At first glance, the summary of Tottenham’s transfer activity for January 2019/20 looks like a severe clearing of the decks in a post Pochettino landscape. The truth is, this time last year we had 11 young players out on loan and now we have 12.
These are players that possibly may be worth watching for the future, as the club have bot cut all ties. Given that this is Cameron Carter-Vickers’ 5th loan out, we’re looking one of two outcomes: the boy does a Harry Kane and miraculously finds within himself hitherto unseen resources, or the last chance saloon finally closes its doors on the now 22-year-old.
These are players never to bee seen in this parish again. Kindly note that the full on disaster No’Cluedo, was shunted on for an undisclosed feed to Besiktas.
In total 9 Academy products fell short of the required standards. Oh, and Vorm was released.
Players in (above) doesn’t include Gedson Fernandes, loaned in from Benfica, as that list consists of concrete sales.
Net spend fans will shudder at the +£104.6million that was wantonly splurged.
Other fans will be asking why so little of the spend addressed areas of concern. The reality is/was that it was too ambitious to believe that any club would be able to cure all ails in one window. Especially a January one.
Answers.
The defensive midfield solution is the hope that Tanguy Ndombele reaches a point of physical strength whereby he can play at least once a week.
The striker solution is the hope that Harry Kane’s surgery will indemnify him sufficiently, so he can play in every single club and international game that is available to him.
What we got was a continuation of the “mend and make do” approach, interwoven with ENIC’s insatiable desire to try to make a few quid by attempting to polish up one or two diamonds.
Questions abound.
Was the release of Harry Kane’s physio video a cynical drop, the day before Transfer Deadline Day to remind the easily swayed that Spurs don’t need another striker?
When will a slice of the £800,000 match-day nose bag revenue going to be shared with the football team? Instead of buying a bona fide second striker, we added more second string talent to our midfield. Bergwijn and Fernandes look half decent, but they were far from an obvious priority.
Conclusion.
José Mourinho must be wondering what he’s signed up to. The Portuguese will have known that he wasn’t going to get much say, or much money, but this level of handicapping cannot carry on unabated, and the club to still expect any class of European football.
I take a view that Mourinho’s instruction for the remainder of this season was “do your best”, if Levy has asked for anything more, then the disappointment is likely to sting.
This window ought to have been about securing a second striker who was hungry to disrupt and succeed. It wasn’t.
Did Spurs have a good transfer window? Buying Lo Celso makes all other complaints appear churlish.
Ever been told your mouth will get you in trouble one day?
Total disrespect to pep. Would you say that to his face? Thought not
I know. Hard to think anything other than scripted tbh, had Cullens fingerprints all over that one. Jesus they are playing at Macclesfield and supposed to be pushing for places in a cl team
Which would mean Levy would replace him with a young, hungry up and comer who would love to be in London, with a world class stadium and training facility on starters salary.
I’ll bet he also feels his wallet regularly to make sure it is real.
Do you seriously think a top professional scout could work for Levy? Think Paul Mitchell or Wolves brilliant recruiting to have a balanced side, not 6 mids and no striker etc.
Do these top players know that we’re in London? Meant to be a big attraction and means you can put in insulting bids to buy them.
What about the other half? 😃
I probably agree with the thrust of what you say but the way JM wants to play requires a genuine target Giroud would do, instead of Moura, not his fault btw. Therefore it should have been a football priority in this window.
When Jose was appointed he specifically lauded our academy set-up.
I’m with you on Tammy and also Mount is getty a bit ahead of himself too. 2 Lovely crosses though.
Liverpool. Enjoy it while you can. We’re coming for you.
Abraham, batschuiy, callum hudson, giroud.. They got four strikers all fit.
😆 interesting perspective man. Maureen will want to keep his winning resume though I am pretty sure. His stock has fallen loads in his last 2 maybe 3 jobs. The next transfer window will be telling. Im expecting jose/Levy clash. Its inevitable. The sparks will fly.
This was never an issue had we not let Llorente AND Jansen walk out the door. It’s dereliction of duty imo
Yeah mertens is world class the belgium would have been their first choice demoting abraham.. They got mitch batboy as well.. Giroud is their worst striker. And we were apparently in for him which really isnt good…. We should have been going for mertens or someone as good.. Our club lacks ambition. Even spam got jarod bowen…. I still cannot believe levy is failing to buy players that aren’t even good enough.
I don’t think there is any fixing going on mate. Its just human incompetence. Var should have been tried and tested before use rather than rushed in unfinished.. The scouse could still be the new invincibles. I hope they do it because i despise auntie wengers one and only invincibles.
