With days left to the start of the new season and Tottenham Hotspur’s strike force consisting of Jermain Defoe, Harry Kane and Souleymane Coulibaly, alarm bells are now ringing. Last month, the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas escalated optimism levels amongst us to newfound highs, yet with the only strikers currently being Defoe, someone who lacks the physical presence to fill the target man role, and Kane too inexperienced to lead the line we have to question the lack of activity in the transfer market.
Before I start I’m not criticising chairman Daniel Levy as I’m sure he’s working hard behind the scenes to make things happen. However, certain aspects have to be questioned, such as our missing transfer funds.
Spurs been strongly linked with both Emmanuel Adebayor and Leandro Damiao, we’ve reportedly been waiting for Luka Modric to leave to fund both moves, in particular the latter of the two. However, since the beginning of last season, Spurs have sold the following; Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Niko Kranjcar, Vedran Corluka, Steven Pienaar and Robbie Keane.
Although we have purchased Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson this season and bought only Scott Parker last season leaving us with the combined transfers of everyone else a good £20-25m left over at least. If you then add on top of that the television rights, sponsorship money and ticket sales from last year we are looking at a pretty substantial amount left spare.
Even so, Modric seems to be a stumbling block in all our transfers, for to replace him we need to know if he’s going to leave or not. Croatia head coach Igor Stimac has come out and said he expects him to join Real Madrid soon, which would hopefully allow everything else to take shape and increase our level of activity.
The “deadwood” within the club would also generate even more money to spend, with Villas-Boas having reportedly informed Levy of a list of who he wants gone from the club. Jermaine Jenas, Sebastian Bassong, David Bentley and William Gallas are all likely to head for the exit door which would also save the club around £10m-a-year in wages alone.
Spurs have also released Ryan Nelsen, Louis Saha and Ledley King, along with various youth players which much push our wage budget up enough so that Levy could perhaps offer Adebayor a more substantial wage that could entice him to join without being reliant on Manchester City to cover the remaining costs, something that City seem reluctant to do. Even if we were to sign him now; would he be match fit and ready for the first game on the weekend?
But what adds to the intrigue and mystery surrounding it all is the news we recently received that Gareth Bale had signed a new four year contract. A world class player like Bale, who reportedly drew interest from European giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, would not sign a contract of that length – even more so knowing chairman Levy’s stance on want away Modric’s contract – unless something big was going to happen.
Previous rumours in the air included a takeover from the Qatar Investment Authority, current owners of big spending Paris St. Germain, who would invest money that would allow us to compete with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. Due to the supposed introduction of the Financial Fair Play Rules (They don‘t seem too bothered about that at the moment) they couldn’t buy us outright and therefore would only be allowed to invest around £250m into the club.
Spurs have regularly been a last minute club when it comes to transfers and it certainly looks like staying that way this season. The club have been linked with the world and its wife; it seems on a daily basis, something which further adds to the excitement of being a Spurs fan. What does appear definite amongst all this uncertainty is that Levy will be a busy man in the coming weeks.
It’s amongst all this that our current predicament seems to have a sense of irony and misfortune that only Spurs could have. Ever since the start of the Premier League, Spurs have always been fortunate in terms of our strikers and have never had a problem scoring with the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann, Teddy Sheringham, Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, to name a few.
We’ve just never had the defence or the midfield to back it up. Yet now we sit with a strong defence and midfield, but no strikers. If only Klinsmann could’ve been born 20 years later…
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I can’t believe it, I’m full of dread looking forward to the game with Newcastle, for such promise my aspirations have plummeted to a sense of despair, why can’t we ever just make the signings in good time for the start of the season ?????????
If we are not able to secure a new striker then we are probably starting with the worst frontline in the whole of the premiership, oh what joy is it to be a spurs fan 🙁
no decent player wants to join you.even adebayor is waiting for something better.shit team,shit manager,shitty europa league.
on a lighter note…cazorla looks good doesnt he
Good article but you are missing the following financial problems:
– Missed 20million by not qualifying to CL,
– building a new stadium is very costly but naming rights for the WHL will reduce the cost,
– Already invested large sum to the development of the excellent training ground,
– New EUFA Fair Play rules on finance.
– Very large playing squad which requires reduction to save money.
Anto: what an absolute bell end you are! So Vertonghen is not decent no? What about Lloris who wants to join..he not decent? Adebayor who wants to join and is just being greedy with city who won't pay his contract out. You are a tit of the highest order anto. Cazorla?! An unproven player in the premier league. Looks good in spain as its a slower league..our very own dos santos looked good in the spainish league! If we are such a shit team why are you on this page and why did it take a martin fulop horror show for you to finish above us?! You clearly are deluded and don't have a clue about football! What a tool!
anto
4th place team (only 1 point behind the arse because of 'arrys england aspirations) a shit team?
typical up yourself arse hole fan
judging by the cracker goal defoe scored against italy tonight, spurs will be okay with him as the lone striker. he always struck me as a great player and i could never understand why 'arry didn't play him more. perhaps if he had brought him on in the villa game he'd still be manager!