Fernandinho v Paulinho: Who's a better deal?

After 8 seasons spent in Ukraine, high-profile playmaker Fernandinho (28) has made a £30M switch to Manchester City. He was a first major acquisition for the Etihad-based side, who were looking to add depth in their aging midfield, with Gareth Barry's City future in doubt.

Having made his debut for the national side in 2011, it is fair to assume that Fernandinho was not a favored pick for the majority of Seleção coaches. So far he has made just 5 appearances for Brazil and hasn't been a part of any major tournaments the nation has participated in.

Paulinho, his 25 year old counterpart, on the other hand, appears to be rated quite highly at his homeland. He made his debut in 2011 as well, but has been a major part of the national side ever since, making 15 appearances and finding the net on 4 occasions. Still a Corinthians player, Paulinho is expected to make a move to Manchester City's Premier League rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who have matched his release clause which states he can leave the club if a £17M offer is submitted.

Being significantly younger, more consistent with the national side, a lot cheaper and arguably more complete player than Fernandinho, given the comparison, it would seem that Tottenham are about to pull yet another major coup in his signing.

London battle for the Champions League entrance

It is a well-known fact how intense the battles are in the EPL, when the Champions League places are at stake and it's been known to derail the focus from the title with the intesity of competitiveness. With just a handful of games to be played, nothing is clear regarding the 3rd and 4th spot. Three of London's biggest clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, are all going head to head in the thrilling rush for the Champions League extasy and bellow you'll find the situation the teams are in.

Arsenal - 63 points

Games played: 34

Form: WDWWW

Remaining schedule: Man Utd (H), QPR (A), Wigan (H), Newcastle (A)

Chelsea - 61 points

Games played: 32

Form: WWLWW

Remaining schedule: Liverpool (A), Swansea (H), Man Utd (A), Tottenham (H), Aston Villa (A), Everton (H)

Tottenham - 61 points

Games played: 33

Form: WDWLL

Remaining schedule: Wigan (A), Southampton (H), Chelsea (A), Stoke (A), Sunderland (H)

Bale's (lack of) display shows how dependent Tottenham is on him

Something over a week ago, Tottenham were strongly cemented in the 3rd position ahead of London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal. Gareth Bale was leading Spurs to a Champions League finish and all looked too good for the Lillywhites, who were 7 points ahead of Arsenal.

Game against Liverpool could have gone in their favor, but for some horrific blunders from the defence that gave Liverpool the opportunity to tie the result and then take the lead from the spot kick, which they did on both occasions. Liverpool game was a disappointment, as it always is to drop the lead in the last quarter of the game, but the real disappointment and the ugly truth came next week against Fulham, game Spurs lost on their home turf with Berbatov scoring the only goal of the game after a counter attack that was enabled by the immobility of the Spurs defence.

AVB refused to blame fatigue of Europa League on the loss, even though the players endured a living hell at San Siro, just barely managing to get through to quarter-finals of the competition, after 120 minutes of intense pressure from the hostile and apparently racist crowd. Though the real problem seemed to be lack of motivation in a game against the Cottagers, mainly for the main threat, Gareth Bale, who's touch was shockingly off. His dribbling was well bellow par, as he was frequently being dispossessed and his unwillingness to instigate anything was rather surprising from the ex-Southampton man. Gareth Bale missed the 2nd leg clash against Inter Milan, due to a yellow-card suspension, therefore fatigue cannot be taken into factor when questioning his sub-par performance. Mousa Dembele, who has not had a breather for a while now has still managed to deliver in the midfield, even though he played the whole 120 minutes in Milan and was Spurs' best player in a 4:1 loss that saw them progress via away goal rule.

Before the Liverpool tie, Bale has carried Spurs on his back, netting 6 times in the 4 previous encounters, which Spurs managed to win, but when Bale was unable to find the net against Liverpool, or his game altogether against Fulham, Spurs have dropped the points and slipped behind Chelsea, who even have a game in hand and a point more than their rivals.

