Cartilage Free Captain

It’s not a transfer news story but it kind of feels like one. After numerous rumors and reporting over the past month, Tottenham Hotspur has confirmed that its co-sporting director Fabio Paratici is leaving the club in February to become the new Director of Football at Fiorentina.

I dunno y’all, I feel like I’ve said everything I want to say about Don Fabio. He got us some good players while he was here, he was involved in some crimes at Juventus, he got banned from football, and somehow Spurs decided to offer him a job again when he was able to work in the industry, despite keeping him on as a “consultant” during his ban. I think it’s weird that he’s leaving the club for a club that could be relegated to Serie B, just four after being appointed to a weirder Sporting Director job-share alongside Johan Lange. It makes me look back at that (retroactively) awkward post-transfer window video with him sitting on a couch with Lange talking about how great everything was with intense skepticism.

The official reason for Paratici leaving is “personal reasons.” That very well could be the case, and at some level I’m happy that Fabio gets to return to his home country to spend more quality time with his crimes. The bigger concern for me is where the club goes from here. Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham made the following short statement on Tottenham’s website about Paratici’s departure:

“We have agreed that Fabio will return to Italy following the conclusion of the January transfer window, in line with his wish to move back home. We thank Fabio for his contribution to the Club and wish him well for the future.

“Our management structure is designed to be resilient to personnel changes, and it will be business as usual moving forward.”

Oh really? Mind if we see an organizational chart of the management structure, Vinai? Because I’m incredibly confused as to what this means going forward. Is Johan Lange now our new (single) Sporting Director? Is our new Director of Football Operations Rafi Moersen now involved? Is Venkatesham now planning on actually hiring a Director of Football? We don’t know! It’s all unclear!

In the end I’m pretty neutral on this move and what it means, because I’m not actually sure it changes much. It probably SHOULD change a lot, but I doubt we’ll see anything until at minimum after the close of the window, with which Paratici is still apparently very involved. That also strikes me as weird. But whatever!

Paratici has been at the club in a very strange period of its history and sad to say I’m not sure he leaves it in better condition than when he arrived. But thanks for Bentancur and Kulusevski, Fabio. Good luck aiming your transfer scattergun in Florence, I hear it’s a lovely city. And get off your damn phone.

At one point, Tottenham Hotspur thought Alejo Veliz was a hidden jewel of a striker in South America, to the extent that the club spent a whopping £13m to sign the then-19-year-old striker from Rosario Central in Argentina in the summer of 2023.

It did not go well. Veliz played a total of just 50 minutes for Tottenham, scoring one goal as a late sub against Brighton. He was loaned out that spring to Sevilla, where he barely played, and then had a more serviceable loan at Villarreal last season where he scored one goal in just over 1100 minutes. Veliz was loaned back to the club Spurs bought him from, Rosario Central, this past summer where he has 5 goals and 1 assist in 1200 minutes.

While he has not done enough to convince anyone that he has a future with Tottenham Hotspur, he’s done enough to get a permanent transfer. Cesar Luis Melo is now reporting that Campeonato Brasileiro side Bahía are now in negotiations to sign Veliz on a permanent transfer. Tottenham will shortly terminate Veliz’s loan in order to facilitate the move.

Some might think that Veliz was a “lottery ticket” when he was signed by Spurs, but you don’t spend £13m for a teenager from Argentina if you’re playing the lotto. This was just a bad transfer, full stop. I don’t have anything against Veliz, but it’s hard to justify the amount of money that Spurs paid for him. Melo doesn’t mention what the transfer fee to Bahia would be — the article says it is “quite high” but that’s very contextual considering we’re talking about a Brazilian football club and not, say, Fulham. I would be shocked if it’s anywhere close to the £13m Spurs paid for him.

Bad transfers happen. I hope Veliz goes on to have a fantastic football career and proves everyone, including me, wrong. But this was a bad deal from the very beginning and it’s probably a good thing for everyone involved, including Alejo, that Spurs get out from under it.

Great news everyone: Your hoddler-in-chief has wifi.

Here’s the not-so-good news: I spent the entire evening unpacking boxes and moving things around the new place. This means it’s another short hoddle today.

