Spurs bought player upon player for positions they didn't need filling more than once. They neglected their weak areas (defence and attack) or were unlucky (Soldado) that those they did buy didn't pan out. That is always a worry but you can't let that possibility hold you back.
15-17 is not enough. We had that this season (21 players playing over 5 games and the top 15 of those players averaged over 30 games each). We need a squad of 25-26 players who will play more than 5 games each and a core of 18-20.
If we go for supposedly 1st team quality in CB, LB, DM, CMx2 (Kono & Lallana), Striker (Remy) then that gives us the depth we need and would hopefully strengthen the 1st team considerably too. As you can see from the names I've added from the Rumours thread that outlay is around £40m which even sales would cover, leaving us a substantial amount (since we wouldn't have actually utilised any of the purported kitty on those three) to cover the other 3 players needed.
I think what Rurik meant was that we want players who will make a difference to us individually and can easily slot into the side - aswell as your other players like Ibe, Teixera etc. Last season the only real players who would slot into the team were the centre backs (who are all roughly the same level) and the flitting options of Coutinho/Sterling & Allen/Lucas. I get what you're saying about 15-17 not being enough, it isn't if you look at who's staying and what we're buying.
I think he wants 3-4 players, big players who will make a difference and be of a certain quality, replacing the likes of Toure, Alberto, Aspas, who towards the end of the season gave us nothing new. You want to essentially replace those three or more with better options that will be a success. Which is why I can see him culling the squad of one centre back and the likes of Lucas, Aspas, Borini etc. Also, at times last season we had more defenders on the bench than attackers and none of them were offering anything new or better - Kelly, Toure.
Essentially you want a core of:
Mignolet
Flanno
Skrtel
Sakho
Agger/Ilori (not saying this is right, but it's how it's looking)
Enrique
Johnson/new fulback
Henderson
Gerrard
Allen
Lallana
Coutinho
Sterling
Suarez
Sturridge
New striker
Winger
Deep midfielder
Keeper
That's 19, then you have your younger players to boost the squad - Ibe, Teixeira, Smith, McLaughlin etc, but essentially we want (at least) an extra first team option in each third of the pitch.
Personally I think we'll go all out on Lallana, a left back, a winger and a striker. Then we'll add for less value a deep midfielder, keeper and maybe another defender/fullback.
