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goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Discussion started by karteta16 , 09 May, 2012 13:04
goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
karteta16 09 May, 2012 13:04
[www.goal.com]

Vertonghen has chosen Spurs ahead of their north London rivals and Harry Redknapp’s team are in advanced negotiations with the Dutch giants over a deal that is likely to be settled at around £8.1 million.

There is even a possibility that Vertonghen will fly to London within the next few days to be shown around Tottenham's new Enfield training headquarters, where they will move permanently in the summer.


It is understood that the defender, who was named Eredivisie player of the year, wants to join Spurs irrespective of whether they play in next season’s Champions League.

“Vertonghen has made his mind up and his move to Spurs could all be agreed within the next few days,” a source told Goal.com.

It will come as a blow to Arsenal, who have been tracking the Belgian centre-back for two years and had earmarked him as one of their primary defensive targets this summer.

But Vertonghen has settled on Spurs because he believes he will be able to play more regularly in his favourite centre-back position for a Champions League calibre club.

The 25-year-old is often pushed out to left-back or central midfield when he plays for the Belgium national team because of the presence of Vincent Kompany and, his friend and former Ajax team-mate, Thomas Vermaelen.

Vertonghen has a year remaining on his Ajax contract and has spoken in recent days of his desire to tie up a move to the Premier League at the start of the transfer window.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy made a formal move for Vertonghen last week after failing to land him in the January window.

“Tottenham are absolutely my favourite," the defender told De Telegraaf. "Tottenham is a fantastic football club that has the tradition I want. They buy young, eager, offensive-minded players.

“[But] the Ajax board are asking for a very big amount for a player whose contract is running out in year. I trust that both Tottenham and Ajax will put some water in the wine and they will soon reach an agreement.

“I hope that this awareness is there, because a transfer lingering for weeks like Maarten Stekelenburg's [to Roma] seems very harsh.

“He joined at the end of Roma's preparation [for the new season]. I want to be able to blend in with the other players at Spurs from the start [of pre-season training].”

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Rockstaar 09 May, 2012 13:08
sounds like we launched an inquiry as usual, but nothing close to an offer



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[arsenalsigs.blogspot.com]

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
BootyDaddy 09 May, 2012 13:17
Wenger probably offered him a trial.



"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

- Albert Einstein

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
SandyB 09 May, 2012 13:31
(Sm100)Why do u need Hydrogen! (Sm100)

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
younghansolo 09 May, 2012 15:08
yep. too slow as per usual. Honestly wouldn't surprise me to hear Podolski has signed with someone else as well.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Philly the kid 09 May, 2012 15:20
Can't blame him with all 5pur2 sick notes in defence.
So much for the best players wanting CL though.(Sm16)

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
flynchstone 09 May, 2012 15:25
They need him more than we do in fairness. Would just like to have him so they don't though tbh.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
SandyB 09 May, 2012 15:26
He can play in CL for Ajax too. This CL argument doesn't cut well. Realistically, he can't win anything with Spuds in CL also. It's all about joining the English football circus. If Juve, Milan or Bayern were interested he'd have run faster than Bolt to them.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Merlion96 09 May, 2012 16:07
Like Park CY waiting in a hotel room to tkae a medicla..and ended up at COlney Medical Centre.

Like Forlan took a wrong turn and ended up at ManLeeds for a Medical. (Sm6)

Like Carrick waiting at Portsmouth for a medical, received a phone call adn ended up talking to Arsene Wenger..

Like Vertonghen arriving in London, call up Vermaelen to ask for direction and ended up at Colney medical Centre (Sm6)

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
younghansolo 09 May, 2012 17:08
Merlion, I genuinely imagine that when you post something you aCTUALLY sit around laughing to yourself.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
BIGSNOOP 09 May, 2012 17:58
[quote Merlion96]Like Park CY waiting in a hotel room to tkae a medicla..and ended up at COlney Medical Centre.

Like Forlan took a wrong turn and ended up at ManLeeds for a Medical. (Sm6)

Like Carrick waiting at Portsmouth for a medical, received a phone call adn ended up talking to Arsene Wenger..

Like Vertonghen arriving in London, call up Vermaelen to ask for direction and ended up at Colney medical Centre (Sm6)[/quote

you forgot to mention Manu Petit Merlion (Sm6).

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Jonny Bravo 09 May, 2012 19:08
Not that I think we shouldn't be interested in singing the guy, but where realistically were we going to fit him in?
We have 5 CB's excluding, Bartley, Miquel and Song "who can play there too" and a full house at left back.
Maybe if we hadn't signed Mert last summer he would have been a better option quality wise, but with Djourou signing a contract extension I cant envisage us signing another CB this summer.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
tigerline 09 May, 2012 19:57
Quote:
Jonny Bravo
Not that I think we shouldn't be interested in singing the guy, but where realistically were we going to fit him in?
We have 5 CB's excluding, Bartley, Miquel and Song "who can play there too" and a full house at left back.
Maybe if we hadn't signed Mert last summer he would have been a better option quality wise, but with Djourou signing a contract extension I cant envisage us signing another CB this summer.

TV, kos, mertesacker, djourou ... who is the 5th CB?

As for the "full house" at left back, please recall that we went 11 games with both santos and gibbs out; the subs that we moved there then stretched our defence and exposed limited depth. we could definitely use a quality player that can play both - and the fact that vertonghen could back up at DM, too, is another addition that we did not have this year.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Philly the kid 09 May, 2012 20:25
Exactly.
Problem is JV -like TV- wants to play as a regular at CB.
We need what he has, but won't be happy doing. Fair enough.
But with him, we could actually challenge for the top honours. Damn shame.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Jonny Bravo 09 May, 2012 20:45
Squillaci is the 5th choice CB even though we would like to forget he is.

Like I said Tigerline, I am not arguing against that we shouldn't be interested in him, just the realities of how AW has operated in this past, especially when it comes to numbers in each particular position.
If anything the full back crisis this year, despite it being somewhat or a freak occurrence, showed how AW was willing to play players out of position rather, severely limit a key aspect of our attack rather than add a short-term squad player.
If Vertonghen did arrive, would he be satisfied at being at best 3rd choice CB/LB and 2nd choice DM..

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
tigerline 09 May, 2012 20:49
Spot on, Jonny - I had already erased the horrid squillaci from my mind's roster. AIEEEEEEE!!!!!

And, yes, I do see why JV would prefer full-time duty somewhere else.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Ichigo 10 May, 2012 07:17
Moving TV to DM is an option too if we had Vert.. Obviously plays too high up line that costs us dearly sometimes.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
Philly the kid 10 May, 2012 08:21
Both only want to play in their comfort zone at CB though.
Even Verms was moaning while played at LB when we had no other choice.

Re: goal.com: Tottenham beat Arsenal to signing of £8.1m Vertonghen
nis 10 May, 2012 11:27
wait merlion where was forlan going before to united



(hard work will beat talent if talent dont work hard)


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