Cartilage Free Captain

Everyone’s thinking it so I’m going to say it: This is a big week for the St John’s men’s basketball programme.

The Johnnies are having their best season in years, guided by Rick Pitino, who guided multiple teams to the NCAA Championship (and then encountered a fair amount of scandals). It’s also the same Rick Pitino who excoriated his players last year, dolling out some harsh words to college students in a public atmosphere.

But now, St John’s are ranked 12th in the nation. They are 19-3 overall and 10-1 in the Big East, sitting alone at the top of the conference.

But are they as good as their ranking suggests? Yes, they’re 14-0 at home and have won the last eight games in a row, but lost the only game they played against a Top 25 opponent (a 99-98 nail-biter to Baylor).

That’s what makes this week so important. They play not just one Top 25 team, but two.

First at home against Marquette (11) on Tuesday, and then agaisnt UConn (19) in Storrs, Connecticut, on Friday night. One win against either of those teams (ideally Marquette), and the Johnnies secure their position as a tournament contender. Lose both, and it’s back to reality.

It also begins the business end of conference play. They’ll still have to play Marquette and UConn again, plus another game against Creighton.

So it’s a big week. And it begins tonight.

Fitzie’s track of the day: This Must Be The Place, by Sure Sure

And now for your links:

BBC: “‘An unbelievably sought-after player’ - who is Spurs signing Tel?”

The Athletic ($$): “Is Djed Spence making himself undroppable at Tottenham?”

Dan KP: “Heung-min Son issues rallying call as Spurs get confidence boost ahead of decisive 10 days”

Alasdair Gold: “Ange Postecoglou’s key Mathys Tel chat and the crucial Tottenham change made behind the scenes”

It’s over! Another January tranfer window has come and gone, and Tottenham Hotspur actually made some moves.

Sure, they left it super late for most of them, but the end result is, I think, pretty positive with a new central defender, a new forward, and a new keeper all coming in, plus some kiddos for the academy Not too bad!

Here’s a summary of Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer business for both the Men’s and Women’s teams.

Men’s team

IN

Antonin Kinksy (GK) — Slavia Prague [£13m]

Kevin Danso (CB) — Lens [€25m]

Mathys Tel (FW) — Bayern Munich [loan with option to buy at €55m]

Daniel Batty (MF) — Manchester City U21 [undisclosed]

Luca Furnell-Gill (CB) — Liverpool U21 [undisclosed]

Beyoncé (Queen) — [four concert deal]

OUT

Matthew Craig (MF) — Mansfield Town (loan)

Will Lankshear (FW) — West Bromwich Albion (loan)

Spurs Women

IN

Olivia Holdt (MF) — Rosengård [undisclosed]

Lize Kop (GK) — Leicester City [undisclosed]

Josefine Rybrink (DEF) — BF Häcken [undisclosed]

OUT

While we wait for the signings of Mathys Tel to finalize, we have some news that the last hour of Spurs’ window could be rather quiet. Nizaar Kinsella of the BBC is now writing that Spurs are expected to finalize the Tel loan, which will include a purchase option of some kind, but are not expected to add any more players after that.

So that would make Spurs’ January window a triumverate of incoming players: Antonin Kinsky, Kevin Danso, and Mathys Tel (assuming it goes through). You’ll certainly be able to have your say on what you think about that window heading into a League Cup semifinal match against Liverpool and a bunch of upcoming Premier League matches. But there will be a time and place for that. For now, let’s just wait for the Mathys Tel deal to be completed and then we can look at the big picture stuff.

Spurs did try and bring in another central defender with Radu Dragusin out for the rest of the season, but weren’t able to get one across the line. So let’s hope Danso the rest of the crew stay healthy (-ier) this spring than they did this winter.

A couple more late signings for Tottenham Hotspur, but these are for the academy. According to the Evening Standard’s transfer tracker, Spurs are set to sign and announce two young players to increase the academy numbers — 18-year old Manchester City midfielder Daniel Batty, and Liverpool central defender Luca Furnell-Gill.

