No matter what anyone tells you, always remember that transfers in football are a gamble. A team may very well carry out a due diligence to the best of their ability when scouting a player, only for the ensuing move to not work out for a variety of reasons.
In this article, we present to you our top 5 picks for the worst signings Tottenham have made in the Premier League era.
Tanguy Ndombélé
Let’s get this one out of the way first. In an age where three-figure sums are a dime a dozen in football, Spurs’ most expensive player holds a price tag of £65 million. Before Dominic Solanke moved to Spurs this summer, however, the Lilywhites’ most expensive acquisition was at €62 million.
Given Daniel Levy’s infamous frugality, eyebrows were naturally raised when Spurs went above and beyond to get Ndombélé, but the move ultimately blew up in their collective face. Apart from fleeting moments of brilliance, he never quite found his feet in the PL, having been deemed not good enough consistently by every manager at Spurs. Ndombélé spent the last years of his Spurs contract on loan at Lyon (2022), Napoli (2022/23), and Galatasaray (2023/24) before joining Nice this summer as a free agent.
Roberto Soldado
There were a fair few players Spurs spent the Gareth Bale money on, most of whom did not work out. One of them was Roberto Soldado, who arrived at White Hart Lane with quite the pedigree, having been one of LaLiga’s best forwards and a leader at Valencia at the time.
