Sky Sports - Caulker

[Webzcas]

Sky Sports are running this afternoon the story that Millen wants Caulker back.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6949971,00.html

A few days back I also wrote a piece on this for my site, thanks largely to the information from you guys on Otib.

http://www.casinos-online.co.uk/sportsnews/20110521/tottenham--to-swoop-for-bristol-city-maynard/

[Monkeh]

its in the evening post and was on our website after the awards dinner,

Just a Slow (no) news day, He will be at QPR or Wolves next season imo

[Red Robin]

^{As said a very reliable bit of info is if Maynard moves on,the deal to bring caulker in and a deal with maynard moving in the opposite direction is what the club would like,happy to see quality replaced with quality.}

[Monkeh]

^{As said a very reliable bit of info is if Maynard moves on,the deal to bring caulker in and a deal with maynard moving in the opposite direction is what the club would like,happy to see quality replaced with quality.}

I thought that rumour started on here to see if we could get it in the evening post?

[Nogbad the Bad]

^{As said a very reliable bit of info is if Maynard moves on,the deal to bring caulker in and a deal with maynard moving in the opposite direction is what the club would like,happy to see quality replaced with quality.}

I think it's quite feasible providing Caulker agrees. Maynard is exactly the sort of striker who would interest Spurs.

I'd certainly be happy with that deal - it's more than likely Maynard will be leaving soon and getting Caulker in P/E would be fantastic compensation.

We need interest from several clubs, and a bidding war, to persuade Redknapp that he has to do something extra to clinch the deal.

Sacrificing Caulker with all the defensive options Spurs have, plus the high profile, short fix players they are always likely to sign, cannot be out of the question if HR has indeed set his sights on Maynard.

[CiderHider]

I think Caulker plus £4-5m for Maynard could be the bases to begin talks... Huurmphfft....Still think it undervalues Maynard considerably, but until he signs we have to look at all possibility's.

I Would prefer to tie Maynard up and buy Caulker for what £2m? I dunno. He's good, we love him now, but we too love Maynard. Would hate to see Maynard leave, but if the opportunity to move to a top class Perm side like Spurs came up It would be wrong of us to hold him to ransom, but we need to hold firm and play our game of brinkmanship very well.

The good thing is most clubs know we aint a selling club, even in the Championship we can compete with SPL and some Prem clubs. We dont need to sell anyone, we don't need money.- So anyone coming in for Maynard thinking they can get him on the cheap better think again!

[funky monkey]

I think Caulker plus £4-5m for Maynard could be the bases to begin talks... Huurmphfft....Still think it undervalues Maynard considerably, but until he signs we have to look at all possibility's.

I Would prefer to tie Maynard up and buy Caulker for what £2m? I dunno. He's good, we love him now, but we too love Maynard. Would hate to see Maynard leave, but if the opportunity to move to a top class Perm side like Spurs came up It would be wrong of us to hold him to ransom, but we need to hold firm and play our game of brinkmanship very well.

The good thing is most clubs know we aint a selling club, even in the Championship we can compete with SPL and some Prem clubs. We dont need to sell anyone, we don't need money.- So anyone coming in for Maynard thinking they can get him on the cheap better think again!

i think caulker plus 3 million would be an excellent deal for us. 2 mill on a striker mackail-smith? and 1 mill to invest in another area

[Nogbad the Bad]

I think Caulker plus £4-5m for Maynard could be the bases to begin talks... Huurmphfft....Still think it undervalues Maynard considerably, but until he signs we have to look at all possibility's.

I Would prefer to tie Maynard up and buy Caulker for what £2m? I dunno. He's good, we love him now, but we too love Maynard. Would hate to see Maynard leave, but if the opportunity to move to a top class Perm side like Spurs came up It would be wrong of us to hold him to ransom, but we need to hold firm and play our game of brinkmanship very well.

The good thing is most clubs know we aint a selling club, even in the Championship we can compete with SPL and some Prem clubs. We dont need to sell anyone, we don't need money.- So anyone coming in for Maynard thinking they can get him on the cheap better think again!

Caulker may well be valued at more than 2m by Redknapp - he's a bit special and Spurs would presumably be very reluctant to let him go permanently.

We have to presume that once a good offer comes in NM will be chomping at the bit to go and keeping an unhappy player won't be an option.

We've got to accept that reality and simply get the very best deal we can.

Presumably a P/E would lessen the amount of cash in the deal so reduce the sell on fee we had to pay Crewe, so that would be ideal.

Although presumably when Maynard moves again in a few years for 2-3x the price we get now, it would drastically reduce our sell on at that time too.

Tricky one.

