In this article, we present to you our top 5 picks for the signings Tottenham have made in the Premier League era during the January transfer window.
Lucas Moura
If you asked Spurs fans now whether spending €28.4 million in January 2018 for Moura for that night in Amsterdam alone, most would say yes in a heartbeat. It is, after all a moment etched in time. And then, Moura scored 39 goals and provided another 27 assists from 221 appearances for Tottenham, more than paying back the money Spurs pledged for him to PSG.
Dele Alli
Spurs picked up Dele in the winter of 2015 from Milton Keynes, for whom the then-teenager had shone particualrly in an early-season drubbing of Manchester United in the League Cup. He spent the rest of the season on loan at MK Dons, though, joining Spurs properly in the summer.
Regardless of how things ended for him Tottenham, Dele’s career should not put aside given what we now know about his past; the numbers he went on to deliver for the club at that age are nothing short of spectacular.
Michael Dawson
Michael Dawson is very much an exception to the “January signings don’t work out in the long term” rule. The England international was at the peak of his powers during his time at White Hart Lane
Dawson joined Spurs from Nottingham Forest at the end of the January transfer window of ’05 for €7 million, €4.4 million of which Spurs made back when they moved him on to Hull nine and a half years later after he had given them 324 appearances, 10 goals, and 5 assists across all competitions.
Jermain Defoe
Defoe loved a winter transfer. Roughly half his moves, both loan and permanent, came in winters, including the two time he joined Spurs and the two times he left them. There’s also a third move, a two-month loan during the MLS off-season that saw him play for Spurs on loan from Toronto.
The move that puts him on this list, however, came under Harry Redknapp, without whom the move might very well have not happened. He returned to Spurs in January 2009 for €16.4 million from Portsmouth, reuniting with Redknapp and becoming one of the starters in a Spurs side that become Champions League contenders.
Defoe’s overall record for Spurs reads: 363 games, 143 goals, 31 assists.
Jürgen Klinsmann
These days, Klinsmann is known for his recent botched managerial stints with Hertha and South Korea, though back in his playing days he was one of the most lethal forwards of his time.
When he first arrived at Spurs in an everyday summer move, he stuck around for just one season. When he came back two and a half years later, however, he would go on to write swansong so memorable the Spurs fans thank him to this day. With the final games of his professional career, Klinsmann saved Tottenham from relegation towards the end of the 1997/98 season with 9 goals in 15 games. One can only image what their fate could have been had they tumbled down the English pyramid.
What do you make of our picks? Would you rather have someone else here? Let us know in the comments.
