José Mourinho very publicly put his faith in Gedson Fernandes when the boy first arrived from Benfica, describing the 21-year-old as a special loan. So this was no Georges No’Cluedo type situation, this is a player that had been absolutely endorsed by the gaffer.
Obviously, Gedson’s arrival couldn’t have been more badly timed, he’d barely joined the squad and the Coronavirus hit wiping out Premier League for months on end. That said, Mourinho wasted no time in keeping the lad involved, and to date, Fernandes has featured in 7 Premier League games, plus the recent friendlies.
Did Fernandes deserve the abuse that so many supporters took to social media to inflict? It seems in my opinion to be somewhat of a chronic knee-jerk, given that these preseason games are the last matches to make drastic decisions about the quality of players.
Here’s just a few of the fan comments that we were able to publish…
That makes one of us.
After one season with two managers (not gedz) you already saying them three youngsters are a waste of money? Way too soon to judge them. Two from another culture. Coulda been spent differently you mean? Signings have been good in the new place I think
We have celly and he’ll get better.
It is what it is. Shoulda coulda woulda ain’t me. This is the situation get on with it. This is what I’m like. Can’t change it don’t bother with it. I’m glad he’s here.
I don’t think you realise how stupid you are behaving. My point has been right from the start BEFORE we wasted money on him, it’s all very well investing in the future but NOT at the expense of the present. Purchasing him did just that. It amazes me you cannot see that
Maybe he can get Lamela to teach him all about releasing the ball early!
Nope.
I enjoyed watching Gedon taking on players in the first friendly. He just needs to learn when to pass/shoot and not try and take on another 3 or 4, lose the ball and everyone is disappoionted. But he will learn that. But I reckon the manager scolded him big time for that and noticably in the 2nd and 3rd friendlies he he spent much of the time passing backwards. I can just imagine JM – “stop trying to go forwards, its not what we do at Tottenham anymore. Pass backwards like the rest of the guys”.
As for his best position, he is never a full back. JM would play a 9-1 formation if you could.
What a stupid thing to say. I get behind and SUPPORT our YOUNG players. Want them to do well. as I’ve said “he was a teenager this time last year. If he was 25 now playing how he plays I’d sell him. ” everyone else ?” does that make it right? I don’t follow people mate. I think for myself.
If you love him so much YOU buy him. Everyone else knows how awful he is.
This is the problem, we sign too many of them at once. The two signings of PEH and the Irish boy at rightback are both over 25, Jose is going a bit in the Arry direction of tried and tested, that can’t be a bad thing.
Haven’t seen enough of him yet, wasn’t that impressed by him until he played right wingback in the friendly and he looked like might be useful in the right role. We’ll see.
I hear that.
Me down vote. Oh please. He’s gonna be a player when he’s a man. Wait & see. Left sider. How old was rose when he broke through? Attacking left back is two positions to learn. Tuff job
It’s the Fernandes name that doesn’t help him, it brings to mind another player of the same name and people are comparing and looking at the transfer fee and loan to buy price and not seeing much difference there but a huge difference in the contribution of the two players.
We have Deles brother and Bruno’s brother. Not fair to judge him this early.
He’s only been here a $h!t n a shave. He’s doing OK. When he’s 23…..
You won’t hear me coating the boy off. He’s got skills. He learnt to play right back in under 100 days.
Sorry guys, but you cannot look at first past the post votes like that – I mean you can – but that puts you into the same category of punters who denied the “losers consent” for the Brexit vote.
Anyway – there’s a blog incoming that conclusively proves that all Gedson’s haters are twits that don’t understand football.
I’ll never judge a player under 23 years of age.
I thought he did ok apart from yesterday, and if Oreo goes he would be a back up RB, keep him for the rest of the season…as for saying sell Clark, thats just ignorant, he’s a kid and theres a player in there..