[simon uk]

fellows, much as I think Maynard is a class striker, and the best we have had since cole, there isnt exactly much chance that spurs would want to sign him. For them to progress, they need to upgrade from Defoe Crouch Pavlyuchenko and Keane, and while maynard is good, he wouldnt be ranked highly enough to be considered as an upgrade from what they have already got.

I wouldnt be at all surprised to see Bolton (sturridge and elmander), Sunderland (bent) and Newcastle (caroll) sniffing around him, as they are lower in the league, and have lost their better strikers, but for a club challenging the top 4 to go for a good championship striker is stretching things rather a lot.

If we could bid for caulker with the cash from a maynard sale I would be quite happy though....

[Mclovin BS14]

when you say we give maynard to spurs and get caulker, is that permanently? If so I would take that!! But to be honest, I can't see caulker wanting to stay with us.

[Monkeh]

I disagree that selling maynard to spurs and getting culker is a good deal,

Its an awful deal we are shakey at the back yes but defenders are alot easier to find then 20 goal a season strikers,

We took a 20 goal a season striker out of our side this year until late feb and we struggled badly (I know coppel had alot to do with it but so did maynard)

Maynard is simply priceless and as much as I like Cualker I would never in a million years swap him for nicky unless it was culks and 7 million coming our way,

[NiceRed]

fellows, much as I think Maynard is a class striker, and the best we have had since cole, there isnt exactly much chance that spurs would want to sign him. For them to progress, they need to upgrade from Defoe Crouch Pavlyuchenko and Keane, and while maynard is good, he wouldnt be ranked highly enough to be considered as an upgrade from what they have already got.

I wouldnt be at all surprised to see Bolton (sturridge and elmander), Sunderland (bent) and Newcastle (caroll) sniffing around him, as they are lower in the league, and have lost their better strikers, but for a club challenging the top 4 to go for a good championship striker is stretching things rather a lot.

If we could bid for caulker with the cash from a maynard sale I would be quite happy though....

Agree on this. Spurs will surely be bidding for the likes of Kun Aguero this summer. Established international superstar strikers. Maynard would interest a lot of the bottom half of the Prem though.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Agree on this. Spurs will surely be bidding for the likes of Kun Aguero this summer. Established international superstar strikers. Maynard would interest a lot of the bottom half of the Prem though.

I'd have thought so, that is the next level up. They were linked with Eto'oi and Villa when Berbatov and Keane left- that ship has long since sailed but imagine how good they'd have been with one or both of them in the side!

[Nogbad the Bad]

I disagree that selling maynard to spurs and getting culker is a good deal,

Its an awful deal we are shakey at the back yes but defenders are alot easier to find then 20 goal a season strikers,

We took a 20 goal a season striker out of our side this year until late feb and we struggled badly (I know coppel had alot to do with it but so did maynard)

Maynard is simply priceless and as much as I like Cualker I would never in a million years swap him for nicky unless it was culks and 7 million coming our way,

Fair points but we do have Pitman more than ready to step up after a season settling in.

He has given every impression of being an even better natural goalscorer than Maynard and I would expect 20+ from him over a full season.

I agree we must not undervalue Maynard, English strikers as good as him are few and far between.

He will go, I think, but it is vital the club do everything possible for it to be a deal we regret as little as possible in the future

Caulker, who I think would quickly become City's captain, would form part of an ideal scenario if Maynard must go, but the club must ensure they realise maximum value for a rare talent.

I too would be looking at total value of around 9-10m. ( plus add ons) for Maynard, he's that good imo.

[chinapig]

I think it's quite feasible providing Caulker agrees. Maynard is exactly the sort of striker who would interest Spurs.

I'd certainly be happy with that deal - it's more than likely Maynard will be leaving soon and getting Caulker in P/E would be fantastic compensation.

We need interest from several clubs, and a bidding war, to persuade Redknapp that he has to do something extra to clinch the deal.

Sacrificing Caulker with all the defensive options Spurs have, plus the high profile, short fix players they are always likely to sign, cannot be out of the question if HR has indeed set his sights on Maynard.

No he isn't. Redknapp has made it clear he wants established top players. He is not likely to bet his chances of Champions League qualification on a Championship striker.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Agree on this. Spurs will surely be bidding for the likes of Kun Aguero this summer. Established international superstar strikers. Maynard would interest a lot of the bottom half of the Prem though.

Not so sure, Spurs have made a habit of snapping up young English players - Huddlestone, Routledge, Lennon, Alnwick, Dawson, Naughton, Walker, Jenas, Bostock - over recent years.

Maynard fits the bill perfectly, slightly older than most, but an ideal understudy for Defoe, or replacement if he leaves.