Please have patience with me as I soon to be up and running again quite soon. But in the meantime it looks like you’re hoddling just fine all on your own - my goodness, look at the number of comments lately!

I finally had a chance to sit down tonight and I’ve turned on the latest version of US Traitors. What a climb down from the UK’s celebrity version, whose cast is far more likeable than these reality TV contestants. Apparently there’s going to be a US version soon that features regular joes. That I’m looking forward to more.

In the meantime we’re also continuing our weeklong celebration of departed Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir. It’s getting more and more difficult to choose which songs to feature but, after yesterday’s tear-jerker, I thought perhaps we could do something a bit lighter.

Here’s to hoping for more positive transfer news today.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Me and My Uncle / Big River, by the Grateful Dead

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): “Fabio Paratici’s second spell at Spurs is already almost over – why didn’t it work out?”

The Ringer: “Bob Weir’s One Last Saturday Night”

Good morning, everyone.

Your hoddler-in-chief spent his weekend moving apartments and has had a heck of a challenge getting the internet set up at his new place.

If you’re receiving this hoddle it’s because your HIC is still experiencing some technical difficulties. If that is the case, then please just go straight to the comments (as you normally do) and enjoy your commenting time.

Hopefully fitzie’s WiFi will be up and running soon so he could hoddle properly again. In the meantime, please have some patience with him as he tries to get everything together.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Looks Like Rain, by the Grateful Dead

And now for your links:

no links due to technical difficulties

Do you smell that on the air? That’s the smell of flop sweat and desperation. According to the David Ornstein in the Athetic, Aston Villa is currently in negotiations to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Conor Gallagher this month as the player is keen on a return to English football, but Tottenham Hotspur are now also actively negotiating for the player. The Ornacle is now reporting that Spurs and Atletico are nearing a €40m (£35m) deal that would bring the former Chelsea man to North London.

You might recall that Conor Gallagher was one of Tottenham’s primary targets ahead of the 2023-24 season after Ange Postecoglou first joined the club. None of us especially liked it back then, though I suspect it had as much to do with him being a Chelsea player who didn’t especially want to leave Chelsea than anything else. But now, Gallagher is 25, wants to leave Spain, and Tottenham are DESPERATE after losing Rodrigo Bentancur for three months due to a hamstring injury.

So on the one hand Conor Gallagher would probably improve the squad. He’d be probably the third or fourth best midfielder currently on the squad (assuming all of them are healthy) and lord knows we’re going to have a hard time getting through the rest of the season without adding SOMEBODY. But holy smokes y’all, I wasn’t wild on the idea of Conor Gallagher two years ago, and there isn’t much that he’s done since that sells me on the idea now, other than we are apparently a club that is nude, red, and sweaty with panic.

If Spurs actually do sign Conor Gallagher here shortly, it says a LOT about what a trash fire this club’s operations are. This is not a plan! There is no plan! This is Spurs’ recruitment team and CEO running around with their pants on fire set on top of their head. I can’t even pretend to tell you with a straight face that this signing would be done because they’ve carefully evaluated their options and think Conor Gallagher is a player they can build around for the future. It’s farcical. It’s insane. It’s further evidence that this club, after sticking a knife in Daniel Levy’s back, is officially run by doofuses needs a hard reset at all levels of the organization.

And yes, before anyone looks it up, I also think he’ll make the team, at least in the short term, better. But that’s not the point. Like, holy smokes y’all, what are we even DOING?

Make it make sense!

If you wanted confirmation that Spurs are now even deeper into an injury crisis as they navigate another disappointing season, well I’m sorry to be the person to have to bring it to you. Multiple outlets are now reporting that midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur will miss the next three months and will undergo surgery after injuring his hamstring in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa in the FA Cup this past weekend.

Lolo was one of two players to leave the match with suspected hamstring injuries, along with Tottenham’s starting striker and leading scorer Richarlison, who pulled up holding the back of his leg during the same match. We haven’t heard anything about Richarlison’s injury, but losing Bentancur just makes Tottenham’s already-existing injury crisis even more critical.

