Tottenham Hotspur landed FC Barcelona defender Emerson Royal on the final day of the summer transfer window in a surprise move. The Brazilian arrived from his loan stint with Real Betis and was presented as a recruit for the Spanish club.
Nonetheless, The Telegraph detailed why Barcelona decided to part ways with Emerson. The English media outlet states that when Tottenham then came to the table with a €30million offer, they nearly bit their hand off when seeing the figure.
The La Liga side couldn’t imagine Spurs would propose that much for the full-back. Emerson has featured in 14 Premier League appearances, with 13 being them starts for the north London club and registering one assist.
Emerson hasn’t provided the offensive capabilities manager Antonio Conte might want in a wing-back, which is why they’re considering bringing in some competition. Spurs are reportedly in talks for Wolverhampton Wanderers Adama Traoré and convert him into a wing-back.
Aye Traore will definitely be used to attack more. Emerson will be deployed as the defensive option. Options, variety and balance is always needed.
Also Neville and Cole were always full backs that occasionally went forward. They were never wing backs. Neither were good at attacking. The wing back role did not evolve from Gary and Ash Brother Cow.. Wing backs were around long before then.. Beckenbaurs lot always played with wing backs I remember….. Wing backs. Not full backs.
Of course I’ve seen them play. Rather unfair comparisons as they are all at different stages of their respective careers.. Robertson and Cancelo are both 27 odd in their prime and world class.. Trent is world class passing and going forward but he’s really not a great defender at all… Throwing the word ‘modern’ at players doesn’t mean a thing… Royal has done well for us. He is more of a full back than a wing back. He is more defensive than attacking.. He’s been our 5th best player so far this season, he’s been first choice. He hasn’t needed ‘time’ like Ndombele, he’s been playing every game. Even against Leicester when Conte confirmed after ‘he had a problem’ because he was injured.
Have you seen Trent, Robertson and Cancelo play? That is how the modern full back plays. They are creative options now. Royal is not a good enough player to come good. He lacks pace so cannot get in front of a player which will cost him. As for the 60s-80s, full backs did not change that much. They were seen as defenders. In the 90s and 00s players like Cole and Neville became overlapping options and that was the beginning of what we are seeing now. You waiting for Royal to come good smacks of those who were willing to give Ndombele time. Good luck with that.
Stats tell the story Grandad.. They tell the truth.
No a wing back is more offensive. A full back is more defensive… Attaching ‘modern day’ to it means you’re comparing to the 60s 70s and 80s, which were all very different decades individually too. So you put those 3 decades in the same box. What about the 90s? The 00s? The 10s? …. Royal will come good. He already is getting there.
I did Gradad Glory! Hence my reply.. And since when did Conte say he was replacing Jelly? He didn’t.. So your opinion is baseless with no evidence.. More nonsense Grandad… Go find your marbles if you can.
it wasn’t six months. His price steadily rose in 2 years at betis. He played 6 games for them in the 2019 season.. Then the next two seasons, 20 and 21 he played over 30 games for them in both seasons. His value steadily rose.. He was marked around 23 million when I looked and when we bought him.
You know what ‘modern day’ means. There is considerable more emphasis on full backs being creative, not so in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Royal has little attacking ability. You are entitled to your ‘love in’, but for me he won’t come good. As for being one of our better players; we have Kane and Son and the rest are not good enough for what I want Spurs to be. Not even Hojbjerg. How many teams in the EPL would Royal get into, that is the question I ask about every player we sign. Compare Royal to Digne at £25m. No comparison. One is a player and one is not. We should have been in for Digne if we had any intention of improving our squad.
Criminal, almost criminal.
They were brilliant and overachieved hugely, they have tried going back to those methods but their financial matters are restricting them.
This is an issue that should not be ignored, what’s the point of making signings Conte wants then come summer he decides to leave, which is more than a possibility.
They all do, that’s the idea.
No pace, no physicality, rolls around too much and can neither cross nor pass well. Looks utterly unsuited to the Prem, whether as a right back or wing back. We were fleeced by Barca and that’s saying something for Levy given their recent transfer disasters. Conte looks disheartened already and we’ve all seen this before on the Levy-go-round. Cue circus music…….
All a bit odd.
Don Paratici still under investigation I believe?
Jesus. It almost smacks of money laundering lol
Signed on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Stop right there, I have heard enough….
Just looked, he played 3 games for Barca.
25, 12, 67 minutes, repectively.
I’d need to check, but it was only about 3/4 months
Our recruitment of both managers and players is scattergun. What we see now is the result of Levy and Hitchin, also now Paratici, peeing in the wind and seeing where is lands. Zero strategy just millions in wasted money.
Paratici blocked Fonseca, tried for Gatusso and settled with Nuno. He’s brought in one player out of five that actually improves the team or justifies a start, and even he seems injury prone in the Premiership.
Not at all impressed so far, he seriously needs to get a few more things right going forward…
See my above comment Steve.
Stats are over-rated. Doherty had amazing stats for goal activity at Wolves and he’s crap. I see nothing that Royal is suited offensively though he’d make a half decent CB in a back 3 imo.
