Riquelme !!!!

I-Bleed-White

How is everyone feeling about this.


"The Sun/ Various sources"

SPURS TO PICK RIQ

Tottenham are trying to sign Juan Roman Riquelme -
despite the uncertain future of boss Martin Jol.

Villarreal are looking for £10 million for the 29-year-old
before the Spanish season starts this weekend. Riquelme's
agent Marcos Franchi believes Villareal will accept Spurs offer
for a player who went out on loan to Boca Juniors last
season.

Although Jol's position has been undermined, the clubs
transfer dealings are handled by director of football Damien
Commolli.



Personally with this Martin Jol business resolved for the moment I would be deleriously happy with this signing. I have never seen a player with better on the ball strength and he would certainly solve any creativity problems in mid field. BUT does anyone know why he went on loan to Boca Juniors last season. I do remember that he went but never found out why. Certainly wasn't the case that he wasn't good enough for Villarreal thats all I know for sure.

cole9

I think Riquelme is just another Juan Veron, very similar type of play who I believe would take time to adapt to the premiership. Also lets not forget that £10m is fairly steep for a player who is coming towards the end of his career and is perhaps past his best.

Riquelme can be amazing at times particularly with Argentina. But, in order to play at his best he needs a solid DMC behind him ie Mascherano who will give him the freedom to push forward and be creative.

IMO Arteta would be a much better signing and a much better prospect in the long run but then again who would want to sign for spurs at the moment with the uncertainty that surrounds them.

Awful Scut

Comparing Riquelme to Veron is a tad unfair, he is a far better player than that. In terms of talent, he rates up there with Ronaldinho, he is that creative.

Btw, he left Villareal because he fell out with both the manager and the chairman, who called him a primadonna.

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

I think Riquelme is just another Juan Veron, very similar type of play who I believe would take time to adapt to the premiership. Also lets not forget that £10m is fairly steep for a player who is coming towards the end of his career and is perhaps past his best.

Riquelme can be amazing at times particularly with Argentina. But, in order to play at his best he needs a solid DMC behind him ie Mascherano who will give him the freedom to push forward and be creative.

IMO Arteta would be a much better signing and a much better prospect in the long run but then again who would want to sign for spurs at the moment with the uncertainty that surrounds them.

Exactly and Everton would rather die then seperate with Arteta. I think we are not looking for someone who would be better in the long run because our team is full of players who would be better in the long run. We need a player who is proven (granted Ric hasn't proven himself a premiership player yet) I think we are trying to sign another Davids. Someone who can go straight into the team and improve the players around him in the immediate sense and who some of the younger players can learn from. I would second your concern re our lack of a proper DMC. Wouldn't be crying if he signed though.He could be the edge we are looking for.

cole9

I don't think the comparisons with Veron are unfair because their style of play are very similar. Veron was an amazing player and could've been a success but that would've involved UTD changing their style of play around to accommodate him wheich they were unwilling to do.

Without a quality DMC along the lines of Makele or Mascherano, Spurs could not afford to give Riquelme the freedom which he requires to do what he does best.

cole9

Is Arteta not proven? he'd slot in right away.

I would have my doubts over Riquelme

cole9

Also as I said earlier it would be difficult for Spurs to convince players to sign at the moment due to the uncertainty which surrounds the club.

The matches against UTD and Arsenal are of paramount importance and I'd say Jol would need 4 points from the games

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

Is Arteta not proven? he'd slot in right away.

I would have my doubts over Riquelme

Just responding to you saying that he would be a better idea in the long run and I was making a general comment about not looking for players better in the long run. I would have Arteta in the squad in a heart beat but as you said yourself. Spurs is not an attractive option at the minute as it is so unstable and Everton wouldn't part with him. I feel it would be a pipe dream for the foreseeable future. Spurs can't offer him much as Everton are in better form and are far more stable.

While I can relate to your doubts over Ric I would rather have him in the team and find out he doesn't work out than to leave the midfield short staffed on quality replacements till christmas.

cole9

Maybe you could get Riq on loan?

It would be a complete waste of money buying Riq at his age when for the same price you could get a younger player along the lines of Arteta who can offer much more in the long run.

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

Maybe you could get Riq on loan?

It would be a complete waste of money buying Riq at his age when for the same price you could get a younger player along the lines of Arteta who can offer much more in the long run.

As I say. We have to many young players. We need to bring in some expierience to the team. Find an expierienced proven and young player of Artetas calibre who is available for £10mill and point him out to Commolli and i'm sure he'll be happily re direct the money that direction. Unfortunatly this is not create-a-player and we have to use players that ARE in existence. Riquelme is a stop-gap not a possible franchise player like Berbatov.

cole9

Arteta has the experience to deal with the premiership something that Riquelme obviously lacks. Arteta would also be able to act as a leader to the other players as he does at Everton.

cole9

I'm sure you could get Veron for about 5m and he's playing some good football now too, made his way back into the Argentina Squad.

cole9

What you really need is to try and coax Zidane out of retirement and sign for Spurs but I'm sure he's not that stupid

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

What you really need is to try and coax Zidane out of retirement and sign for Spurs but I'm sure he's not that stupid

Zidane is a ridiculous idea. Guy is a smoker who has been out off regular football for over a year not to mention no chance of getting him either. Veron has proven he has great consistency in premiership football...