Boom, complete accurate description H…..Hilariously Lampards upset, he reckons the chavs are now ‘underdogs’ for top four BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T SIGN MERTENS 😂 Imagine how maureen feels then to be frank at least you got giroud 🤣 troy parrot has to be given a run of games now.
Its not the Team Tappa, Its how ENIC and Levy operate that Galls most .
Just near the corner on Bruce grove there’s a semi-private spurs supporters club (in one of the lovely Georgian grade 2 buildings) I reckon it the cheapest place to buy a pint of the black stuff in London. Load of old boys In there. They know their spurs stuff. I can’t get a ticket for tomorrow so I’ll be watching it in there😊 YIDZ.
What about a draw tomorrow?
Should have been 4 – 2 Leicester. They’ve caught the Spurs malady.
Bit a balance. Life’s about that.
Below. Can’t even say one thing complementary about the team they supposedly love. I don’t often get uplifted on here.
Bentileb gonna show people he can play. Baller. He’ll do well at Newcastle. Never shoulda been sold in my opinion
With both Mount and Maddison experiencing a dip in form will Grealish make his England debut in the upcoming break?
If the scouting is done properly quality needn’t cost the earth, Andy Roberts springs to mjnd, but you equally have to be aware that in order to move forward it could cost. Huge problems in the scouting network, and a penny pinching chairman is a massive reason why we are struggling in the transfer market
Chavs 1-0 up.
Basically, either you tow the line under Levy’s dictatorship or you’re not hired and if you go rogue at any point, you’re shown the door.
That press officer guy who sits next to the managers at all press conferences is part of the regime and their control of information regarding the running of the club.
These people are very shady indeed…
Good bit of business by Rodgers to get Evans in.3M I believe for a very experienced defender who will teach Souyuncu (another one we missed)so much.
Leicester getting a bit of a battering though,will the Chavs rue these missed opportunities.Unlike a lot of people I’m not entirely convinced by Abrahams.
You made a Big Mistake Andy. You should have made him take up ‘French Polishing’, or Carpentry as a Hobby. Something that would give him a sense of purpose .
Totally agree. The ironic thing is that all of our best players in recent years have been relatively cheap. We tend to fail when we splash the cash.
A serious look at the whole January thing is eriksen said to Jose I’m off in Jan, and told him 6 weeks before the window opened. So why didn’t fernandes happen? Make whatever noises you like in the media, but behind the scenes the deal is worked on to bring in as a direct replacement. As has been said below, we should never have been in this situation, and that is down to one man. The man you rightly point out is making the most of any chairman in the country. Who built us a stadium. Didn’t put any money in, and didn’t lay a brick but built us a stadium. Despise him mate
Yes we were in for their cast off.
But it does allow our illustrious leader to trouser his obscene salary and bonus with not an ounce of embarrassment.Charlatan.
Good point but I believe that they were trying to upgrade Giroud?
The other thing that needs to be brought up is that we seem to have developed a fascination with loaning players. That says to me that we are not sure about them and don’t wish to take the plunge on them fully. That being the case, why arw we even looking at them? Where are the scouts, and why haven’t they identified someone to come into the team and do the job required? The answer can only be that the scouting network does not exist in the manner we would want. If we don’t want to pay 20m for a forward, is he really gonna be up to the job? Of course he isn’t, as obscene as it is 10m is nearly a free transfer in the modern prem.
I’d rather give Troy Parrott a try than waste money on a Carlos Kickaball in an act of desperation. If we could have got someone on loan for the remainder of the season then fine but it would be stupid to blow £20M plus on someone who may not cut it. We know that Son, Lucas, Dele, Lamela can all chip in with goals, so I think we will be fine. I’m more concerned about protecting our defence.
A hat trick!!!! A quality outfit they were as well.
Until this club signs a genuine goalscorer , someone that can at least compete with Kane in goal quantity , then we shall just continue to flatter to deceive. I’d say that is top of the agenda of players required, and Mourinho believes that too judging by his carefully selected comments to the media, but the way Levy operates , well …..!
But we’ve got a world class stadium and the best academy in the world.We were told all the top players will be queuing round the block to sign up.Won’t they?
Chelsea have 3 strikers , Abraham is playing
Here is the problem with the whole “ everyone struggles in January “ we shouldn’t be in this position! It’s not like we’ve only just realized we don’t have a striker, we haven’t had a back up for the whole season and a decent back up for 5years!!! Enic is mugging us off . This is complete mismanagement. The other clubs still do have strikers , we have none
But why do we struggle? I’d suggest that the reason is we don’t have a scouting network worthy of the description, we cannot offer realistic chances of trophies, and we don’t pay the going rate. Chuck all that in the mix and it’s unlikely we will attract proper players
It was very frustrating not getting a striker yesterday but let’s face it, Chelsea and Utd also struggled. We have wasted so much money on strikers who couldn’t cut it in the Prem.