Can’t really tell you anything about them, to be honest, but I can say that because Ange Postecoglu has needed to rely on more and more academy players and graduates to make up the bulk of training lately, the academy has taken a real hit. Winners of the PL2 last season, this season Spurs’ U21s are all the way down in 21st. That’s what happens when Will Lankshear and Mikey Moore get promoted to the first team.

So this is good, though I have no idea how good either Batty or Furnell-Gill are. I would imagine they’ve got some good qualities or the academy wouldn’t really be looking at them, and with matches streamed on SpursPLAY there will be opportunities to see what they can do.

We’ll update this article if either signing gets confirmed.

Another brief update. Scrolling through the Standard’s transfer tracker, I found this bit of info that’s kind of about Tottenham Hotspur, but not really. But hey, it’s deadline day so our threshold for bullshit gets dialed down a bit.

According to the Standard’s transfer tracker, Noah Okafor — a young Swiss winger and erstwhile Tottenham Hotspur target — is heading from AC Milan to Napoli, and NOT to the Premier League.

I wasn’t especially high on Okafor as a target — while I haven’t watched a ton of him (mostly highlights) his skills and stats suggest a player that’s more Diet Brennan Johnson than the coveted right sided dribbly boi for which we’ve been pining. So honestly, I’m inclined to think Okafor was a name on a list and not a serious option for Spurs.

Okafor is heading to play under Antonio Conte and maybe it’s just me but he does NOT seem like a Conte-style player. Keep an eye on the Serie A media over the next day or so and brush up how to say “club signing” in Italian.

We wrote previously that Spurs had cooled their interest in Okafor, and whether that’s because Napoli beat us to him or we just thought we could do better is an open question. Either way, he’s off the list Thank u, next!

Today, transfer deadline day, has been a day of reversals. First there was the news that Ange Postecoglou convinced Mathys Tel to join Tottenham on loan, with final details to be worked out yet later today. Now there’s another reversal — according to The Athletic, Spurs are back in negotiations with Chelsea for a loan for central defender Axel Disasi.

Previously Disasi had said he did not want to come to Spurs, even though a loan between Spurs and Chelsea had been agreed. Now it seems he might have changed his mind? We don’t know yet what the loan conditions would be like — “wet” loan, “dry” loan, loan fees, etc. but we know that the clubs are still talking with a few hours left to go in the window.

Disasi is nobody’s idea of a perfect signing, but he’s a warm body and has the skills to be an asset in a ball-playing Ange-Ball defensive line. If he comes, I doubt he gets a ton of minutes, but he could be a useful rotation option so long as Spurs are in four competitions. He’d join alongside Kevin Danso, adding two quite serviceable defensive arrow to Postecoglou’s quiver.

I have no idea whether this will actually happen — it’s Deadline Day! — but it’s apparently still a thing. Now which rejected move can we bring back next? I vote for Desire Doue.

In what will definitely be the most lucrative signing by Tottenham Hotspur of the January transfer window, Spurs have announced they have signed international music legend Beyonce to a four-concert contract, through June of 2025! The concert dates were released today by her current club, Cowboy Carter FC.

This will be Queen Bey’s second stint with Tottenham, after a multi-concert appearance at the club stadium two summers ago. This time she’ll again fill the stadium with season concert ticket holders and her performances for the club may have the most impact of anyone else they might choose to sign this month.

In a statement, chairman Daniel Levy said he was welcoming Beyonce’s return to the club.

“Beyonce’s star power will not only greatly increase overall funds to the club, her concerts will almost help us generate funds for continued squad improvement. We are thrilled to have a singer so influential be a part of our club. #WelcomeBey”

Tottenham players are said to be “buzzing” about Beyonce’s return to North London, with reports suggesting they will greet her at the stadium each wearing a cowboy hat in recognition of “Cowboy Carter”’s multiple Grammy-award winning status.

When asked, Brentford officials said they had no comment, as they were hoping to put a ring on it.

Hey, remember those halcyon days of about 48 hours ago when Mathys Tel said he had rejected a move to Tottenham Hotspur, apparently straight to Daniel Levy’s face?