Lack of ability in the attacking area for Spurs has been quite notable this season, as Defoe and Adebayor, particularly, have been unable to find their best form. Defoe has started his season brightly, netting a total of 10 times so far, being the clubs 2nd best goalscorer behind Bale, but has picked up an injury and hasn't been able to find his form since, while Adebayor is constantly being criticized for his abysmal displays this season.

Tottenham find themselves in the 4th spot at the moment, but with a tough schedule ahead, question remains: Can someone else step up and be a hero or is it all up to Bale?

Should Spurs sign a striker in January?

Looking back 3 years or so, Spurs' were tipped to spend big on a striker in almost every transfer window, but Daniel Levy remains patient, though this time it looks as though the team is rather short on their frontmen, with Adebayor absent on International duty and Defoe battling with an apparent injury, which saw him miss FA clash against Leeds United, which Spurs lost 2:1 with Dempsey playing as a lone forward.

Dempsey is quite versatile, being able to play on the left wing, behind the strikers and as one, but it's hardly a solution.

Spurs have been monitoring several targets, some of them go back a few seasons, particularly Leandro Damiao, whose move to White Hart Lane appears to be dead yet again, with the striker unwilling to move aboard and Internacionals reluctance to sell.

Tottenham have been monitoring Loic Remy for quite some time now, but have dropped interest since the summer, due to players poor form and problems with injury.

Most recent name to be linked with them is Celtic's Gary Hooper, 25 year old English striker who bagged 57 goals in 82 appearances for Celtic during his 2 and a half year spell with the Scottish champions and has caught the attention of many Premier League clubs. Hooper made his first footballing steps at Tottenham, but left the academy at the age of 14. Celtic demands at least £7M for the striker, after rejecting a £5M bid from Norwich.

Sevilla's Alvaro Negredo has been a constant presence on La Liga top score sheets, with the player scoring 54 goals in 122 appearances. Sevilla has been in a tough financial situation for some time now and could be looking to raise funds by selling their star player and Tottenham have been keen for quite some time now, timing could not be better for the Spanish striker to move on.

Spurs' boss, Andre Villas-Boas claims that he's quite happy with the current squad, though with Levy, it is rather hard to predict the future. Will Spurs sign another striker? I guess we'll wait till the very end to find out.

What can Sneijder offer to Tottenham?

Sneijder has been linked with a move out of San Siro in just about every transfer window in the previous 3 years, but it looks as though he could finally make an exit from Italy after serving the Nerazzurri for 3 and a half seasons, though he only featured 6 times this term.

Dutchman has gotten into a dispute with club directors over his wages, as they tried to reduce his annual salary from €6M to €4M, though Sneijder didn't share the same vision and has since been frozen out and told he would not feature for the club until he accepts the wage reduction.

With just a week away from the beginning of January transfer window, various reports from Italy have emerged linking Sneijder to Premiership, but this time, his suitor is not Sir Alex, who followed Sneijder for quite some time now and has agreed a deal with Inter at one point, but the deal never materialized due to wage demands. Now appears that London-based club, Tottenham Hotspur, is close to signing the ex-Ballon d'Or candidate and have, apparently, managed to agree terms with Sneijder, and just need to agree a transfer fee for him.

Spurs are not known for their high wage bills, with their top earner, Gareth Bale earning £100k-per-week, it becomes fairly obvious that Sneijder will take a wage cut, should the deal go through.

But the question remains: Can Sneijder replicate his form yet again and beat the odds, as he did when he made a move from Madrid to Inter, when he was also dubbed a surplus at the club that didn't want him. His talent remains indisputable, but his injury problems have kept him out through several periods, as he never managed to make more than 26 league appearances for Inter.

Spurs are in need of some creativity in their midfield, considering the poor run of form during Dembele's injury problems. Summer signing from Hoffenheim, Gylfi Sigurðsson wasn't able to reproduce his last season form and has seen his chances limited, though at 22, he's seen as a future of the club and Sneijder's arrival could mean an instant boost for the Champions League hopefuls.