Consider: with Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr still (technically) at AFCON, Spurs essentially only have three “natural” first team central midfielders available for selection — Joao Palhinha, Archie Gray, and Xavi Simons. And Xavi’s basically a 10. Thomas Frank might have to get creative [ironic chuckle] with players such as Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel in future matches, and we better hope that Lucas Bergvall isn’t as injured as we suspect he might be.

But what makes me giggle the most is the implication, as Romano outlines above, that Bentancur’s injury will now prompt Spurs to look for a central midfielder in the January transfer window. Oh, NOW you want to look for a central midfielder, and not, y’know, any time since last June when it’s been desperate that we’ve needed midfield passing since Ange Postecoglou left the club? OK.

It’s grimly funny. Still, hope we sign one, because we sure could use them.

I was heartbroken when I learnt the death of Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir, the guitar virtuoso who carried on the band’s legacy following Jerry Garcia’s death three decades ago, died on Saturday.

For us Deadheads, Bobby Weir meant so much to us. He and the rest of the band, as well as all those within the band’s orbit, forged some of the most creative music put together and stamped themselves as the kids waving their freak flags in red, white and tie-dye.

It’s a strange feeling to know that Weir has “transition to the next life”, as his family said in a statement. That’s the sort of terminology he would use to describe death - not as an end, per se, but as a transitional period.

Before then, though, he brought thousands of hours of music to as many fans. Many would travel from coast to coast to catch the Dead. Your hoddler-in-chief was born a year before Garcia died, and so I never saw the band with him. But I did see them fronted by Weir in the Dead outfit Dead & Co.

I travelled to Saratoga Springs, Bristow, Queens and Las Vegas to hear the music. Every time was something totally different, and many a times I wished I could hold onto that music for a little while longer.

Over the next few days we’re going to be celebrating Weir’s music, and I’ll be picking out some of the songs that I enjoy the most. Five days isn’t nearly enough time to run through every single song in Weir’s catalogue and of course a few will be missing. But the wonderful part about music is I’m sure thousands of fans could each come up with their own five Weir songs/moments, which shows you the breadth of his work.

Today’s Track of the Day is one of my favourites, and one of the very first he penned for the Grateful Dead. The performance of Sugar Magnolia came at the Veneta Fairgrounds, one of the most legendary concerts in the band’s history.

It’s really the coda - Sunshine Daydream - that I find powerful in this. It’s wonderful to listen to.

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank future to be decided as Tottenham must remember what they once were”

Mathys Tel isn’t the only current Tottenham Hotspur player who has been pushing for the exit door on loan this month. Romanian central defender Radu Dragusin, freshly returned from a knee injury that kept him out nearly a year, has been making noise via his fake agent that he wants to head out on loan to Serie A in order to get minutes. Like with Tel, the push to leave on loan is almost certainly World Cup related — Dragusin wants to be on Romania’s squad for this summer’s tournament in North America, and at present he’s stuck behind Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Kevin Danso in Spurs’ depth chart. Dragusin has been the subject of rumors taht both Fiorentina and Roma are interested in him.

I totally get the impulse, but just like with Tel’s situation it doesn’t appear as though Spurs are willing to let him go. According to the Sky Sports transfer tracker, Roma even made a bid to take Radu on loan, and Spurs rejected the offer.

Really, I could just copy-paste the reasons why this doesn’t make much sense for Spurs from the Mathys Tel article I posted 15 minutes ago. The biggest reason is that with Kota Taka already out on loan to Gladbach this month, Spurs have five natural CBs on their roster and one of them is Ben Davies. Now, five CBs is (under most circumstances, 2024-25 Tottenham excepted) perfectly adequate depth, but thing start to get really shaky if you go down to four, especially if Davies will be expected to fill in at left back at any point. Spurs look like they’re bringing Souza in this month, but still — letting Radu go would be a risk, unless they bring in another defender, always a tricky thing to do in January.

Now, I think it’s quite possible Radu could depart the club this summer, as he’s at best a depth option for Spurs at CB unless things significantly change. (You could also say that if Radu ever WERE a starting option for Tottenham it means the club has bigger problems than we though.) It might also be the right decision to sell him whenever they can and make space for, say, Luka Vuskovic next season. But I think Spurs would need something better than a “loan plus option” bid to let Dragusin leave now. Just doesn’t make sense to my mind.

