Spurs have been forced into playing 18-year-old newcomer Archie Gray and Oliver Skipp as makeshift central defenders at times since Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Radu Dragusin all were taking a well-deserved break after the conclusion of their competitions.

Dragusin has since returned to training and played in the second half of Spurs’ 4-3 win over the K-League All-Stars on Wednesday, and Ben Davies is also back from an early injury to feature some in the later stages of preseason. And now, in a press conference ahead of Sunday’s friendly against Bayern Munich in Seoul, Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that the remainder of Spurs’ wayward sons — Romero, Van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, and (presumably) Giovani Lo Celso — will return to the fold on Monday.

“I don’t think it’ll be too challenging [to get the returning players fit] because, you know, they’ve only both of them sort of had three weeks off and you know, both Micky and Cuti and Rodrigo will be back all this week.

“They’ve had good preparations coming into it and we know they’ll be looking after themselves and we’ve still got two weeks before the season starts. So that’s a still a fair chunk of time for us to get them ready for the start of the season and beyond, because it’s not just about the first game, it’s about the games after that.

“We’ve seen how the guys who maybe have come in a bit later, like Radu came in this week within a few sessions they’re back up to speed and I expect the other guys to be the same.”

That’s good news! Preseason matches are about fitness and not about performance, but it’s often hard to get a real sense of how this Tottenham team is going to perform this season without its starting back line. And we still won’t get a good sense of that until the NEXT match against Bayern Munich — the Visit Malta Cup match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next weekend.

THIS match against a Harry Kane-less Bayern Munich will presumably feature Dragusin and Davies, with some of the kids like Ash Phillips or Jamie Donley rotating in or out as needed or requested by Ange, and of course, that’s completely fine.

Elsewhere, Spurs are still training in a hot and steamy Seoul, with daily temperatures expected to peak in the mid-90sº F while Spurs are there. We saw that the heat and humidity took a toll on the team in Tokyo, and I’d expect similar conditions in tomorrow’s friendly at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Ange acknowledged that the weather conditions have been and continue to be a challenge, but the team is looking at it as an obstacle to overcome and to improve their overall fitness in extreme conditions.

“You’re right, it is a challenge at this time of the year. I’ve experienced it myself working in Japan, but at the same time, I think it’s a good challenge for the players and mentally as much as anything else to adjust the conditions to still work hard, to train and still try to play our football during the practice games we’ve had.

“So I think at times it’s been really difficult but they’ve pushed through and I think we’ll get the benefits of that when we get back to London. And, you know, they’re having a heat wave now and it’s 24 degrees. So my boys will be pretty relaxed about that.

“And I think mentally we’ll come out of this stronger knowing that in tough conditions, they still manage to work hard and the games have shown that we can still perform at a good level.”

Tottenham’s match against Bayern Munich kicks off at 8:00 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. BST). The match will be streamed on SpursPLAY, Tottenham’s in-house premium streaming service, but also will be televised on CBS Sports Network in the United States.