CONSISTENTLY S*IT !!!

Andrew 83

I'd take him. I was actually quite impressed with his strength during the Copa America.

cole9

I think thats unfair saying that Veron was sh1t. As I have said earlier UTD would have had to change their style of play to accommodate him which didn't happen. He's a type of player like Riq that needs a lot of freedom to be creative in attack.

What makes you think that Riq won't struggle to adapt to the premiership. Many great players have struggled, none more so than the great Shevchenko.

I believe that Veron would be every bit as good as Riq if he signed for Spurs. He might even be better since he has played there for a few years and would have no problems settling into life in London again either.

Clearly, The whole Zidane thing was just a joke. I do remember seeing him smoking before the WC Final and it didn't seem to affect him then!

I-Bleed-White

Andrew 83 wrote:

I'd take him. I was actually quite impressed with his strength during the Copa America.

Take Riquelme or Veron ??

John W

I-Bleed-White wrote:

Take Riquelme or Veron ??

I tend to agree, I think Riq or Veron would take a while to bed into Spurs and we don't have time. I actually think it is STEEL we need in the midfield. Someone like Roy Keane. As much as I hate to say it, I think Steed, Jenas and Hudd showed last week, when they have time and space they are all good creators, problem is they can't do both jobs (steel and create). So we already have them, get some STEEL into the midfield.:cool:

cole9

You could well be right there.

The unfortunate thing from a Spurs perspective is that such players are a rare commodity and hard to come by, just look at how much trouble UTD have had trying to replace Keane. Such players are necessary to be competitive in the premiership and like you said would provide a platform from which the attacking players go forward and create opportunities. Zakora is not up to this challenge.

The transfer deadline is fast approching and Spurs are running out of time.

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

You could well be right there.

The unfortunate thing from a Spurs perspective is that such players are a rare commodity and hard to come by, just look at how much trouble UTD have had trying to replace Keane. Such players are necessary to be competitive in the premiership and like you said would provide a platform from which the attacking players go forward and create opportunities. Zakora is not up to this challenge.

The transfer deadline is fast approching and Spurs are running out of time.

Someone mentioned to me that maybe Kevin Nolan could be an astute buy (nothing I would expect cole9 to know anything about) with the writing on the wall for Bolton this season as we may see the back of Diouf and Anelka they are sure to go into freefall and Nolan may welcome the lifeline. He would fit the bill for what we are looking for but lets face it. Which is going to make the bigger headline? Nolan gets his Spurs ! OR Don Juan goes Lily White !

WhiteWashMan

i would have loved to see joey barton arrive, minus the attitude.

as for veron, great player, but played completely out of position on the right all the time if i recall. it is no wonder that he didnt succeed, expcially when utd had about 3 top players competing for every position. veron would have gotten into any other team in the league back then. i think he would possibly get back into the utd squad now actually. as for requelme, id take him.
at this stage, id take anyone, as long as we could get rid of some players.

at the moment, im at the end of my tether with regards to tainio, murphy, ghaly, gardner, defoe, stalteri, ekotto and and zakora. id like to see them all gone.

I-Bleed-White

WhiteWashMan wrote:

i would have loved to see joey barton arrive, minus the attitude.

as for veron, great player, but played completely out of position on the right all the time if i recall. it is no wonder that he didnt succeed, expcially when utd had about 3 top players competing for every position. veron would have gotten into any other team in the league back then. i think he would possibly get back into the utd squad now actually. as for requelme, id take him.
at this stage, id take anyone, as long as we could get rid of some players.

at the moment, im at the end of my tether with regards to tainio, murphy, ghaly, gardner, defoe, stalteri, ekotto and and zakora. id like to see them all gone.

Murphy, Gardner, Stalteri, Ekotto I will agree with you on. But they are all only cover players and it's hard to get bit part players with more quality as I said in a previous post. We are not Chelski or United where good players are kept happy with just an occasional appearences.

Ghaly I think we need to keep because we are short on players in midfield who stick their foot in and if there is one thing you can expect from Ghaly is that he will be enthusiastic and give everything he's got.

Tainio is so underrated. Granted he's certainly no Dinho on the ball but his main game is off the ball. He will run all day. Drag players with him on his runs and most importantly again he will tackle and stick the foot in. He's the Kevin Kilbane of Spurs. He does all the donkey work.

