Three In, Three Out: Man City & Tottenham

By Chris Wright

With the transfer window just beginning to creak in the wind (of change?), we at Pies reckon it’s high time to begin speculating and hypothesising on the ins-and-out – quite literally – of this summer’s prospective transfer activity.

This week, Manchester City and Tottenham are bought before the beak…

Man City

Three out…

Patrick Vieira – Never the quickest, Paddy has slowed down to a trot these days and, while his vast experience and gamesmanship may be an invaluable boon, he’s not really a force to be reckoned with at Eastlands – with his fading legs only good for brisk run-outs in the early stages of the domestic cups and the odd ‘last ten minutes’ here and there. Time to find a (slightly) younger replacement.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – Put quite simply, Wright-Phillips is not good enough for City anymore – an almost forgotten remnant of the club’s pre-Sheik transitional stage. Should Ashley Young/Stewart Downing leave Villa this summer, you can probably expect them to take a knock-down punt on SWP.

Emmanuel Adebayor/Craig Bellamy/Jo/Roque Santa Cruz – Take your pick of City’s surplus strikers , though we’re fairly sure that at least three of the four will be shipped out come August.

Three in…

Ali Al Habsi, Bolton – With Shay Given almost certain to move on, City will probably not be content to rely on the less-than-stellar pairing of Stuart Taylor and Gunnar Nielsen as back-up. Al Habsi had a terrific stint on loan at Wigan last season and looks set to return to the DW on a permanent deal next term, though he may be swayed by a significantly heftier wage packet.

Leighton Baines, Everton – Not saying that I want it to happen – I really don’t – but City are probably going to be in the hunt for a left-back to rival Aleksandar Kolarov over the summer and we’ve seen before that Everton are always liable to be tempted into parting with one of their crown jewels if the money on offer is vastly over the odds.

Sergio Aguero, Atletico Madrid – Kun has been quick to stress that he feels that he’s reached the end of the road at Atletico Madrid and, if Carlos Tevez should decide to up-sticks and move back home to Madrid or Milan over the summer, then who better to take his place at City than the man who regularly steps in for Carlitos at international level?

Much as I’d love to see the Chaos Theory stretched to it’s limits by pairing the Mighty Zlatan with Mario Balotelli up-front at Eastlands next season, I’m not sure the universe could stand the strain.

Tottenham

Three out…

Wilson Palacios – Has been the square-root of useless since his form bottomed-out last season and has since seen Sandro usurp him in the Spurs midfield. From what I’ve read this morning, it seems like Big Wilson will be on his way to Napoli at some point during the next few days.

Jermaine Jenas – While not the complete player by any stretch of the imagination, Jenas is actually a damn-sight better than his dismal standing among the majority of Spurs fans suggests. Sure he tends to ‘get caught in the headlights’ from time to time, but he also possesses a steady touch, a decent range of passing, top-level experience with England credentials and a few tricks up his sleeve to boot. Would be an ideal ‘marquee’ signing for someone like QPR.

David Bentley/Gio Dos Santos/Robbie Keane/Jamie O’Hara – Again, take your pick.

Three in…

Shay Given, Man City – Makes sense. Shay’s desperate for first-team football and Tottenham are presumably desperate not to have to rely on a pin-headed flap-merchant week-in, week-out next season.

Gary Cahill, Bolton – With Sebastien Bassong reportedly eying the exit door, Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate both destined for the knacker’s yard and Bongani Khumalo looking like more of a mistake with every passing week, Tottenham are going to need a dependable centre-half next season and oh how they would dearly love to pinch Cahill from under the noses of their beloved North London rivals.

Whether or not they can match Bolton’s huge asking price is another matter. Oh, and I’d also like to throw Chris Samba’s name into the ring if I may?

Whisper it, but ‘Dimitar Berbatov, Man Utd‘ – Not being a Spurs supporter myself, I’m unsure as to whether Berbs would be welcomed back at the Lane or not – though if United are willing to flog Berba on the cheap (say, £10 million) this close season, surely it would be worth the gamble? At the very least, he may score some of the tap-ins that Peter Crouch routinely shanks.

That said, ‘Arry does seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time watching La Liga games over the past few months – so there may well be a new recruit from the Spanish leagues winging his way to the Lane over summer.

Right, there you go folks. Please feel free to leave your own ‘Three In, Three Outs’ in the comments box below…

More ‘Three In, Three Outs’…

Arsenal & Aston Villa
Man Utd & Chelsea

Posted in Featured, Man City, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers & Rumours

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22 Comments

  1. Tabs says:

    Carlos tevez is not from madrid he is from argentina ***

  2. jak says:

    Good list! I can see one of scotty parker or matt upson also making the move to spurs…although they really need a ’20 goal a season’ striker. Maybe Arry will take a punt on portos falcao, hes been banging them in this year! I cant see SWP leaving just yet, think mancini has a soft spot for him, would love to see aguero playing for city! Lakaku could also be on the way after his exams…

  3. Horny Helen says:

    Utter utter bollox my man I will slap your pp.