[Nogbad the Bad]

No he isn't. Redknapp has made it clear he wants established top players. He is not likely to bet his chances of Champions League qualification on a Championship striker.

I didn't say he would be an immediate first choice starter.

Spurs aren't exactly blessed with an abundance of choice when it comes to strikers.

The chances are that he won't end up at Spurs, but personally I wouldn't rule it out completely.

We shall see.

[chinapig]

I didn't say he would be an immediate first choice starter.

Spurs aren't exactly blessed with an abundance of choice when it comes to strikers.

The chances are that he won't end up at Spurs, but personally I wouldn't rule it out completely.

We shall see.

Indeed they aren't which is why he wants to bring in experienced top strikers (he was after the likes of Rossi in January for instance). When asked he said he wasn't going to pay £10m for a Connor Wickham as he needed proven players.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Indeed they aren't which is why he wants to bring in experienced top strikers (he was after the likes of Rossi in January for instance). When asked he said he wasn't going to pay £10m for a Connor Wickham as he needed proven players.

Big differences between Maynard and Wickham in age, experience and proven ability.

Maynard would be far less of a gamble than 18 year old Wickham and could be used from the bench almost immediately.

I can't see that HR ruling out a 10m. move for Wickham is really relevant when it comes to debating one of the Championships top strikers in NM.

If Redknapp has stated he is only interested in signing top class proven strikers then obviously I concede that would appear to rule out any possibility of Maynard going there.

[chinapig]

Big differences between Maynard and Wickham in age, experience and proven ability.

Maynard would be far less of a gamble than 18 year old Wickham and could be used from the bench almost immediately.

I can't see that HR ruling out a 10m. move for Wickham is really relevant when it comes to debating one of the Championships top strikers in NM.

If Redknapp has stated he is only interested in signing top class proven strikers then obviously I concede that would appear to rule out any possibility of Maynard going there.

Most judges regard Wickham as the best young English striker around. He is expected to reach the top. Nicky is not spoken of in those terms sadly. If Wiickham becomes available he will attract more clubs and higher bids than Maynard I suspect.. The relevance being that Harry has said he doesn't want a Championship striker, even one as highly rated as Wickham, but somebody from a higher level. Given he has been told to cut his squad I doubt he will want bench warmers. I doubt they will meet the wages of a Rossi or Forlan but I would bet on him signing someone or other from Europe, possibly France or Holland. Of course he was interested in Suarez but was advised he wasn't physically up to the Premier League!

[beaverface]

As much as I rate Caulker, and he is a fantastic player, we need to make sure we don't put all our eggs in one basket and assume he's the answer to our defensive issues.

Caulker played a lot of games for us last season, but we didn't have many clean sheets.

Equally we need better players in at left back, centre back, right back and central midfield.

We need to have somebody who put their put on the ball, not give away cheap posession and lead the team - a decent central midfielder really needs to be one of our top priorities.

[Matty-H]

I disagree that selling maynard to spurs and getting culker is a good deal,

Its an awful deal we are shakey at the back yes but defenders are alot easier to find then 20 goal a season strikers,

We took a 20 goal a season striker out of our side this year until late feb and we struggled badly (I know coppel had alot to do with it but so did maynard)

Maynard is simply priceless and as much as I like Cualker I would never in a million years swap him for nicky unless it was culks and 7 million coming our way,

Agree with the above. Bizarre suggestion and an absolute no from me. I'd be extremely deflated if this happened. Even more so than I already am with the club right now

[Nogbad the Bad]

Most judges regard Wickham as the best young English striker around. He is expected to reach the top. Nicky is not spoken of in those terms sadly. If Wiickham becomes available he will attract more clubs and higher bids than Maynard I suspect.. The relevance being that Harry has said he doesn't want a Championship striker, even one as highly rated as Wickham, but somebody from a higher level. Given he has been told to cut his squad I doubt he will want bench warmers. I doubt they will meet the wages of a Rossi or Forlan but I would bet on him signing someone or other from Europe, possibly France or Holland.

Wickham may have huge potential, it's hard to tell because as yet he is not even an established goalscorer at Championship level. In fact his goals to games ratio isn't particularly impressive for one apparently lauded as the best young English striker of his generation.

Much hype apparently with so far very little substance and no guarantee these judges will be correct and he will 'reach the top'.

Although I hope they're right, of course, because he's English.

I think you and I must have fundamental differences in our opinions of Maynard's ability, value, future prospects, and reputation in the game.

I fully expect him to be in demand, play top half PL football and feature for England in at least one Euro/World Cup squad.

As for the best young English striker, Daniel Sturridge, for one, has looked extremely impressive in the PL for Bolton this season.

