BENT PUBLICLY HUMILIATED

I see the powers-that-be have decided to add public humiliation to the crimes they have committed against Darren Bent.

I feel sorry for the poor bastard really - bought in for a huge sum after choosing Spurs over several other suitors and then largely ignored by successive managers. Ridiculed by Harry for missing an open goal that his wife could have allegedly scored and more recently deliberately not included in his "4 top strikers" comment (even though he is technically still a Spurs player). On a plane, off a plane, a medical up north, oops, not a medical. He had every right to twitter his ickle heart out if you ask me.

Directly from the official site:

I appreciate that transfers are seldom straightforward and are often complex. However, after a long period of waiting following my withdrawal from the plane to China, I had become incredibly frustrated by the time these things take and I posted inappropriate comments on my Twitter site.

I allowed my emotions to get in the way of my better judgement. I regret my actions and did not intend to offend Daniel Levy or anyone with the nature or the content of my posting.

Like him or loathe him he has been dignified throughout until finally losing his rag a little - and now this.

I'd have told them to stick it.

WINNING WITH KIDS

One of my big hopes for the forth coming season is that we start seeing more of the young guns. Tottenham have quietly been buying up some of the country's finest young talent for several years now and while it is only natural that some are not going to make it, it would be bloody criminal if none of them did. It looks to me like we have enough quality at this level now to certainly start seriously thinking about giving these kids a run out.

There seem to be a handful who are knocking on the door, and perhaps a few more who are merely waiting in the corridor. Livermore, Rose, Bostock and Dervite look certs to be warming the bench on a regular basis this year and if even one of those lot stakes a claim for the first team I'd be delighted. Parret and Archibald-Henville are probably not so certain to wow us just yet, and I can see them joining Obika and Taraabt by going out on loan.

Then we have Bale and Naughton - they will be getting more than a sniff by the looks of it, maybe Gio, assuming we don't sell him. Naughton seems every bit as good as Blades fans were telling us, and I would really love for Bale to finally live up to his billing as every time I the monkey boy play I can't help raving about him to whoever is listening (but perhaps that's mostly to do with my irrational hatred of BAE). Dos Santos is already adored by large numbers of the faithful. They're all good players and I wish them well, but they're not proper academy boys are they?

There's nothing we love more at Spurs than a local lad done good. That's why we refuse to send Ledder's to the knackers yard, that's why the whole sorry Sol Campbell affair still hurts so much, and that my friends is why I'm so excited by the prospect of Jake Livermore.

OK, so I may not have seen enough of him to establish whether he really is all that and a bag of chips, so indulge me if you will. But just the thought of this lad staking his claim by banging in a brace at home against the scum sends shivers down the spine - and who has he got in front of him, Jenas, Huddlestone? He has to fancy his chances.

If all goes well for him, this boy could be future captain material. A few years from now how great would it be to see a product of the academy captain of the club, bossing the midfield, the beating heart of Tottenham Hotspur. A player who would, to coin a phrase, "run through brick walls" for the shirt. The distant strains of "Nice one Cyril, nice one son, nice one Cyril...." drifting over the Park Road... Hmmm, wouldn't it? Oooh, lovely. Jumpers for goalposts and all that... marvellous. Did you know his middle name is Cyril?

I'm sure some of you will tell me I'm over egging his omelette, but one good season and this is the weight of expectation he'll have to deal with - might as well join the party early.

CRISIS SCHMISIS

Looks like the transfer market for those of us lower down the money tree could be spluttering into life. Not that anything concrete is happening of course, it just seems to me that we're putting more irons into fires.

The best bit of news this week is... all of it! The fact that Harry is starting to throw us a bone about what's happening is coming as a welcome relief to me as the sheer volume of spurious reporting was starting to drive me insane. Beckham - forget about it, Hangeland, forget about it, Young, forget about it. Vieira, gone cold, Crouch, to expensive, Huntelaar, silly wages. I know Harry isn't exactly renowned for being Honest Joe when chatting to the press, but even just confirming we have made enquiries is good enough for me at the moment. Anyway, surely he's only saying what we all thought about these names, and if it results in the press being more imaginative then I'm all for that.

It seems as though the goal posts have moved a little. All that talk of Downing and Young has dissolved, and sports journo's up and down the country have suddenly run out of left wingers to link to us. I don't even think we need one - stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Modders is the current apple of our eyes and Bale and O'Hara are certainly competent enough to do a job there if need be. Maybe we might also get a look at Rose at some point, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

I'm not really buying all this "defensive crisis" nonsense either. King might not have trained, but I was under the impression that he hasn't for ages. When he plays he's still immense so you can expect his to be the first name on the teamsheet against Liverpool. Woody is going to have his groin "looked at" - which doesn't sound overly serious and, although Dawson is out, Corluka is fine and Chimbo is capable. Should we need to break glass in case of emergency we have the boy Dervitte and Big Tommy Huddlestone - a player I actually prefer at CB.

