Steven Bergwijn appears to be on the verge of joining Tottenham, but one former player is not convinced that he is the what the club really needs.
Spurs agreed a £22.6million-plus-add-ons deal with PSV Eindhoven for Bergwijn on Tuesday, according to a report by Sky Sports, who referred to the 22-year-old as a “winger” (but also called him a replacement for Christian Eriksen, who has not been a winger for many years).
Earlier in the day, former Spurs striker Darren Bent spoke to Football Insider and slated the club for looking to recruit a winger when other areas of the squad are much more in need of a boost.
“I don’t understand their recruitment sometimes,” Bent moaned.
“Yeah, I get that he’s a very good player but is a winger another one that they need? Is he someone that’s again going to change lives? They’ve got a lot of talented wingers there.
“They’ve got Lamela, you’ve got Son, you’ve got Lucas Moura? Do you need all these so-called wingers, with another one in the building? I don’t think you do.
“So for me, I would go, stay away from it. Spurs, they’re trying to get some good players in but I thought the priority would be a centre-forward.”
Only time will tell if Bergwijn indeed goes on to “change lives” at Spurs. One thing is for sure… Darren Bent certainly didn’t during his two years at White Hart Lane.
Bent’s Premier League goals record is not actually too bad in isolation – 18 goals in 60 games. But he didn’t improve the team, which suffered badly following the loss of Dimitar Berbatov – a much more intelligent striker.
This is what Bent actually said about the player…
Speaking to Football Centre on Sky Sports (28/01/20 at 11:40 am), ex-Spurs striker, Bent, likes the type of player his former club are going to bring in but he made it clear that they still need an out-and-out centre-forward.
“Well, he can play centre-forward and he can play wide,” Bent told Sports. “So, you kind of have three false number 9’s [Bergwijn, Son and Moura]. We have seen Son play up there and we have seen Moura play up there. And he can play up there too.
“They all add something different. Son scores goal. Lucas Moura, he gets his fair share of goals. With the new guy coming in, he can play number 10, left and right. He’s quick and powerful and I really like him. But I still do think Spurs need a centre-forward.”
What happens if we don’t qualify for CL next season?
That could be part of Levy’s strategy. Absolutey no-one knows what happens next.
Football Insider is known for rubbish articles. I’m not so sure Bent said that…On Sky Sports today he thought this guy would be an ideal signing for us because of the way he plays. He made some very positive comments about Bergwijn. I wouldn’t lose sleep over what Bent has to say but I don’t think he said the above.
He doesn’t…. word is it’s to give Moura a rest, not sure given the minutes hes played so far warrant a rest just yet
Care to name those players ? Name me the players that we’ve brought that have helped us win something. ?
I can name you players we’ve
brought who’ve then gone on to help
Other clubs win stuff …. Does that count as good business?
Berbatov, Modric, Bale, Walker to name a few …..
That’s true if spurs priority was only to make profits,but hiw does that benefit the club in winning silverware? At the end of the day the owners of the club only want to make huge profits with the least possible amount of overheads. Winning something means nothing to them.its clear for every one to see and it becoming what spurs is known for all over the world. ” A well run business “. Its will be even harder to win anything now with Newcastle in the process of being sold now
To the contrary; I see it as targetting players with potential and seeking to develop that potential. We seldom sell any players who do develop. Most of the players whom Spurs have retained are worth far more than their contracts were purchased for. If a player doesn’t meet the potential expectations; he gets moved on. Even then, the trandfer out fee is usually close to the transfer in fee.
Rob, you sidestep Bent’s main point. He is asking which area of weakness in the team Bergwijn’s signing has addressed. It is a valid question that many people are asking.
This has to be a wind up!
Does anyone understand our transfer policy ? Apart from buy cheap sell cheaper with occasional sell higher…. it’s all very confusing