    In Parker (nailed on), Johnson, Drogba

  4. Loz says:

    ‘square-root of useless’ and ‘pin-headed flap-merchant’ – haha excellent

  5. Pkhakheria says:

    @Tabs , its a joke “madrid or milan”

  6. rich says:

    @Tabs-you obviously didn’t get chris’ sarcasm, tevez says he wants to go back home to argentina, but no one would be very surprised if had a cheeky move to “certain” clubs in spain or italy…

  7. Dave MacKay says:

    What a prat……….ManC Fan………idiot
    Crouch scored your tap in idiot after we dominated you for the second time. You are just lucky scum and next season you will get whats coming to you and no it wont be the title of champions league. In your dreams!!

  8. Dave MacKay says:

    totally agree with myself the guy that wrote this is a twat

  9. jim says:

    how exactly is khumalo a mistake? he hasnt had a chance yet. Dreadful article.

  10. Shelley says:

    You suggest Spurs should sell at least 2 midfielders, possibly 3, yet not buy one in? Jenas doesn’t need to go, the others can all go, although I’d like to hang on to Gio.

  11. Norks says:

    Oh dear. You picked on Gio and Khumalo. Nothing the online Spurs fans love more than a player who never plays for Spurs.

    Sell them and buy someone who might actually kick a ball in a real game? Not a chance.

    Both will doubtless feature for Spurs in the inter toto second XI reserves thursday night cup next season.

    If they manage a five minute appearance expect your inbox to be full of “I told you they were awesome” messages.

  12. JonnyArdiles says:

    Simple question….. how has Khumalo been ‘looking like more of a mistake with every passing week’? He had high praise, the short time he has been in England with PNE and was awesome in the world cup!? Just confused by that statement… the rest i kind of agree with.

  13. Markell says:

    @Dave MacKay
    Piss off, you didn’t dominate shit, we bossed the game and Crouchy does what he is paid to do, just for the wrong team this time. Jog on to London and take you United supporting neighbors with you.

    That being said, City don’t need Baines for Kolarov… Hell, Baines IS Kolarov: better going forward, but still fails to convince on the defensive side. Sounds like a defender we already possess… Hopefully Jerome Boateng can have a better second year. Or we can clone Micah Richards. Kun Aguero for King Carlos would be a good fit, same type of player, if not as committed. And I reckon Citeh are going to be in for Cahill too.

  14. Liam says:

    haha. as a spurs (and pies) fan. this article is getting ridiculous amounts of stick… i suppose it’s inevitable when man city and tottenham get within inches of each other.

    but frankly, khumalo, although i wouldnt call a mistake yet. has gone from being captain of supersport and scoring in the world cup to being another of spur’s injured loanees.

    (having said that…i still have faith in our little mexian gio)

  15. Chris says:

    Re: Khumalo – from what I’ve seen (a few of his Preston appearances) he’s never going to be a dependable upper-Prem level centre-back in a month of Sundays and the fact that he was bought in on the cheap to help paper over the cracks in Tottenham’s increasingly rickety central defence means that, as things stand, his signing represents as a bit of a mistake on ‘Arry’s part – granted, not a particularly expensive or prominent one, but a mistake non-the-less.

  16. Solihull United says:

    I agree Berbatov and cahil would be a good addition to spurs, but shay given would be making a sideways move to spurs, if gomes stays in good form. if cuddicini were to leave id think ben foster would move in

  17. Anonymous says:

    Wow. You dont know very much about football

  18. Arry says:

    Absolute utter B*locks of an article … You have named practically every player you can think of that the tabloids have already mentioned and then topped it off with complete sh*te – with the remark re: Khumalo. Worst article I have read since spurs were linked with signing Maradona when he played in a friendly against us in the 80s whilst at Barca

  19. Dave says:

    khumalo would only have been a mistake if Harry threw him in at the deep end and he failed….which he didnt. He looked decent enough in the world cup, and Harry took a punt on the lad, i dont blame him for that. Wheather he makes the grade in the premier league..only time will tell

  20. Chris says:

    Givens not coming – just signed Big Brad.

  21. Enorme Nuez says:

    How has Bongani Khumalo become a mistake when he has yet to play a match for Spurs?

  22. Denzel says:

    Read an interesting article on what Spurs may need to improve next year: http://www.suite101.com/content/how-will-tottenham-make-the-champions-league-again-a371880

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