Simon Levinson joins the summer transfer window debate.
Tottenham’s transfer dealings
Much has been said of late regarding Spurs transfer strategy. ‘Negligent.’ ‘Disgraceful.’ ‘Clueless.’ I’m not entirely sure.
This is not a blind defence of Levy and ENIC. Some of the criticism has been fair. One striker in the first two or three games of the season isn’t in keeping with a club of our stature. Games halfway round the world before the opener caused bemusement. One attacking signing in four windows doesn’t scream ‘AMBITION!’ But the extremity of the meltdown has been surprising.
I’m not claiming to have a full understanding of football economics, but clearly there is some rationale as to why many players leave late in the window. Examples in point are Berbatov, Bale, Pedro, and possibly Berahino. And there are some seriously big buyers involved. Are they also being negligent leaving it so late?
Or is it just the domino effect, the way it is?
Is it now the norm for a selling club to replace before it buys?
Wouldn’t clubs like WBA be held to ransom should they sell up for a big fee early and then try to replace the departed?
[linequote]The buying club doesn’t hold all the cards and never has – Levy is not calling all the shots. Is he really choosing to leave deals late? What would be the benefit?[/linequote]
The buying club doesn’t hold all the cards and never has – Levy is not calling all the shots. Is he really choosing to leave deals late? What would be the benefit? Some have suggested it’s to save some dosh – not sure about that one – why would someone be cheaper later?
Even when a behemoth does make an early signing, i.e bidding £50 million for a starlet like Sterling. Man City despite their financial power still had to wait for the selling club, Liverpool, to conclude their own transfers, like signing Firmino before the deal happened. This is also relevant to another transfer we ‘took too long over’ – Valbuena signed for Lyon just before we snared N’Jie. I wonder if the criticism would be less severe if the window closed before the beginning of the season?
Also worth covering is our strategy for adding players lower down the pitch. What we did do well is buy promising defenders early, to give us two for each position at the back.
Pochettino isn’t daft, and Levy even less so, they want and need us to be as good as possible, not least for their own sake. But we don’t seem to have done anything in the middle of the park. Our lack of interest in Cabaye seemed strange, perhaps Pardew promised him every game approaching a home-nation Euros. Could we have done the same?
But in trying to work out what’s happened, we can surmise that with a number of supposedly top class prospects, who Pochettino believes can grow together for the medium-term good of the club, we are waiting for that one key player to become available who has a very high chance of being a success. Especially at a cost of around £15 million. It is more about making the right signing, not any signing, we don’t want any more Paulinhos.
Perhaps we identified a couple and there have been difficulties, such as interest from CL clubs, their current club not interested in selling, the player not being sure about moving. Again, there are so many factors involved, it’s not just down to us. It’s not just dastardly Daniel making his “net spend” graph look nice.
[linequote] I can’t say I’m best pleased with 1 point from 6, but the challenge might be to take a step back for a minute to consider all that’s going on behind closed doors[/linequote]
The window isn’t over, so we can’t judge completely yet, because we still might fail to purchase what we need, and it might well be fair to say that in the whole of Europe, there must be a couple we could have added. But the baying mob appears to be growing. The lack of perspective seems to be increasing. The ability to think logically, I’m sorry to say, looks like it’s going out of fashion.
It’s easy to be frustrated, I can’t say I’m best pleased with 1 point from 6, but the challenge might be to take a step back for a minute to consider all that’s going on behind closed doors, admittedly not an easy task. The beautiful game is full of ugliness – sneaking, sniping and shafting, but everyone is just trying to do what they can for their own club. It might not look pretty, but it might be worth waiting to see just how good we’re looking at the beginning of September.
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10 Comments
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20/08/2015 @ 9:36 am
You undo your own argument by suggesting a selling club would want its replacements in first.
Spurs have sold a lot of players and their only replacements brought in were in defence. None for the midfield (Alli doesn’t replace anyone that has gone) and none for the attack. Ade is ousted, as is Lennon. We finally brought in N’Jie, but not without some trouble is seems. No, we sold before buying in, which is what every other team has NOT done. This is a perfectly good reason to be concerned and feel let down.
20/08/2015 @ 10:20 am
I was talking about clubs replacing starters, and we’ve sold none of ours. (Levy did this when we sold Bale – just very badly.)
I think it’s fair to argue that Alli replaced Paulinho, plus Lennon was already ousted last year. Additionally we knew Pritchard was going to take his place.
Thanks for reading.
20/08/2015 @ 10:23 am
I do not like the path that THFC are taking with regards to the quality of football being played at WHL,,Levy has made it clear what his policy will be with regards to recruiting new players ,insisting that the new stadium etc is paramount to the success of the club.
As much as Lloris and Kane are good players neither of them are captains in the mould of Perryman,Mabbut and King.This was so obvious during the last 2 seasons that when the new recruitment adviser was employed I thought that Schneirderlin or someone similar was on the cards,against Stoke the lack of a strong gutsy leader showed us all what we are missing.
