Tottenham Plan £22m Defensive Duo Raid: Harry After Cahill & Upson
by Mr Neutral on September 27th, 2009 314 words | 5 commentsHarry plans defensive raids to cover for worrying array of crocked centre backs.
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Reports are surfacing today of Harry Redknapp’s attempts to resolve his defensive injury crisis by planning January raids to bring in two more centre backs to give Tottenham yet more strength in depth at the back.
Michael Dawson appears to be back on the mend after coming on for the final few minutes as Spurs romped to a 5-0 win over Burnley but first choice centre back partnership Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate are still out leaving the north London side having to mix and match to cope with the lack of alternatives.
Sebastien Bassong has performed heroically alongside a succession of partners as Tottenham start the season with a bang and now supposedly Redknapp is going to attempt to bring in Bolton’s in form defender Gary Cahill and West Ham’s impressive England international Matthew Upson.
Whether these stories have any validity is unknown but it does seem likely given Harry’s love for signing players, that he will bring in one centre back, but two seems a little heavy handed. Of the two a move for Cahill would be the best option but Gary Megson recently stated that only a fee in the region of £20m would be considered and however impressive the 23 year old has been that fee is clearly a wild inflated valuation designed to either scare off interest or to attempt to cash in.
At 30 years old Upson may be a less wise option given that both Woodgate and King are both nearing their 30s. When both fit, which is very rare indeed, the pair are a very solid pairing but given both players injury prone background clearly something needs to be done to give the club a fighting chance of clinching that coveted top four place.
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I actually heard the story of Mukesh Ambani denying the rumor before I heard...
anonymous - September 27th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
upson will never leave upton park hes been solid ever since there
anonymous - September 27th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Someone please explain the logic of potentially spending £20m on a central defender who is not an improvement on our preferred defensive partnership. I do understand that the two cannot play due to injury but spending an obscene amount of money on a player or players who are no better than Dawson and Bassong does not make sense. The same can be said about Harry’s interest in Anton Ferdinand. He wasn’t worth £8m when Sunderland bought him from the Spammers and now he can’t even get into the side. Bruce even bought another defender so that speaks volumes. Ferdinand is no where near the calibre of his brother and just because they are from the same gene pool does not mean it potentially could happen. It is safe to say that Harry scouting ability does not stretch to defenders and at his previous clubs he has had the luxury of having solid defenders already there.
Again, people wonder why manager look to mainland Europe or other continents for players. The value rate of British players in the Premiership isn’t in the realm of understanding. Gary Megson may value Cahill higher than Lescott but that is his opinion and just because he got called up to the England squad does not mean his value all of a sudden skyrockets. He was only called up because there were injuries and Capello could not call up our Ledley King. So what does that tell you? Capello would rather look at a player who can barely play weekly over a player who plays every match.
anonymous - September 27th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
There is no logic , and probably no truth in these rumours , but just in case Harry’s even thinking about it , yes Cahill is a good player ,especially in the opposition’s box but defensivley he’s not a top player yet but has potential and is not worth anything like the figures that have been mentioned ( I would n’t pay any more than what we paid for bassong ) , and as for Upson he’d better not even think about it becuase for starters he’s not what you would call a top class defender and even worse he’s what we call an enemy .
anonymous - September 28th, 2009 at 7:22 am
And it’s about to get more expensive to buy domestic given the new UEFA rules for the (not-so) Champions League.
anonymous - September 28th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Ferdinand will prove to be a better option whether he leaves or stays at Sunland. He’s got age on his side and yes, the gene pool counts when talking about the development of defenders. He’s already better on the ball than his bro and, as you can see from yesterday’s match, he can make a positive impact. Upson is a steady eddie but that’s it. Cahill would be good but there’s no way we can meet the price tag.