I think if conte thought he could coach it into Royal he wouldn’t be thinking about converting Traore.
I think there is an argument though for keeping Royal against the big teams playing more defensively, and playing Traore (if we get him) against the small teams playing a low defensive block.
There’s room for both of them depending on the opposition.
Thats why I had a soft spot for Swansea when there were still in the Prem, because they had instilled an idea of how they wanted to play and all managers who came in had the same philosophy meaning that the manager had the players needed for the formation and type of football required
HH made the point a while back that Royal transferred for £8m about six months before Paratici decided to spend 26m on him. Did he have such a stellar six months at Betis that his transfer value should have tripled? He was surely 8m for a reason, unless the transfer figure published is based on all add-ons included. Even as ‘potential’ he doesn’t look like he’s worth a penny over about 12m, as a punt. Aurier even delivered better crosses ffs. In fact if Aurier was still at the club I’d be picking him right now, and that’s saying something!
He’ll be great in a few years, who cares? So will Sessingnon, so will Gil, so will Rodon, so will Tanganga. Who’s good enough right now? Hardly anyone…
Conte will want to upgrade half the squad plus… Expect Doherty to be gone before Jelly.. We need a lot more than a new right wing back to compete with Emerson (not replace him).
Yeah that’s the trouble with Levy changing managers like he changes his pants. The squad is always wrong for the new guy in the job.
Tell you what though, Levy can’t sack Conte. It’s going to be an interesting period in our history.
Look on whoscored.com, or other similar sites with stats and performance. Look at Royals overall stats. He’s been one of our better players for sure he’s in the top 5 players on overall stats. Son, Lucas and Hojberg beat him. He’s higher than Kane who’s in 6th…… A wing back has to be good offensively, not so much a full back, Emerson has plenty of time to improve going forward.. What does ‘modern day’ even mean? … Of course Jelly has hit the ground running. He’s first choice and playing, unlike Doherty who has been a prem regular for half a decade plus…. We will be moving forward as a club now with Conte at the helm.
It would be such a Levy thing if we got Traore, convert him to WB, Conte then leaves, the next manager doesnt play WBs or doesnt rate Traore , now we stuck with another player who noone else wants.
He was an ok buy for Nuno’s defensive set-up but not at all suitable now for Conte’s offensive style. With 3 CB’s in a back 3 the wingbacks have to get forward, beat players and get good balls into the box. It seems Royal is incapable of doing that which is why Conte wants to convert Traore.
I just hope that if we get Traore Conte is around long enough to adapt him to his new role…
He’s so good Conte wants Traore to replace him, even though it means converting the latter into a new position! I trust Conte’s judgement. Royal was a waste of money as far as Conte’s style is concerned. I’m not sure he’s an upgrade on KWP let alone Aurier when it comes to offensive play. With 3 CB’s at the back the wing backs are for offence primarily.
Are you implying that Levy uses youtube to scout our players? 🙂 I guess thats why he allowed the Ndombele transfer as he looks like Messi on youtube 😀
The modern day full back has to be good offensively, it isn’t the 60s. I would also love to know what ground he hit running. Any winger/wide player he has come up against has rinsed him. He has passion and he looks like he cares, but I could do that along with every other Spurs fan. We need players not passengers. We will not go forward as a club with the likes of Royal in it.
My worry is no one in Spurs’ recruitment ‘team’ watched him, apart from his YouTube highlights. It is obvious he isn’t good enough and buying someone because he is marginally better than Doherty is not just cause to do so!
We need to stop giving players like him time. Just because we sign a player does not mean we give the player our full support and ignore what is actually behind the shirt. These guys get paid unbelievable wages to play football and we pay those wages so we deserve more for our money. We gave Danny Rose time because we got him very young from Leeds and he cost about £1m. When you pay Royal’s fee and Lo Celso’s and Ndombele’s they need to play straight away otherwise we have been duped by the club.
The cross that Royal put in during the second half, the one where all he had to do was dink the ball to the back post, but it nearly landed out of the box, that summed him up! If this lad wasn’t Brazilian we wouldn’t have touched him.
The price was about right in my opinion. 26 million plus add ons…. Emersons stock had risen to about this after becoming a regular at Betis.. I had watched him and said he was good defensively, but not so good going forward… We would never have gone straight in with a £30million bid. I’m shocked that the telegraph has a Barca insider…… Emerson has already proved himself by being first choice for two new managers, not speaking a word of English in a foreign country, yet he’s hit the ground running.. He’s not been injured, started all the bigger games. He’s been one of our better players so far….. Emersons stock is only going to rise, he will get better and his value will go up. A good solid squad signing… All these excuses that some of us lot (not me, looking at you Jeasty) were making for Ndombenchy, new country, league, food language, needs time to settle, is pure waffle… Good players can play anywhere they don’t need time. Jelly Royal has been more rock solid so far. When Walker was that age he was on loan to Villa. Respect where it’s due. I like the lad and am rooting for him.
Levy must be fuming for getting “Levyed” by someone else. LMAO.