WELL GUESS WHAT — IT’S BACK ON! Florian Plettenberg is now tweeting that Tel has changed course and has now agreed to join Spurs on a straight loan with no option or obligation to the end of the season.

This is both stupid and awesome, the kind of transfer story you live for. Tel apparently was not enthused with joining a team that was, then, 15th in the Premier League and looked like it was floundering, so he personally nixed a deal between Spurs and Bayern that included a purchase option at the end of the season.

So what happened between then and now? Well, there have been recent reports that both Manchester United and Arsenal weren’t going to move for him this month, so I can only assume that Bayern told him, basically, “You’re not playing, bro. Go find a club.”

I know we talk about how we don’t want players that don’t want to be here. The counterpoint to that is that Tel is 19 years old, and teenagers can be stupid sometimes. I suppose Tel may have thought most big clubs would be lining up to sign him, and when that happened he freaked out. And maybe Spurs think that once he gets here and starts playing he might then be interested in moving here for good. Who knows! It’s fun fan-fic, though.

Tottenham have been linked with a number of names in the waning days of the January transfer window, including Southampton’s young dribbly boi Tyler Dibling. But while Southampton was considering Spurs’ rather sizable interest in Dibling, according to Dan Kilpatrick on the Standard’s transfer tracker, Tottenham have cooled their interest in Dibling in this window over Southampton’s fee demands.

Kilpatrick writes that Southampton were asking “well in excess of” their original asking price of £55m for Dibling, who is currently injured with a bad ankle. There’s a possibility that Spurs could go back in for Dibling this summer, as he’ll have two years remaining on his contract with Southampton at that point.

In addition to the Dibling news, Kilpatrick also pours cold water on any pursuit of AC Milan’s Noah Okafor or Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey, both of whom have popped up in various rumors linked to Spurs this window. While Kilpatrick confirms Spurs have “considered” both of them, none of them are being actively pursued thus far today.

Tottenham are still said to be interested in signing an attacker, and possibly another defender, today. But someone will need to first penetrate Lange’s adamantium anti-leak shield before we find out who those hypothetical players are.

Welcome to A Look at the Month Ahead, where your hoddler-in-chief checks out what’s going in the Tottenham Hotspur universe.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s squad

There’s just no relief, is there?

December felt awful. January felt worse. What will February bring then? APPARENTLY A WIN AGAINST BRENTFORD AND A NEW CENTREBACK.

We’ve also got six matches. Four of them away (although Brentford happened already). Two cup games. Both Manchester clubs. Little rest in between it all.

There’s been so much injury activity that it feels impossible to keep up with who’s coming back. I take some solace in seeing pictures of Micky Van de Ven BACK BABY!!!!!!! We’ve got some relief coming in with this fella from Lens, but who knows what else the window has in store.

Deadline Day this year falls today, so maybe we’ll bring in another player.

That said, I’m bracing for another brutal month.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s schedule: at Liverpool (6 Feb, EFL Cup); at Villa (9 Feb, FA Cup); Manchester United (16 Feb); at Ipswich (22 Feb); Manchester City (26 Feb)

Tottenham Hotspur women’s squad:

Things are looking a little bit better for the women, who are sixth in the table after a win at Crystal Palace this past weekend thanks to Olivia Holdt’s game-winning goal in 90+5.

That puts them level on points with Brighton (but three fewer goals in the GD).

But the women have their own challenging month too even with only two games to play. The first one is at home to Manchester United (second in the table) before a North London Derby against Arsenal (fourth in the table).

Tottenham Hotspur womne’s schedule: Man United (2 Feb); at Arsenal (16 Feb)

Fitzie’s track of the day: Prélude In Blue A L’Esquinade (BOF “Les liaisons dangereuses”), by Art Blakey

And now for your links:

Dan KP: “Tottenham show a different side to give themselves a big lift ahead of decisive week”

The Athletic ($$): “Relief for Postecoglou, Spence’s importance and Danso’s arrival”

BBC: “‘Hurting’ Spurs find defensive strength before defining week”