Can anyone explain to me how we're going to sell Spurs as a proposition to a world class CB with that lot potentially all fit by September?

Bent is breaking his balls to be the big fish at Sunderland, and my ongoing suspicion is that the deal is done. The only hold up is probably that Levy doesn't want to risk a repeat of his "sell all our strikers" cock up and will wait until we get someone nailed on before contracts are exchanged.

Crouch (pictured)? Huntelaar? Yes either will do. I can see Defoe and Keane jumping for joy if the Beanpole arrives. Keano thrives on the kind of flick ons and sneaky through balls that Crouchy delivers on a regular basis, and a workable partnership with JD is a historical fact. You know what, I wouldn't really be gutted if we get neither and sell Bent. I liked what I saw of Obika and as 4th choice then it's not too risky.

Huntelaar might be good, truth be told I've only really seen his YouTube montage, and everyone looks world class on those. My only reservation on this one is that 12 months from now we'll all be getting extremely angry with Man City/Chelsea/Man U for waving £30m in our faces. Huntelaar will be coming for the money and the platform, and I don't think that helps us.

All is oddly quiet in terms of holding midfielders, which is strange as by my calculations it's the only position we absolutely positively have to recruit for. Poulsen, 29, Danish international, Juve reject, £5m? What are we waiting for?

Anyway, that's my take on this week's goings on. I'm off to brave the thunder and make my way to Wembley for the Barca game.

How I'd love to be saying that in May instead of July.

BONKERS!

Followers of the summer madness that revolves around Tottenham will have noticed over the last few years that if anything things are getting progressively madder. This year has so far been the maddest of them all and has seen us linked with the usual parade of 'wonderkids', unobtainable superstars, continental nobodies and thirty-something hasbeens - culminating in what at least appears to be a fairly solid looking story about us signing the long serving, iconic ex-captain of our most hated rivals.

I have a theory on all this. I'm wondering whether the Spurs insiders have a new tactic in the annual media war? Could it be that they have become so annoyed by leaks and mis-information over the years that they are now deliberately leaking a huge number of tip-offs so that any real activity is lost in the sea of bullshit? I don't know - that's just my own little conspiracy theory I thought I'd share with you there, it's certainly something Harry is capable of devising!

Being addicted to NewsNow, I have noticed a trend. A story materialises on a small site and sometimes never gets mentioned again. However, occasionally someone higher up the food chain decides it has legs and it starts to make it into the national papers. It's not exactly beyond the boundaries of possibility to assume journalists from these publications scour the community sites of Premiership clubs looking for ITK stories to run. Of course, it's also a given that dubious agents will leak deals to them for a few quid and a boozy lunch - and/or deliberately exaggerate interest in their client to bump up any potential fee.

This week alone we are expected to believe that we have turned down £14m for Bent (really, when a fee of £19m has apparently been agreed for in-demand Huntelaar? Bite their bloody arm off Levy!), that we are about to blow £10m of our precious kitty on 2 kids from Sheffield, who we'll promptly give straight back to them (I thought we weren't buying kids?), and then there's Patrick Viera...

Now, I'm no knee-jerk, foaming at the mouth Arsenal hater. Sure I like to see them suffer, and I'd love us or Man City to take 4th spot off them next year, but truth be told I don't really give a toss about them. I don't have anything against Bentley because of his past - jeez, I'm not even really that much of a Sol hater! He made his choices but he handled them badly. However, I think it's safe to say that there are a significant number of people out there who feel slightly more... let's say 'passionate' about the subject. I'm talking about the people who wouldn't even buy a Panasonic TV because it has Viera written on it - God only knows their reaction to him pulling on the shirt.

In actual fact it probably wouldn't be a bad move. We need an experienced DM who has a bit of fight, a winning mentality and fully understands that he's not going to play every game. Viera fits that bill. Been there, done it, bought the t-shirt as they say - and has a cabinet full of medals to prove it. He'd probably play about as often as Zokora did - as understudy to Wilson, or along side him in the middle in away games against the likes of Everton and Stoke. We could do a lot worse - and in truth I'm struggling for a shortlist of realistic targets with whom we could do a lot better.

Nonetheless, if this one is more than just paper talk then it represents an enormous gamble for Harry. The WHL boo boys are not known for their tolerance and a fair proportion will be just itching to write off the lanky goon before he's even kicked a ball for us.

It may be akin to spending a pound and expecting to win the lottery, but just consider if you will the ramifications of Viera rifling in a 25 yard last minute winner at the Emirates next season and tell me that alone doesn't make him worth a punt?

Transfer Reality Check

What with the rumour mill going absolutely insane, I thought I'd introduce a dangerous concept: What about if we don't sign 10 new players this year?