Zokora I don't think should have a guaranteed starting place in the team which he has done up to last weekend but we are certainly a better team with his name in our squad. He has put in some outstanding performances for us. He is also another player to be watched with his off the ball movement wether it's tracking a player or his useful knack of finding space.

Actually I have no excuses for Murphy. The guy is just old and very poor payer. Don't see why we are paying him week out.

Dublin Spur

If Requelme joins it will be a good coup for the club.
Although the story seems to have gone a bit cold since it 1st broke.

I have followed the lads career closely (I have a soft spot for Boca and Argentina) He's good player but doesn't like being roughed up. When he came
onto the scene at Boca in the late 90's he was hailed as the new Maradona Like many Argie prodigies before him (Ortega, Saviola, Caniggia etc..) he never really lived up to his billing. He got the dream big money move to Barca at 21 or 22 and that was it, his career kind of stalled. I don't know if it was the pressure of being the next big thing or any number of other reasons (personal life, homesick, coaching etc..) but he has not improved since he was about 22.

He has a great eye for a pass and is without doubt a very classy footballer. I just don't think he would be given the time and space in the premier league to work his magic. That said he's better then what we already have in this area so I hope we get him, but I can't honestly see this happening.

I reckon he'll end up staying at Boca. I think his loan move to Boca finished recently. I'm sure villareal and Boca will come to some easy payment arrangement that suits everyone.

Andrew 83

I-Bleed-White wrote:

Take Riquelme or Veron ??

Riquelme

cole9

I don't see how signing Riquelme would be a "good coup" for the club seeing as no other teams apart from Boca appear to be interested in him. Perhaps theres a reason as to why there's very little interest in him ie. he can be lazy and wouldn't come accorss as a great team player. He's also a player who doesn't seem to be able to step up to the challeneg when the going gets tough

I-Bleed-White

cole9 wrote:

I don't see how signing Riquelme would be a "good coup" for the club seeing as no other teams apart from Boca appear to be interested in him. Perhaps theres a reason as to why there's very little interest in him ie. he can be lazy and wouldn't come accorss as a great team player. He's also a player who doesn't seem to be able to step up to the challeneg when the going gets tough

Not stepping up to a challenge is something I would whole heartedly agree with you on. Anyone who watched the world cup or the champs league semi final between Arsenal & Villarreal would agree that when the going gets tough, Riquelme looks for a taxi.

It would also worry me that Villarreal had such problems with him they loaned him off despite the fact he was arguably their best player. I can only hope that like what seems to have happened with Nicolas Anelka he will have taken a strong look at the criticism dealt to him and has decided to act on it.

Should we sign him it's either going to be very good or very bad. True to Spurs tradition we will be without mediocrity.

Dublin Spur

cole9 wrote:

I don't see how signing Riquelme would be a "good coup" for the club seeing as no other teams apart from Boca appear to be interested in him. Perhaps theres a reason as to why there's very little interest in him ie. he can be lazy and wouldn't come accorss as a great team player. He's also a player who doesn't seem to be able to step up to the challeneg when the going gets tough

Based on the rationale that I think he is better then what we have in that area of the team I think his signing would be a good coup for the club. I accept his failings but on balance we need someone ho can pass the ball better than Jenas of Zokora.

I-Bleed-White

Dublin Spur wrote:

Based on the rationale that I think he is better then what we have in that area of the team I think his signing would be a good coup for the club. I accept his failings but on balance we need someone ho can pass the ball better than Jenas of Zokora.

....and who can run faster than the tractor that is Huddlestone.

cole9

You also need someone who can break down the opposition in the middle of the park. I believe that such a player is of greater importance to spurs as he'd give the current attacking players much more freedom to push forward and be creative. You'd require such a player especially if you want to use a player like Riq whom I've never seen make a tackle in his life. I also reckon that we've seen enough of Zakora to know that he's not up to the challenge.

cole9

Re: Huddlestone - Riq is not that fast either

Dublin Spur

cole9 wrote:

You also need someone who can break down the opposition in the middle of the park. I believe that such a player is of greater importance to spurs as he'd give the current attacking players much more freedom to push forward and be creative. You'd require such a player especially if you want to use a player like Riq whom I've never seen make a tackle in his life. I also reckon that we've seen enough of Zakora to know that he's not up to the challenge.

Completely agree.

Our midfield needs a complete makeover.

Personally I would have signed Barton & Parker his summer.
They're not the greatest players in the world but both are better than what we have, know the league well and are consistant performers week in week out. Oh and they can tackle too which is something we don't have either. Also we should have done our best to get Makelele, SWP and Pedersen. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

We are so far behind the top 4 clubs in centre mid-feild it's sickening
Gerrerd/Alonso
Carrick/Hergreaves
Febregas/Gilberto
Lampard/ Essien

The truth is if we don't sort out the midfeild we will never break in to the champions league or win a cup.