Silly season around the footballing world has once again kicked off. United look to poach the leagues best of the rest (bar Scott Parker), Chelsea look to off-load half of their decent strike-force as Anelka is, reportedly, on his way out of Stamford Bridge, Manchester City will sign everyone every other team is linked with so they can’t have them and probably sign Nicolas Anelka just for swings and roundabouts while Arsenal contemplate signing a player for more than £1m and will be good next season not in five years time.
It is going to be a busy window for all teams the next few months. Actually, that’s a lie teams will ummm and ahhh over players then sign every player and his grandma with seconds remaining of the transfer window.
Well, maybe not every team of course. Just one will doodally until 11.59 on deadline day then throw all their money at one player in hopes of releasing this player from his employers grasp.
Last minute (kind-of) specialists
I’m talking, of course, about Tottenham Hotspur. Too many times the side from N17 wait until the last possible moment to make their marquee signing thus rendering any last gasp bid from a rival near on irrelevant. When it works, it’s superb. Rafael Van der Vaart was a surprise of the largest proportion but when it doesn’t work, fans are left pulling their hair out.
Charlie Adam was an almost signing in January and, at a time when the club were crying out for a striker, Blackpool’s captain was the closest Spurs came to adding to their lacklustre attacking prowess.
Bids for Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan and Fernando Llorente fell on deaf ears and, as great the intent was to sign a world class striker, it came far too late for any move to potentially materialise.
So which striker should Spurs sign?
As I mentioned, the coming months is most definitely silly season around the world. Clubs want to strengthen and rebuild and, after Spurs lost out too rivals City in the hunt for fourth place, they will be more active than most this summer.
And it is very important to get active now. The team needs a world class forward to lead the line now more than ever. Defoe, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko and Keane couldn’t cut it last season and two, maybe three, of those will be shipped.
If Redknapp is to revert to his now favoured 4-4-1-1 formation, a striker who can lead the line on his own is a must.
Spurs have been linked with a host of big name signings; Didier Drogba, Llorente and Miroslav Klose are to name three. The club have also been linked with the likes of Aguero and Giuseppe Rossi, as good a signing they may, are the types of striker Spurs don’t need to sign.
A good old fashioned number 9 is the way forward now for Spurs. A young world class talent and an experienced head are, reportedly, what Redknapp craves and, should that be true, Klose, Leandro Damiao, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Romelu Lukaku and Anelka are the types of players Spurs should be looking at. Two of the five would be ideal and three, Lukaku, Leandro and Klose, would be perfect for the club.
But, to secure these signings, Spurs need to act quickly and, perhaps more importantly, discreetly to ensure Redknapp gets his desired strikers otherwise Spurs could have to settle with DJ Campbell and Robbie Keane leading the line next season.
