Which summer 2023 signing has made the biggest impact for Tottenham Hotspur?

While other clubs in the Premier League have been slowly loosening their purse strings to the point of no thread over the past decade, Tottenham Hotspur have been playing a different transfer game. The building of the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between 2015-2019 was a significant factor in the reduced spending, even causing rifts with Spurs’ own fanbase. However, The Lilywhites are beginning to reap the rewards of the years of “frugality”.

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The recent 2023 summer transfer window marked the most Spurs have spent since the transfer window was introduced in 2003. £212.80m more than the infamous summer of 2018, when Spurs became the first team in history to not buy a player in a transfer window. But which of the players brought to the club has had the biggest impact?

Significant transfers in summer 2023:

• Brennan Johnson
• James Maddison
• Pedro Porro
• Micky van de Ven
• Dejan Kulusevski (loan made permanent)
• Guglielmo Vicario
• Destiny Udogie (return from loan at Udinese)

Vicario, van de Ven and Porro slotted straight into Spurs’ back five to compliment Cristian Romero and Udogie, who felt like a new signing after being loaned back to Udinese as part of his transfer in 2022. Spurs have found clean sheets hard to come by this season, but the value of the full backs Porro and Udogie and the ball-playing ability of Vicario and van de Ven is arguably seen in the attacking phase, of which Ange Postecoglou puts lots of emphasis on.

Maddison was brought in to help fill the void left by Harry Kane’s departure, and also inherited the number ten shirt. Maddison has been in fine form this season but has unfortunately missed a chunk of the season due to an ankle injury. However, anyone betting on the Euros might fancy Maddison to still sneak into the England starting line-up to team up with Kane and help his nation to glory this summer, such is his creative quality in the number ten position. Spurs fans knew enough about the quality of Dejan Kulusevski from his loan spell in the 2022/23 season, but that could not be said of Brennan Johnson, signed for £47.5m from Nottingham Forest on Deadline Day. Johnson has proved his worth already with some devastating contributions.

Verdict

Winning points from losing positions has been an arguably uncomfortable theme for Spurs this season. While Son Heung-min is undoubtedly the star player, it can be argued that Brennan Johnson has won an abundance of points with his contributions. Although Maddison has been injured, Johnson is matching Maddison for minutes on the pitch, but his match-winning contributions, including points-winning assists in recent matches against Crystal Palace and Luton Town, arguably gives him the edge over the new Spurs number ten.