Wesley Sneijder

Quote :

Tottenham Hotspur have edged ahead of Aston Villa in the battle to sign Wesley Sneijder as they are willing to pay the €15m (£10.2m) transfer fee being demanded by Ajax.

The creative midfielder, who is 23 this weekend, is also keen to team up with Spurs' Dutch manager Martin Jol and would prefer a move to London rather than Birmingham. Talks are understood to have been held with his agent, Rodger Lindse.

Ajax have already rejected a series of bids from Valencia for the Dutch international which peaked at €12m (£8.1m). He was recently watched by the Villa manager Martin O'Neill at the Dutch Cup final but Jol is believed to have the advantage in chasing his signature.

If he does arrive at White Hart Lane, it will be another bold statement of intent from Spurs who have already spent up to £10m on Gareth Bale from Southampton. The pair could link up down Spurs' problematic left-flank although Sneijder, who is genuinely two-footed, can play on either flank or through the middle. Sneijder, who played for the Netherlands in their friendly victory over Thailand on Wednesday, has been a first-team regular at Ajax for five years. He has two years on his current contract and the Dutch club has said they will hold on to him and run the risk of him going for free if they do not receive the transfer fee they are demanding. Spurs' interest in the player is even more long-standing than Villa's with Frank Arnesen's enquiring about his availability when he was sporting director two years ago.
Tottenham Hotspur have edged ahead of Aston Villa in the battle to sign Wesley Sneijder as they are willing to pay the €15m (£10.2m) transfer fee being demanded by Ajax.

The creative midfielder, who is 23 this weekend, is also keen to team up with Spurs' Dutch manager Martin Jol and would prefer a move to London rather than Birmingham. Talks are understood to have been held with his agent, Rodger Lindse.

Ajax have already rejected a series of bids from Valencia for the Dutch international which peaked at €12m (£8.1m). He was recently watched by the Villa manager Martin O'Neill at the Dutch Cup final but Jol is believed to have the advantage in chasing his signature.

If he does arrive at White Hart Lane, it will be another bold statement of intent from Spurs who have already spent up to £10m on Gareth Bale from Southampton. The pair could link up down Spurs' problematic left-flank although Sneijder, who is genuinely two-footed, can play on either flank or through the middle. Sneijder, who played for the Netherlands in their friendly victory over Thailand on Wednesday, has been a first-team regular at Ajax for five years. He has two years on his current contract and the Dutch club has said they will hold on to him and run the risk of him going for free if they do not receive the transfer fee they are demanding. Spurs' interest in the player is even more long-standing than Villa's with Frank Arnesen's enquiring about his availability when he was sporting director two years ago.

That will be some signing IMHO. Perfect No 10 player in the midfield. If I recall correctly, it was him who scored that thunderbolt for Holland v England at that friendly played at WHL.

Sounds just what we need and I hope that will put Jenas on red alert. Would rather we were chasing after forwards and defenders though

Where's the quote from? I hope I'm not getting excited over tabloid BS.

Also 23? I thought he was older than that.

Ah just checked Wikipedia apparently turns 23 tommorrow.

Also I noticed there:

"On the 8th of June, sports journalist, Nick Minty, spotted Sneijder in a Hilton hotel, with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. It is thought that Spurs are trying to thrash out a deal as quickly as possible to thwart of interest from Aston Villa and Valencia."

Don't know if this is just rubbish though.

It was in the Sun, but also in the Independent. Not sure if that gives it any more credibility, but here's hoping.

He will be magical player for the Tottingham

http://harryhotspur.blogspot.com/2007/06/tottenham-hotspur-whos-this-sneijder.html

Link not working Ozzie.

He's right, it's not working for me either.

click on the link and type and "l" on the end... sorry didn't link the full address... or try clicking on my new attempt...

http://harryhotspur.blogspot.com/2007/06/tottenham-hotspur-whos-this-sneijder.html

That's better. He's right though, even I could be made to look good with some creative editing. They made bloody Ronaldhino look half-decent ffs!

would like to see him at the Lane to add to our ever incresing squad of quality. Need to get rid of or replace some of the hangers on ie Murphy, Mido etc

The boy Sneijder would be the kind of signing that pushes this club on to bigger and better things. I agree the likes of Spud Murphy should sling his hook and so too Galy. Malbranque was a little underwhelming last season, but he was injured for 6 weeks so he was playing catch up for quite sometime. He needs to improve though. Tainio is a good squad player. Huddlestone I'm not so sure about. The words "flash" and "pan" spring to mind. I like Jenas and also have lots of time for Zokora.

I agree the squad requires some trimming here and there.

Not every player though has to be an obvious first team candidate. You need players who are 'just okay' - who are content being a squad player for a big club rather than first team in a relegation zone outfit.

I think this is one reason United are so successful. They have an obvious 16/18 players battling for first team selection, and then a further 10 who could walk into Sheff United but aren't worthy of a 1st team place at United IF Ferguson had a full squad to choose from, eg, O'Shea, Brown, Richardson, Flectcher.

I don't rate Huddlestone either. We certainty won't finish top four if he is a regular but he is adequate cover and probably won't throw his rattle out the pram cos he is playing week in week out. Players like Jenas, Zokora can't be covering players - they will sulk, get disallusioned and request a transfer.

I'd get rid of Murphy, Mido, Gardner, Ekotto, Ghaly, Ziegler.

Keep ( even though they aren't worth of a 1st team place ) Huddlestone, Rocha, Tainio, Stalteri, Malbranque.

I agree with your out/keep selection Spur'don. Except for Ekotto. I reckon we should keep him and give him more time.

Ekotto needs shooting. Liability. Why do we buy players that will be good one day instead of buying ones that are good now? Ta ta Ghaly, Mido and Murphy. I think Gardner had a few good games before he got injured towards the end of the season. I'd keep him as we are not exactly brimming with defenders.

Dainel wrote:

Why do we buy players that will be good one day instead of buying ones that are good now?

I think the simple answer is too save money and invest in future talent. Not sure what the stats are regarding profit and loss in the 'investing for the future' category is but you only have to look at Lennon and to a lesser extent Dawson to see that its not always a bad thing to do. Hopefully players like Bale, Tarrabt and even Routledge will go on to either make us a bit of cash or become world class, envy of the Premiership, Spurs greats (although Im not too sure about Routledge)

I'd like to see routledge given a go. Maybe he'll turn it on in a few pre-season friendlies.....unlikely I know.

It would be fantastic if we got Sneijder but as it turns out it is unlikely


http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=437639&cc=3436