Despite securing a permanent move to Tottenham Hotspur this summer, Mathys Tel sure seems like he wants to leave already. It’s understandable — he was left out of the Champions League squad by Thomas Frank in the fall, has spent much of the season on the bench, and has only recently started to get regular first team minutes and only because of a pretty significant injury crisis at the club. That’s a problem for Mathys, who is pretty desperate to make the France World Cup squad but won’t if he’s not getting regular minutes.

You have probably already noticed a lot of smoke from some somewhat dubious transfer sources suggesting there are clubs interested in taking Mathys Tel on loan in January. I’ve seen them too. Here’s another somewhat dubious source: Fabrizio Romano, saying Paris FC are one of those clubs who would be perfectly glad to take Mathys on loan thank you very much.

There’s a problem with these stories, however — they’re almost certainly driven by Mathys’ agents, but that won’t matter if Spurs don’t have any intention to loan him out. Which they probably don’t. And why would they? Spurs are now without Mohammed Kudus for the next three months or so, Richarlison just tweaked his hamstring in yesterday’s FA Cup loss to Aston Villa, and Spurs are in a world of hurt. Even if Spurs bring in another attacker in the transfer window, which it seems pretty likely that they’re at least trying, the situation is such that Tel is now very likely to be getting the minutes at Spurs that he’s been craving all along.

Now, I’m sure there are other reasons why he might want out of Tottenham Hotspur, considering the club is struggling and isn’t very good right now. But I would advise everyone reading this article to stop for a second, take a breath, and ask yourselves a couple of important questions, starting with: Does it make any amount of sense for Spurs to loan out Tel in January considering the position they’re in right now? I would argue — no, it does not. Nor would it make much sense for Tel to down tools if he doesn’t get his way.

Tel is a talented young player, with emphasis on the “young.” There are reasons to be optimistic that players like Tel, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Luka Vuskovic, etc. are the future of the club and could develop into exceptional Premier League players. He wants to play and wants to make the World Cup, and he might think a loan to another French club, even one like Paris FC (which is NOT Paris Saint-Germain btw) might help facilitate that better than staying at Spurs. But it has to make sense to Spurs as well. Further weakening the squad to let him to chase his World Cup dreams that may or may not be a reality anyway just feels like wishcasting.

So for now I’d advise you all to chill out with these rumors. They’re clearly agent-driven with an even more clear agenda. That doesn’t mean they’re going to happen. Keep your powder dry until you get some rumors from legitimate sources that suggest Tottenham might be actually considering letting him leave. I rather doubt we’ll hear those.

I think most Tottenham Hotspur fans expected that current Co-Sporting Director Fabio Paratici was leaving the club imminently. The rumors have been flying for weeks now, with Paratici closely linked with a return to Italy to take the Director of Football position at Fiorentina. The only question was when, and now according to David Ornstein we have our answer — Paratici will leave Spurs for “personal reasons” after the close of the January transfer window.

So this month is the last hurrah for Don Fabio, who will return to Italy after one final scattergun transfer window in order to spend more time with his crimes. It makes a certain amount of sense — whatever Tottenham’s medium-to-long-term plans for the Sporting Director position (and that includes Johan Lange) it would be a little silly to let them both go now when the current window is so incredibly important. It makes you wonder how much his heart is actually in it, but I suppose the job is the job and he’ll do his job until it’s no longer his job.

Ornstein cites “personal reasons” as the reason for Paratici’s departure despite only getting the Co-Sporting Director position in October, and while I won’t dwell too much on what those reasons actually are, there were rumors in the Italian media that Paratici’s partner was homesick and wanted to return to Italy. On that level, I can’t exactly blame him — all things being equal I would also strongly consider leaving London for a life in Florence, though Paratici will have a heck of a job ahead of him turning around a Fiorentina side that looks destined for Serie B next season.

Anyway, at least we know the plan. Hopefully he and Lange can “Bentancur” up a couple more Kulusevskis before he rides off into Northern Italy next month.