AVB preparing Spurs for life without Bale

If  rumours are to be believed he could be about to bring the London outfit’s summer spending to more than £100 million, having already doled out nearly £58 million on Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Paulinho and Roberto Soldado. Brazilian attacker Willian and Argentine forward Erik Lamela are the latest players in his sights.
Naturally, this news would seem to indicate the imminent departure of Gareth Bale, who is a much-publicized transfer target of Real Madrid. And while losing Bale would obviously be a blow (he scored 21 Premier League goals last term and picked up both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards), his transfer saga has hung like a cloud over White Hart Lane the past few months and Villas-Boas, who would no doubt prefer to tailor his preparations for players he can expect to be in the side, could

 be forgiven for simply wanting to move forward—even without the Welshman.
The arrivals of Willian and Lamela would represent a big part of that process, not only in replacing Bale with players of some quality but also in their positional preferences.
Willian—a left-sided playmaker—and Lamela—a forward comfortable on either flank—seem perfectly suited to the 4-3-3 formation Villas-Boas almost certainly wants to use this season, and with Soldado between them and Paulinho in the centre of the park alongside the likes of Capoue and Mousa Dembele it appears that’s exactly what the now-35-year-old has in mind at the outset of the campaign.
Of course, both will offer something a bit different, just as Hulk and Varela did for Falcao in 2011. Lamela, likely to operate on the right at Spurs, is a goal-scoring forward who tallied 15 times for Roma in Serie A last season. He will also offer a threat from distance, and his ability to play an accurate pass and use his attacking teammates makes him exactly the sort of asset Villas-Boas is looking for.
Willian, meanwhile, won’t deliver the same number of goals as Lamela, but the right-footed attacker will ensure that the Argentine, Soldado and whichever midfielders are moving forward are constant, dangerous threats in the final third.
He is also careful to place his shots on goal and in four appearances for Anzhi Makhachkala this season has yet to miss the target. (Statistics courtesy of Squawka.com) Both players are also statistically better passers than Bale, whose 78 percent completion rate in 2012-13 had him below Lamela’s 82 percent and the 85 percent Willian has compiled over the last few weeks. Now, neither will be able to bring the sort of magic that saw Bale change the course of matches in an instant last season, but that’s not necessarily what Villas-Boas will be trying to coax from his reassembled squad.

The Tottenham Hotspur of 2013-14 will be more fluid, more efficient than in years past, and if Villas-Boas can deliver the sort of success his system brought him at Porto in 2011, the fans of his current club will have little to complain about.

Spur without Bale power in their opening salvo

Gareth Bale will miss Tottenham Hotspur's first Premier League game of the season, manager Andre Villas-Boas has revealed.

 The 24-year-old did not play for Wales in the international friendly against the Republic of Ireland this week due to a foot injury. When asked if Bale would play against Crystal Palace on Sunday,
Villas-Boas told Sky Sports the following: No, because he's been out injured for most of pre-season. He was involved in the games against Brentford and Swindon but not any others, for different reasons; pulled a muscle in his gluteus that prevented him from being involved for two weeks and he's been complaining of pain in the foot. For the most part, he has spent his time as the subject of persistent transfer rumours.
With the Real Madrid target now missing Tottenham's first league game of the season, speculation over the player's future is likely to escalate even more.
 A world-record fee of £85 million for the player had been suggested, as Sky Sportsreported, but Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has slapped a £105 million figure on Bale, according to Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror. Levy has become concerned that Real do not have the funds available to finance the world-record move for the former Southampton man, according to Lewis. What's more, Real's public pursuit of Bale during the summer has angered Tottenham and manager Villas-Boas, as BBC Sport reported earlier this month. The White Hart Lane club will continue their efforts to persuade Bale to stay at the club. They have already spent £50 million on Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Nacer Chadli, while BBC Sport broke the news on Thursday morning that Etienne Capoue has completed his £9 million move from Toulouse. 

Moving forward, Spurs are seeking even more new arrivals before the transfer window closes on Sept. 2, according to Tony Banks of Express. That includes targets of Erik Lamela from Roma, Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen and Willian of Anzhi Makhachkala.