Inter have valued their star playmaker at €40M at one point, but will have to accept a significantly smaller sum and Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenam, is well known for his bargaining skills, so you can expect Spurs to pull of quite a coup with Sneijder deal.

Tottenham looking stronger than Arsenal at the moment

These two teams are obviously biggest contenders for that 4th spot that leads to Champions League and it feels that Spurs are ahead of them at the moment, form-wise judging from their last 5 games, in which they've managed to win 4 and today showed a lot of quality against Chelsea, while missing 4 key players.

Last year, there's little doubt that Arsenal we're incredibly dependent on Robin van Persie. Now they appear to be even weaker than last season. Sure Cazora has been magnificent for them, and Podolski is looking good, but Giroud doesn't look as good of a signing, judging from these few games so far. They've also lost Song and replaced him with injury-prone Diaby at the center.

On the other hand, Tottenham are looking way stronger, defence was never as strong, provided players stay fit and Dembele appears to be on par with Modric's contribution, plus return to form of Defoe and Lennon is really showing lately. Probably would have been better off with keeping VDV and, but I'm sure, given time, Dempsey will find a way to slot into our system, scoring 17 goals in EPL for a mid-table team is certainly not a coincidence.

January could be season-changing moment for both clubs, with funds available to spend. Arsenal have identified Atletico Madrid's Adrian as their primary target and could snare him if they meet the release clause in his contract which states that Adrian can leave Madrid for €18M. Spurs could be back on their summer targets, but a push for Moutinho appears unlikely. It wouldn't be a surprise if they went for Remy, though, as Marseille is looking to sell some of their star players due to debt and Remy, as well as Andre Ayew, who was previously linked to Arsenal and whose price tag stands at €14M.

Can Tottenham get Champions League spot this year?

After grabbing 4th spot twice in 3 years, one would expect Spurs to challenge for the spot again, though this year, things could prove to be more difficult without the midfield maestro that is Luka Modric. After reaching 4th spot last season, but failing to reach Champions League qualification stages, things weren't looking good for Spurs, with Modric already one step out of the club, Gareth Bale's future also came into question.

Redknapp's insecurity sure didn't help the London club, as he continued to be linked to the England national team post, which he seemed to be very keen on. But eventually, all of Redknapp's dreams and aspirations failed when Hodgson was appointed as England's new coach and Levy decided to sack the experienced Englishman, who brought nothing but success to the club. One may think the decision was a bit harsh, but there's no denial that Harry was disrespectful towards the club.

After his sacking, Gareth Bale voiced his frustration and disappointment and threatening to quit the club, but Levy acted quickly, as Bale signed a new contract and pledged his future to the club, also doubling his wages, making him the best paid Spurs player.

With Modric on the way out and Spurs's lack of involvement in the previous transfer windows, it was obvious that this summer was going to be similar to that of 2008, where Spurs signed Vedran Corluka, Roman Pavlyuchenko, David Bentley, Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos and John Boston, breaking their record for most money spent in one window.

So far Spurs have been linked to numerous players, after signing Siggurdson and Vertonghen. Most notable targets are Hugo Lloris, Willian, Leandro Damiao, Joao Moutinho, Yann M'Vila and Moussa Dembele, who officially signed for Spurs not hours ago.

Fee for Lloris has been agreed, believed to be around €15M and all that's left is for him to agree personal terms and pass medical exam, while Daniel Levy has traveled to Donetsk to negotiate a deal for Willian, as well as make enquiries for Douglas Costa and Fernandinho, who are also interesting to AVB.

With less than 3 days left in the transfer window, Spurs are tipped to be the busiest side, with at least 2 more fresh faces to come to White Hart Lane.

Their biggest rivals for the 4th spot will probably be their arch-rivals from north London, Arsenal, though I wouldn't rule out Liverpool, Newcastle and Everton.