This should have been resolved at the beginning of the transfer window,but in time honoured fashion Levy has failed to give the manager, the team and the supporters the backing that is required to compete .
I dread Saturday’s result……………..but in a perverse way if we get hammered it might wake some of the board up and get ENIC to act.
Finally, a company that has a quality product should do well,,,,,,but offer them rubbish it will go the Ratner way.
20/08/2015 @ 10:41 am
Firstly, just to be clear, Simon is a good friend who I have known for years and I often talk Tottenham with him. However, you say this article isn’t a blind defence of Levy and I have to disagree. It clearly is, like Ive told you many times when we’ve chatted or on Twitter.
I also find the bit about not knowing what goes on behind closed doors very patronising. I think most fans have started to think very logically. Its plain to see that the players we need are available and available for the right price… Cabaye, Shaqiri, Payet, Wijnaldum for example. If we weren’t in for those players, which it seems we weren’t then I am very worried. All under £15 million and all addressed issues that we have. If we aren’t after these players then who are we after? Look at who we have signed previously Ghaly, Gilberto, Saha, Nelson, Murphy etc… thank god we failed in getting Charlie Adam. But at least we tried for Moutinho, Hulk and Rivaldo. How gallant! The fans are worried because we have previous!
I think we as Spurs fans have started to wake up to the fact that 5 transfer windows of making a profit, a new stadium to finance, a manager who seems happy to toe the party line…. Only going to end one way, a squad that is short of the quality and numbers we need to try and compete in the four competitions we need to. We are right to want CL football, we are right to want to win a trophy. We are right to think Levy is treating the balance sheet as more important than success on the pitch.
Privately you made every excuse under the sun for us not signing Cabaye… age, sell on value, not playing week in week out for PSG so probably not fit enough to play in the Prem… yet Pardew has now made him promises that we couldn’t about playing week in week out?!
Just imagine if Levy sanctioned moves and paid the correct money early for Shaqiri, Cabaye, Behraino and NJie ready for Old Trafford and didn’t enter us into the ridiculous German Cup we played in at the expense of having a small loss (probably made up for by shirt sales etc off the back of the excitement generated by those signings). We might be on 4 points now. Which might make the difference when we finish 2 points behind Arsenal who scrape 4th. Again. Instead we do the prudent thing of using the youth players, struggling by and maybe adding a journeyman for 5 million at the end of the window. And then when we do finish 5th or 6th again, it will be au revoir Hugo, laters Harry and bye bye Jan and Toby.
20/08/2015 @ 10:57 am
Well said Paul;why oh why cannot others understand what you are saying,It is not about spending big it is about buying wisely and finding players that fit,Clubs like Swansea , Leicester and Everton seem to find them.Is it because that THFC is now considered to be the most money orientated club in the premier league……..a desperate reputation for a once great footballing club.
21/08/2015 @ 1:13 pm
Hammer. Nail. Head.
20/08/2015 @ 11:04 am
#surrenderaugust
20/08/2015 @ 12:04 pm
Bob – I can’t see how we can ever expect a Schneiderlin. We will always be beaten on wages by the five clubs above us.
Paul – We’ve changed our ‘philosophy’ so that we don’t go for the rubbish you mentioned anymore. Whether you agree with it or not, that means we won’t be going for Payets (or Cabayes), but younger players (with sell-on fees…. Maybe it’s not that the balance sheet is more important than success, maybe it’s just that we unfortunately need a decent balance sheet to have any type of tangible progress in the future – stadium -> more revenue -> higher wages -> better players -> the odd CL soire -> more revenue -> higher wages…). But I concede that Cabaye and maybe others (eg not sure on Shaqiri yet) are strange ones, as I said above. You’d have thought that a balance between youth and experience/potential and proven class would be preferable…
I do disagree that we know much about what goes on behind closed doors though. I’m not sure we have much of an idea at all, despite the press and rumour mill giving us the illusion that we might.
20/08/2015 @ 12:14 pm
I agree with Paul regarding the 4 midfielders mentioned particularly Cabaye.If we can’t offer a player like that more than Palace there is something seriously wrong.He should have started every game and we are in a European competition.Much as I like Eriksen he does fade in games whereas Cabaye is more consistent.
There is also the question of two more strikers.Why is it nobody seems to be taking a punt on Austin?He scored well for a struggling team last season and even at 15M is not overpriced.But then Levy probably will wait till the end of the window and offer 5M.If they are serious about Berahino then they are probably going to have to get close to WBA’s valuation,but could include Fazio in the deal.Sod’s law he would probably prove to be a great buy for them.
20/08/2015 @ 1:19 pm
Len, it does from this article and response seem like you are an apologist for Levy. Who’s fault was it 3 years ago or so when we were in the title race and we signed Saha and Nelsen instead of going balls out for someone who could take us to the next level? I called that at the time face to face with people and on Twitter but I was told to ‘shut up’ and ‘stop moaning’ and ‘Levy knows best’. Seems a lot of people have come round to my way of thinking now, unfortunately it seems that our DNA means getting close but ultimately being disappointed.
Paul (@bateseyboy)