Spurs, Stalteri & Potential Canadian Signings

The English Premier League, the league considered by many to be the peak of football. Maybe not for EVERYONE outside of England because of course, those in the US love the MLS, those in Spain love La Liga, those in Italy love Serie A etc. But arguably the most competitive of the all of the “top tier” leagues and honestly, many would definitely argue the most entertaining, is the English Premier League.

Over the years viewers of the Premier League have seen many famous foreigners grace their pitches. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese, of course LAUNCHED his career into the stratosphere after his transfer to Manchester United. Thierry Henry, French, arguably one of the greatest strikers of all time, played for one of the best Arsenal teams we’ve ever seen. Luis Suarez, Uruguayan, while it’s undeniable he was crazy, set the Premier League on fire with some of his outrageous performances in a VERY lacklustre Liverpool team. But when it comes to Canadians, a mere ELEVEN players have ever played in the top tier of English football.

The most recent names to grace the Premier League from Canada are of course Junior Hoilett who has plenty of experience in the Prem but his last stint was 2018-19 for Cardiff City. Then there’s goalkeeper turned forward Theo Corbeanu who made a single Premier League appearance for Wolves, though has spent most of his career outside of Canada in League One, currently on loan to Championship side Blackpool. But today, we’re here to talk about the career of one man in particular. Ontario born Paul Stalteri who made 55 appearances for Spurs (13 on Loan with Fulham) in the Premier League between 2005 and 2008.

Stalteri, retired wing back/midfielder, Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer, and currently the assistant manager of Toronto FC is arguably the biggest Canadian name to ever grace the England’s top division, not only because he played for the best team in comparison to the other players have played for Spurs, but Stalteri also had a pretty stable career internationally too. Making 84 appearances for Canada bagging 7 goals. Not too shabby really.

This man will have inspired many Canadian kids to play ball and some of those kids have turned out to be bloody good players. It’s hard to look past Alphonso Davies as by far the best Canadian player out there right now but that’s not to say he’s the only one out there that could potentially improve this Spurs team, however, could you imagine having a left-side of Davies with Son in front of him? That would be outrageous.

But one particular Canadian player that I think could help is the Defensive Midfielder from Porto, Stephen Eustáquio. At 25 years old, Eustáquio still has a lot to offer, he’s tricky, he has good vision and for a defensive midfielder has found himself among the goals for the Canadian national team. I actually believe that if he can put himself on the map for Canada at the world cup and/or Porto in the Champions League, you may find a few teams sniffing around for him.

What should Spurs be expecting in their current state? After making a pretty incredible push at the back end of last season to snaffle up that final Champions League position, how can we expect Conte and his lads to push on and make the most of that and hopefully improve upon it this season? What do the experts think Spurs can achieve this season? We’ll take a look at a bunch of things, what they think for their Premier League chances, what they think for Cup and Champions League chances, as well as the individual honours!

When taking a look across the top Canadian betting sites on EPL, first up the big one, the Premier League. Spurs are actually currently 3rd favourites to win the League only behind City and Liverpool, you can get 11/1 for them to win right now, that may drop depending on the result against Chelsea however (at the time of writing this hasn’t been played). For a top 4 finish it’s hardly worth touching at 2/5 which is basically a given really and honestly I can’t see them not finishing top 4. In my opinion, in no particular order, the top 4 will likely be Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Spurs.

Then there are the cups. If we look at the biggest domestic cup first, because why not. Spurs are 20/1 to win the whole thing, which makes them high rated to win the tournament, given our history it might be a tough ask but, we’re as good a team as any in the tournament really. Then to bring home domestic silverware, you’re looking at 8/1 for the FA cup and 12/1 for the League cup, not too bad really. I do think a domestic cup is a must have for Spurs this season. It has been far too long at this point but let’s not talk about that.

Lastly we have some individual honours to play for, but we won’t go super in depth on that one. Neither Kane or Son got on the score sheet against Southampton on the opening weekend, but both of them played the full game. However, currently if you want to bet on either of them to win the golden boot, you’d be looking at 7/1 for Kane to take it home and surprisingly 20/1 for Son to go back to back.

So, football fans, in particular Spurs fans, if you look at the current Canadian national team, there are a fair few good young players and while their group at the world cup is rather rough, given the opportunity to impress, how many of you would be interested in some of the current batch of Canadian Internationals? It kind of goes without saying that Alphonso Davies would improve almost any team in the Premier League, whether you signed him as a wing back or even a winger!

But looking at the likes of Lilles forward Jonathan David or as I mentioned earlier, Portos defensive midfielder Stephen Eustáquio or even the 17 year old prospect, Espanyol forward Luca Koleosho, there are a lot of players in this Canada team that really have the potential to make that next step on the proverbial football ladder, no disrespect meant to Lille, Porto or Espanyol. If put in the right systems, with the right coach and supporting players, they could really make a name for themselves. Ignoring the obvious answer of Davies, if you could sign ONE Canadian player for your team, who would it be? Let us know!