😂😂😂😂
Lol lol. And llorente will be back. And some of our lobotomised fans will say he was a good un….
And it’s spun that we couldn’t have got the deal done even with the 2hr extension you can request!!!! We had 31 days ffs
No you haven’t mate. One day, and that day can’t come quickly enough, they will be gone and we will have OUR club back. And then your son will understand, for the time being he better get used to the jam tomorrow analogy unfortunately
Yes excellent and relevant post.Well done.
You should of course encourage your lad to support Spurs.I am sure he will understand when you explain the toxicity that ENIC bring to the club.
Yeah I found that piece very interesting. Especially the bit where he talks about keeping costs relatively low, but still incorporating his own massive salary and the hush money paid out to managers
Tried to say the same but for some reason my comments weren’t added… Great post mate
Yes, I get the braindead connection but it is real passion for supporters, you realise you are being conned but it is your team, you have to believe. Unfortunately. My oldest son, who has no interest in football, said I was not doing the right thing by my youngest boy by introducing him to Spurs. The youngest is aggressively passionate, getting into football scrapes with United, Chelsea and Liverpool boys. I wonder have I done the wrong thing by delivering him in his innocence to ENIC/
This isn’t a knock on José because I actually like him but he must be loving life! He’s always been at winning clubs that actually have expectations of winning! Now he’s at an investment company that doesn’t care about winning ! He must feel no pressure
Couldn’t agree more. The highest remunerated chairman in the PL, but the least qualified in football terms. It is amusing to think that Karren Brady is also highly paid by the Dildo Brothers and she also received a completely underserved bonus like our beloved chairman. Levy is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I think if we bought a target man we may, just may of, got away without a DM and FB’s till the summer if we could start scoring goals….how Jose will get through the next 3 months now is anyones guess…
I mentioned a few blogs ago, our scout Paul Mitchell who was sacked and put on an 18month leave package ,was successful at Southampton, Sheffield United and now leipzig fc…where wasn’t he successful 🤔..what are our current scouts doing now??
Well said.
Spot on mate. Lo Celso was touted by ENIC as a purchase last summer and now again this window, The fans are treated like utter muppets and charged the highest prices for that privilege
So as everyone on this blog has pointed out,none of our pressing problems have been addressed.There is only one person at the club who is responsible for this sorry mess.No prizes for guessing who.What an absolute joke.
What I cannot stomach is the ongoing and perpetual lie that is fed to the supporters continually that the club have ambition. Poochs demands to Man Utd if he comes are basically all the Levy and ENIC Influences being removed and the club giving full support to the manager to build the squad and work towards winning stuff. Pooch was not blameless and neither is Jose as Levy buys their compliance with massive salaries. Every windowwe are fed the same bullsh*t via their pr department to the media. We always have the “big rumour”. Last window it was Dybala this window was Bale again. We all know we desperately need a DM a decent RB an a quality striker as a minimum. Instead we get Gedson who does not look like any of those and Bergwijn who does not look like any of those. Typical of the ENIC smoke screen a video is suddenly released showing Kane apparently making a miraculous recovery to give the impression that actually we do not need a striker even though a fit Kane leaves us still with only one in the entire squad apart from Parrot. Then Jose starts spouting in true Pooch style that he is very happy with his squad. £15 million a year buys a lot of loyalty to Levy. We find out that financially the club is one of the most wealthiest not only in London but in the EPL and Europe and the fans are fed this line of the club being in another project bullsh*te. Still the club continue to charge the highest ticket prices as if they were up there with the likes of RM or Barcelona. Levy and his napoleon complex micro manages everything involving money at the club. He sits there no doubt feeling very smug about the financials and spends billions on real estate yet sets a budget of £10 million to source a cover striker for Kane. It is an utter insult to the fans whose pockets he is raiding to generate profits for the club. He has his little spreadsheet that says you buy potential below 25 years old and you look to pay a low rate. You then hope that over a couple of years they will increase in value and if they do come good you can then cash them in for a huge profit. Nothing of this takes into account whether it is what the squad needs or will deliver the success the fans are paying to see. I have a strong sense that Kane will not be here next summer if we fall away from the CL and he begins to realise that Levy and ENIC are flogging him towards a long term injury and shortened career with absolutely nothing to show for it in terms of success. I would not be surprised that if any communication took place with RM this window is was about setting up that deal for next summer. Levy and ENIC are a total cancer to this club and it’s supporters. Until they are out nothing will change.
Smoke and mirrors,smoke and mirrors.Works every time for the braindead.
