Spurs to step in and nab Traoré

That’s not a loan fee for Monaco. That’s his medical insurance premium.

I very very much doubt this story has any legs at all.

Obviously the jury is out on Traore because we haven’t seen more than 60 minutes of a half-fit injury debut in the Cup against Swansea.

At first glance, he didn’t exactly look either that quick or mobile but as we say, it’s hard to judge when he clearly wasn’t fit and hasn’t kicked a ball since.

I can see why Martinez wants him back on loan when we don’t have many numbers to choose from and are already three first-team squad men down from last season.

A clear indication on who calls the shots at Tottenham, and it’s not the manager, as they don’t have one. Who would ever want to go and manage that club.

I have said it before on here that a friend of a friend bumped into him on a trip to London on the first bank holiday in May and that Traore was hoping to stay with us next season.

After all, I’m not knocking the Metro... but I doubt that they have a great track record on breaking sports news.

My biggest concern at the moment is Barry. It is fundamental to how we play that we sign him. I hope the club are doing everything possible to get him to sign.

Peter, I said months ago when most Blues were saying Barry was nailed on to sign, that I didn’t think he would. It could easily have been sorted by now, and I hope it still will be, but he proved he can still play week-in, week-out for us, and probably either won’t fancy halving his wages, or think he might get another crack at CL.

Not signing Barry is a huge step backwards. He’s only just been released so I’m hoping that this was the cause of the delay.

Traore is the only player certain to be with us out of the loanees next season. That’s why we have persisted with him while injured. There’s some idiotic reporters about unfortunately...

EFC, as per usual, are closed for business until mid-July. This is nothing new.

And the Spurs manager who is overseeing this venture would be.........???

It doesn't matter if Traore signs or Barry signs (I hope he does).... Roberto will find us replacements.

IMWT! Anyway, it's Roberto who should be offered an extended contract.

Barry is on £90k a week with Man City till 1 July; he won't sign for Everton at £55k a week until 2 July, even though he could now. Why throw £140k in June if he doesn't have to? Start to worry if we've heard nothing by 10 July....

Peter (#773) – are you saying that Metro is the Director of Football at Spurs?

Good!

If they want to pay £2m for a loan, let them. It will just add to the idiotic decisions Spurs have made.

Good, was a total waste of time & money.

M'Bia would be a perfect replacement for Barry. Admittedly he was rubbish with QPR last season but who wasn't? He's recovered his form, on loan in Spain, and would be relatively cheap.

Wouldn't be too sad to see Barry go elsewhere. He had a good season for us, but the Southampton game showed that he lacked the energy to play there against younger more mobile opposition.

I'd hope we have one or two of the academy players(Conor Grant, for example), to step up and perhaps sign someone who is a bit more mobile than Barry as an experienced replacement.

Personally, I'd like to see Mohamed Diame from West Ham. Whenever I've seen him play(including out of position as a winger), he looks like he's a quality hard working player who is good in his passing and tackling.

One ex-Everton player I would like to see back this season is Lescott if we can get him. Still probably has 3 or 4 years at the top level and with Distin not getting any younger, we could probably do with a left-sided replacement centre half. On a free, I think he'd be a decent signing.

A friend of a friend told me that Bill Kenwright has been making calls to Accra to plug our midfield gap by getting Alex Nyarko out of retirement. Only issue is he can't get a work permit but we'll probably sign him anyway.

I would have thought that we already have some kind of agreement in place with Monaco for another season loan otherwise keeping hold of him whilst he was injured makes no sense.

I'm still willing to give this guy a chance. It seems a bit harsh to write him off after one game... one in which he scored!

I don't think he was ever going to be the man to replace Lukaku; however, his height could have been an important factor for us next season.

I think one area we could really have improved on is our goals from corners. Other than Lukaku, we didn't really have anyone who could score goals in the air, and most of our corners were wasted. A player like Traoré, or even bringing back Lescott,could add valuable goals.

Spurs are like fleas, they find out who we want to sign then infest.. Go and find your own players, you parasites!

Bony, Traore and Kone = Lukaku (and then some....). Plus Steve Nessi and Super Kev. Depending on Kone coming back healthy, I actually think we'd be in decent shape with that set up. McAleny added to the mix for Europe....

Funny how Monaco keeps on cropping up recently. I was down there a couple of weeks ago and reading the local daily (Nice Matin) they were stating that their present manager, a certain Mr Raneiri, was due to be relieved of his duties (Well he's gone) and that their No 1 target for replacement? A certain Roberto Martinez. I laughed at the time... not even a chuckle now.

Assuming Monaco don't poach Martinez, Ranieri leaving is significant anyway, as it was him who didn't want Traore, hence the reason he was available on loan. A new manager may want to play Traore for Monaco.

Everton aren't officially allowed to negotiate with Barry until his contract at Man City is up, so we shouldn't expect it to be done yet. I'm not sure if Man City's announcement this week means that he is a free agent from now as opposed to the original end of his contract, which could mean something happening this week rather than in a month's time.