It does, but Chelsea have a little bit of a monopoly of the talent down south, with Utd and City doing it up north. It’s why Brentford gave up trying to run an academy. Any kid who looked good was snapped up by bigger clubs, ourselves included. The biggest clubs tend to end up with the best young talent. As a parent it is hard to say no, they are riddled with the guilt of losing out. I understand fully what clubs are doing, but I don’t agree with it. It is cheaper for Arsenal to get Fabregas at 16 than sign him as a 21 year old and they can make huge profits selling on. For me, kids should stay local, then that region/clubs can benefit. If a bigger club ‘steals’ them then a 60% sell on clause should be activated. It’ll never happen but it gives smaller clubs money they would have been entitled to later down the line. Greenwood at Utd is an Halifax lad. In the 1980s he would have signed for Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds or Bradford, learnt his trade and moved on. Not anymore, Utd pick him up and reap the rewards. Only the top clubs can benefit. Man City made £140m (or so) in 2018 selling lads I had never heard of from their youth/loan system. Nice if you can get it. Saying that we made £13m from KWP. Over £1m per game played thanks to the loan system. At least he was local.
Agreed! Someone with sense. 👍🏾(In the + categories rather than negative is 56.5% 😊)
‘Absolutely hideous??’
Really?
FFS he’s a 21yr old kid, only been in UK/foreign country for 7 months, not played any football for 4/5 of those months & being asked to play in an unfamiliar position!
If you lot are that good, why aren’t you out there instead?? Bet half of you are legends in your own back garden against your year 3 son/nephew/brother, etc!
Bit of perspective, PLEASE!
I think that it is a good move to get youngsters in at 15/16 into an academy and acclimitise to the new country and its football style. Plus they also count as home grown later on. The problem for Spurs is that not many of these kids are coming off the conveyor belt as the finished article or at least to a PL standard. Which says a lot about our scouting system and youth coach set up.
Says a lot about our long standing scouting issues. Gedson has only started his Benfica career, so it was an odd move to ship him to England. If he’d played 90 games it might have been different. Postiga went on to have a ‘decent’ career, especially at international level, but England was not for him. The deal today is to get the lads in at 15/16 and in to the academy set up. Man Utd have signed two Spaniards this week in such a deal. That introduces them to the demands of English football sooner and they can acclimatise easier when/if their chance comes. I recall Dervitte being signed young for us, you’d have to remind me of others.
I try not to think about it to be honest. It hurts too much.
Following on from the Sessegnon thread yesterday, the best thing we can say about the Gedson Fernandes deal is that it is just a loan, with no obligation to buy, unlike the purchase of Sessegnon. However, what is rather more galling, is that the combined £80 million spent on Ndombele and Sessegnon, (not to mention Gedson’s wages) could have been used to buy Bruno Fernandes and Donny van de Beek.
Just think about that for a moment. Our upcoming season would look hugely different, if our scouting department and ‘transfer committee’ had done their homework adequately and gotten those two hugely significant transfers right. Right now, with Ndombele looking like a bust, our CM lacks any craft or guile, with only Lo Celso to come back into the starting XI and he cannot supply all the creativity on his own.
To be fair, we’ve had our fair share of those types of Youtube highlight reel signings. Many of them never made it either but also never went on to tear up the ‘slower’ league they went off to.
He is in the wrong league. Some players suit slower, less physical and more skilful leagues. Helder Postiga is a notable example for us. You need an X factor to be good in the EPL, tends to be pace, but if you are not willing to be kicked or kick back you get found out quickly. Very few young, foreign players come over and succeed. Even Ronaldo had to gain a few year’s experience at Utd before he took off. I don’t see anywhere near the potential though in Gedson than Ronaldo. An 18 year old Ronaldo would have torn Birmingham to bits.
It would seem that the majority of people voting on that poll do not think he is absolutely hideous. 43.5% think he is but 56.5% beg to differ. Not so clear cut as is being made out. Clearly, Jose sees something in him that others do not seem to see. Now that Levy seems to be backing the damn manager, perhaps we could also back the damn manager?
Seems a bit over the top, unless they’re talking about his barnet. Joe Hart needs to take him to one side and give him a good talking to.
Compared to Sessignon, he’s Lionel Messi!