Fazio, De Sciglio, New Captain, Soldado & Townsend, History

Hello everyone, good evening and welcome once again to Tottenham News Shorts, quick bits of bitesize news surrounding Tottenham and or the glorious game of football, soccer to some.

Tottenham News Shorts Issue 58


Before we get into today's Tottenham News Shorts - Issue 58 here is a quick delve into some related articles to today's news that you may have missed.

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Who do we play in the UEFA Europa League? Kids, 1st XI, Squad players? Getting the balance right, Europa League v Premier League

Tottenham News Shorts - Issue 57

Nacer Chadli responded in the right way when his future at Tottenham was threatened.


Right let's get into the Tottenham News Shorts - Issue 58 that concerns recent news regarding Federico Fazio, Mattia De Sciglio, our new skipper, Andros Townsend & Roberto Soldado and Spurs history on this day.

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We have officially announced the signing of 27-year-old Argentina centre-back Federico Fazio from UEFA Europa League champions Sevilla. He gives us aerial power when we need that type of defender alongside Jan Vertonghen. They would now seem to be our first choice pairing with Eric Dier in reserve and whoever else remains, although if deals can be arranged we may even see another centre-back arrival.

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Crazy stories emanating from Italy that Spurs have asked AC Milan for 21-year-old Mattia De Sciglio in exchange for Roberto Soldado. Di Sciglio is an Italian international full-back, yet we have Walker, have just signed Yedlin, Eric Dier can clearly play there rather well, Danny Rose and Ben Davies.

Three of those we have just bought, why on earth would we need another full-back when we are still short of a quality centre-back? Transfermarkt value him at £10.56 million, so under half what we are paying for Roberto Soldado. There seems little logic in the story at all, but then the Italian press have been full of illogical stories all summer.

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Unsurprisingly with Michael Dawson now gone to Hull City, and we wish him all the best in Humberside, Mauricio Pochettino will wait before naming his new skipper. Quite why anyone thought it would be any different is beyond me, he doesn't even know what squad he is going to have at the end of the window yet.

Townsend, Lennon, Holtby, Kaboul, Chiriches, Sandro and Soldado are all available at the right price. The first hurdle is the UEFA Europa League tomorrow night when Hugo Lloris is expected to captain the side again. If Tottenham get through that tie then they will know what competitions they are in and can offer European football, at the moment all that can be offered is the probability of European football, quite a different matter.

It's why 36% of all summer transfer window activity takes place in the last week, when teams and players know who has qualified for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. No point a player moving to a club to hope for European football when you can wait ad guarantee it first.

Once all the transfer activity has finished on Monday then he'll know what his squad is and know who the new captain is going to be.

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People do like to misread things don't they, I see headlines about suggesting Pochettino doesn't want Andros Townsend and Roberto Soldado to leave which is rubbish, he hasn't said that at all. They can both lave for the right price. On Soldado he said:

"Soldado is here, I never talk about any player rumours. He is in my plans. For the future? Yes. Yes. We've only had two games in the Premier League and one in the Europa League. I believe in all the squad. It is important you know I can only pick 11."

And on Andros Townsend he said:

"He is in my plans. It is impossible you play or have in the squad only 11 players - you need 24 or 25 players. I think we have to play a lot of games and it is possible you play tomorrow, then don't play in the next Premier League game, but the most important thing is understanding that we need to choose for the games.  
"It is only 11 in each game after that another three impact players come in.
"We have an unbelievable squad and my job is not only to put my philosophy in the club or on the pitch on how we need to play, but I need choice and that is my job." 

What do people expect him to say, no he is not part of my plans, oh dear, we haven't been able to sell him, I'm stuck with him and I've slagged him off. What idiotic manager is going to put himself in that position? Saying a player is part of your plans is meaningless, he is only part of your plans until someone makes a suitable offer and a player leaves.

Both of them are definitely up for sale but let's be honest nobody is going to pay anywhere near what we paid for Soldado so he is almost impossible to sell.

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On this day in 2012 we sold Luka Modric to Real Madrid for £30 million.
On this day in 2005 Aaron Lennon made his Tottenham debut against Chelsea, we have not played a game on this day since.
On this day in 2003 American goalkeeper Kasey Keller played his 50th league game for us.
On this day in 1983 debuts were given to Gary Stevens and Danny Thomas against Ipswich Town.
On this day in 1980 centre-back John Lacey scored his first goal fro us as we beat Leyton Orient 1-0 in the League Cup away in a Second Round 1st Leg tie.
On this day in 1958 goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn played his last game fr the club in an away defeat at Chelsea. He played for England on 6 occasions.