[WellRedPhil]

I think Caulker plus £4-5m for Maynard could be the bases to begin talks... Huurmphfft....Still think it undervalues Maynard considerably, but until he signs we have to look at all possibility's.

I Would prefer to tie Maynard up and buy Caulker for what £2m? I dunno. He's good, we love him now, but we too love Maynard. Would hate to see Maynard leave, but if the opportunity to move to a top class Perm side like Spurs came up It would be wrong of us to hold him to ransom, but we need to hold firm and play our game of brinkmanship very well.

The good thing is most clubs know we aint a selling club, even in the Championship we can compete with SPL and some Prem clubs. We dont need to sell anyone, we don't need money.- So anyone coming in for Maynard thinking they can get him on the cheap better think again!

Anyone who seriously believes we could get close to that good a deal is, for a want of a better word, a moron.

Besides, I'd be amazed if Spurs were in for Maynard. As someone else mentioned they were in for the likes of Rossi, Aguero and Forlan just a few months ago. They will be looking for either proven PL talent or a foreign player with a strong reputation. Maynard is not a young player anymore either. At 24 he is approaching the period where he should be playing his best football so he would not be the best buy for the future as he is not going to get that much better.

[havanatopia]

Anyone who seriously believes we could get close to that good a deal is, for a want of a better word, a moron.

Perhaps 'delusional' ? or 'unrealistic' ?

[Nibor]

No way at all Spurs are looking at Maynard. They're letting one or possibly two of Defoe, Keane, Pavlyuchenko and Crouch move on in the summer and will be looking to IMPROVE on that level of striker. Maynard, as great as he is for us, won't be considered any kind of improvement.

Caulker? Largely depends on who else is interested and who 'Arry signs, it will be a very outside chance of getting him on loan and I highly doubt they will sell, they've no reason to.

[Jordan Tansley]

I would have to agree with the majority on here, Why the hell would Tottenham go from trying to buy Llorente, Forlan, Aguero and Rossi for £30m a pop to signing Nicky Maynard?

I am one of his biggest admirers, but come off it lads! Bloody barmy that.

That's not for one second saying he couldn't score goals for them, I'm certain he would... But nah. No chance in hell.

[Mr Popodopolous]

No way at all Spurs are looking at Maynard. They're letting one or possibly two of Defoe, Keane, Pavlyechenko and Crouch move on in the summer and will be looking to IMPROVE on that level of striker. Maynard, as great as he is for us, won't be considered any kind of improvement.

Caulker? Largely depends on who else is interested and who 'Arry signs, it will be a very outside chance of getting him on loan and I highly doubt they will sell, they've no reason to.

Sounds about right.

[chinapig]

Wickham may have huge potential, it's hard to tell because as yet he is not even an established goalscorer at Championship level. In fact his goals to games ratio isn't particularly impressive for one apparently lauded as the best young English striker of his generation.

Much hype apparently with so far very little substance and no guarantee these judges will be correct and he will 'reach the top'.

Although I hope they're right, of course, because he's English.

I think you and I must have fundamental differences in our opinions of Maynard's ability, value, future prospects, and reputation in the game.

I fully expect him to be in demand, play top half PL football and feature for England in at least one Euro/World Cup squad.

As for the best young English striker, Daniel Sturridge, for one, has looked extremely impressive in the PL for Bolton this season.

I haven't seen enough of Wickham to judge; though he made his debut coming on as a sub against us I believe and it struck me then he looked special (I think he was 16 at the time) but he is certainly highly rated at the top level. I haven't seen any evidence that Nicky has the same reputation (and he is 6 years older of course). Funnily enough I believe Nicky has the potential you do I just don't think people at the top of the game do. Unless the old rumour that Liverpool were interested turned out to be true (and they have signed Carroll and Suarez since then so it seems unlikely) if he goes it seems likely not to be to a top team. Shame he missed so many games or he might have built an even bigger reputation by now.

[Mr Popodopolous]

I haven't seen enough of Wickham to judge; though he made his debut coming on as a sub against us I believe and it struck me then he looked special (I think he was 16 at the time) but he is certainly highly rated at the top level. I haven't seen any evidence that Nicky has the same reputation (and he is 6 years older of course). Funnily enough I believe Nicky has the potential you do I just don't think people at the top of the game do. Unless the old rumour that Liverpool were interested turned out to be true (and they have signed Carroll and Suarez since then so it seems unlikely) if he goes it seems likely not to be to a top team. Shame he missed so many games or he might have built an even bigger reputation by now.

Mate who supports Liverpool told me back in March that Maynard was linked with both Merseyside clubs when asking me about him, but time will tell.