The Nearly Club…in 10 years time we will be having the same conversations, just like if you looked back 10 years ago…I enjoyed the rise of Martin Jol, the attacking football of Redshnapps, and the two years of the pressing Poch show, but one thing in common they were all left short of support…the problem is now the ride is 90% painful as the football is poor, and theres no pride in supporting a club owned by ENIC…the property development is not to benefit the team, its to benefit the profit…
did anyone notice we employ 40 people more than the 2nd highest club in the PL (at 220)…thats for extra catering and property development staff, not football related…
As you said Marbella we are still at square one regarding our needs, obvious needs I would have thought.
None of the positions that were screaming out to be addressed have been addressed — most pressingly defensive midfield and centre forward. NDom is not a defensive midfield destroyer used to screening the centre backs. Trying to plug him into that role would also be a waste of the abilities he does have.
As regards strikers, Mourinho himself explicitly said there are zero at the club – none – now HK is injured. So little more need be said on that.
Of those who did arrive, Steven Bergwijn is already being touted as one of our best players, despite nobody noticing him in either of the CL games last season. Both he and Gedson reek of the kind of speculative punt with which we are wearily familiar.
It is often said that any club finding itself needing to urgently address key positions in January is a badly run club. For a club in that position to then be one of the active clubs in the January transfer window .. yet still emerge not having strengthened any of the positions of dire need . . . well, that is another category of club altogether.
I may be in the minority but I think we did have a good window. Three signings if you include Lo Celso and the two most problematic players moved on in Rose and Eriksen.
Without a doubt a striker would have been the icing on the cake but for what we’ve done this month, I’m ok with it.
The question of this post is did we have a good window. The answer is no. No because when you analyse the whole thing, we haven’t addressed any of the problem areas, again, we have lost yet more bodies, albeit mostly not very good ones, which raises another question. If they are so bad that they end up at likes of Macclesfield, how we’re they ever gonna assist spurs? Jose states that at his first meeting with eriksen he told him I’m defo going. Which gave us 6 weeks to scout, and secure an adequate replacement. We don’t need to go down the lo celso road, he was already here, and lest we forget in the summer the speculation was that both he and fernandes would join. Given the initial 47m, and 17m back for eriksen, fernandes should have been bought in as direct replacement for him, and also as a potential kick up the arse for alli. The striker situation is totally and utterly laughable and needs no going over really. The full back situation is not any better in my eyes, and is clearly in need of desperate upgrades, both flanks. More worrying is the fact that the Prince of darkness has once again seen that there’s large swathes of the fan base that will believe any old kak. Enter bale. The fact that he continued that particular brand of kak til the death shows me clearly the contempt he clearly holds us in. And so we wait til the summer. Realistic situation, harry is off, and once he goes that sets the tone for the rest of the good players we have. I predicted a while back a collapse of a house of cards, I see nothing to change my mind
They also asked Llorente to take a twenty five per cent pay cut.
The whole window was generally very quiet, no blockbuster deals by any English clubs unless you count Bruno Fernandes. In that context Spurs were as busy as anyone. Remember beforehand the word was Spurs were unlikely to buy anyone. Loan deals seem to be the way clubs want to work in January. Levy is gambling he can get Champions League without a striker, and with his luck I wouldn’t bet against him.
January is never a good time to do business, that’s clear. The problem here isn’t this January it’s been the last 5 seasons (or two decades, take your pick) under ENIC.
Just one example;
Llorente was brought in as an experienced option and when his contact expired there was no announcement of him leaving the club as with Vorm, as Levy tried to offer him a one year deal but Napoli offered him 2 years. So he’s gone and was a useful stand in when Kane was out, but who comes in during the summer instead? Suddenly the need for a backup centre forward has evaporated?
So here we are, Kane out injured also now with a manager that has always played with a big guy up front.
None of this makes sense, nothing Levy does makes sense on the football field. Levy’s biggest regret will surely be not backing and keeping Poch who did what he did with the 17th net spend.
Levy got Jose as a quick fix when there just isn’t one. You have to be ‘brave’ and back the manager, otherwise you end up with one League Cup in 20 years…
hehehehehe.
Our windows are hermitically sealed.
I have to conclude that it was not a good transfer window but why am I not surprised. The major issues have not been resolved. A new DM was needed, N’Dombele is not one and neither is Winks and Dier is not good enough and will probably end up as a CD. We are still waiting for a back up for Kane after three seasons. We didn’t need Berjwin, another winger, but I suspect that both he and Fernandes are speculative punts by Levy. How many times have we read the headline, “Spurs failed in a last minute approach”? This time it was for a 32 yr old Israeli no 9, more fake news and negligence from our beloved chairman.
Was there a window then????