Just for a second let's ignore all the paper talk and look at the messages coming directly from the club. Harry stated at the end of the season that he was looking to bring in 3 players. He has also suggested since then that the Arabs have nicked 2 of those in the form of Barry and Santa Cruz. More recently we have been told that we are not going to be buying players for the sake of it and that any arrivals must 'improve the squad' (as opposed to making us worse one presumes). So a report I read recently suggesting that "every player but 3 are available for sale" seems about as likely as Macaulay Culkin sending flowers to the Jackson family.

We have been linked with everybody from second rate youth keepers to world superstars in the last month, but it's still looking quiet on the Western Front. I don't think Harry is in any rush whatsoever, and based on our end of season run in I think he's right not to be. I actually think the current squad is one of the best we've had in years.

In a way we need to be encouraged by the lack of activity. Letting the big guns lay out all their millions on the cream of the crop is good for teams like Spurs who, if we're being honest, are second tier these days. As players come in to the Champions League outfits, the current incumbents are likely to start to get very edgy about their first team prospects, and in a World Cup year might be more tempted to consider their options rather than sit on their fat contracts. This year I actually think that waiting until August could be a good thing for us because when the league kicks off these newly marginalised players might start scrambling for the exit doors - at which point playing for Tottenham might not seem such an awful proposition after all.

Strikers:
I believe we'll only sign a striker if we sell one, and I think the only one likely to be sold is Bent. Robbie Keane playing for 3 clubs in 12 months? I can't see it, and Pav will not be sold for the simple reason that we won't be able to get anyone better than him. I'm convinced the boy is class, and with a bit of a break and a decent pre-season I think we're going to see him explode - I'd love to see that blossoming partnership with JD re-established. Hiddink rates him highly, and that's a pretty solid referral.

So if Bent is out, who's in? Not Bellamy that's for sure, so we can relax about that. Whoever we buy will be a way down the pecking order and Mr. Angry won't like that. Also, I can't see us getting another shortie. I actually think these Berg rumours have substance as a young bloke like him might not be too unhappy about a bit of squad rotation. However, if Levy dicks about over the fee for another month we'll undoubtedly lose out to Hamburg.

If it's not him I'm certain it will be another big man, Crouch or Carew? I'd be distinctly underwhelmed, but ultimately unsurprised - hardly significant improvements are they?

Verdict: A strict one out, one in policy.

Midfield:
All except Lennon are up for sale - what bollocks. Wilson is obviously going nowhere and nor is Modders. I'd also be hugely surprised if we sell Jenas - in fact, to round off this set of bold statements I'd also be surprised if we sold Bentley. Can you see Levy taking a £10m hit on him after one season? I'd kind of like Bentley to stay - he's a good player and if he can turn it around it would be like a new signing. I want to see the best of him in a Spurs shirt and that hasn't happened yet (apart from that goal).

Harry is surely after another tough tackling CM. He does like to play with two tough guys in the middle and now Zokora has gone a new CM/DM type player must be a nailed on cert. I wouldn't be surprised to see Huddlestone go too. He's got talent certainly, but I heard he's a lazy trainer and I suspect that gets Harry all twitchy. Prime suspects are currently Cattermole, Veloso and Cana, but most of this looks like agent bullshit or rehashed stories to me. If I must pick one then Cattermole appears the most "Harry like" signing but I expect the list of candidates to grow over the next couple of weeks.

On the left I think we can forget about Young and Robben and any number of nobodies touted as "the best left midfielder in France". I'm absolutely convinced Downing will be a Spurs player before long, and what's more I don't think that's a bad thing. He's a club captain, has a great left foot, is a fantastic passer of the ball, decent at dead balls etc. I think that where we are at the moment, Downing is as good as we can hope for - four England managers in a row have seen something they like about him so he can't be that bad! Obviously I'd prefer Joe Cole, but I expect he'll want £80k a week and experience tells me Levy won't go for that.

Verdict: Downing's a yid plus a mystery tough guy.

Defence:
Talk of Heinze seems to have evaporated, which is a shame as I think he'd have been a superb signing to bridge the gap until BAE and Bale mature. However its not disastrous as we're OK in this department. Hutton, Charlie, King, Woody, BAE, Bale, Chimbo, Dawson, Gunter - let's face it, we have plenty of cover for anywhere across the back 4. Can't see Harry spunking £10m on a back up for King (read: Bassong) when we already have Corluka and Dawson.

Verdict: Experienced LB wheeled and dealed if one pops up - don't hold your breath.

By my reckoning that makes Downing, a DM you've probably never heard of, a striker you won't be pleased with and maybe a left back past his prime. Try to control your excitement!

I suppose we're used to seeing mass comings and goings every summer, but breaking that habit and letting the team develop would be no bad thing. So even if we do end up signing nobody trouser-bulgingly exciting, take some comfort... we weren't exactly too shabby at the end of last season so would it really be a disaster to kick on with what we have now plus a couple of "squad" players?