January Transfer Window: Stick or Twist?

We are into the last week of what has so far been a fairly uneventful January transfer window and Spurs fans are ever-hopeful and neutrals are ever-expectant of deals to be done at Tottenham HQ.

Tottenham’s summer transfer window moves again showcased the shrewdness of Chairman Daniel Levy and Harry’s eye for a deal. The previous summer, Levy famously pulled off the stunning transfer coup of bringing Rafael van der Vaart to the Lane for just £8million, following a last ditch phone around, but this summer it was Harry’s turn to take a more active role in transfers and he demanded that Levy get Scott Parker at all costs, regardless of his age and lack of sell-on value.

Redknapp was adamant that Parker – last year’s Writer’s Player of the Year – was not just a big fish in a small East London pond, but would improve the first team squad and would be one of the men who could fire us back into the Champions League – and what a snip he was at just £5 million!

Jigsaw pieces

Many critics and fans initially evaluated the summer’s dealings as reserved by Tottenham’s recent standar ds , but it proved to be another successful window as all of the main moves for Spurs have strongly contributed to our best run of results in recent memory. It was a messy window in that we were still moving players in and out after the season was two games and two heavy defeats old, but once the window closed and the final pieces of the jigsaw were inserted, we burst into life and never looked back.

We strengthened the backbone of our side; giving Brad Friedel the gloves at the expense of the error-prone Gomes; adding a warrior into our midfield in the shape of Scott Parker; and upgrading Peter Crouch with the loan-deal of the window in Emmanuel Adebayor. In addition, we recalled Kyle Walker from his loan spell at Villa and the rocket-heeled right-back has since made that position his own. Ironically, our most important move was keeping the talismanic Luka Modric at the Lane, both in terms of his displays on the pitch and the statement our rigid stance sent out in showing teams we are no longer a selling club, but a team with lofty ambitions.

Sticky situation

Although we usually have to wait until the final day of a window before the action starts regarding Tottenham transfers, I would suggest that Daniel Levy will not be thinking about spending too much cash before the end of January.

The reason for this is not because his manager is in the middle of a court case, charged with cheating the public revenue, in regar ds of alleged “bungs” stored in an offshore bank account. Rather that Spurs are sitting pretty in 3rd place, 10 points ahead of arch-rivals Arsenal (at time of writing) and playing the kind of breathtaking, attack-minded football that has evoked the Glory, Glory days. Upsetting the apple cart now seems too much of a risk.

If we are looking to get anyone in during this period in which we have a team that (injuries aside) virtually picks itself, then it should only be as cover or to replace anyone looking to move on – say a Pav or a Bassong – or another Rafa-type bargain.

Many over-excited fans advocate a “strike while the iron is hot” approach, citing the lack of a 20+ goal-a-season man as the main difference between us and the two Manchester clubs. A really prolific, world-class finisher is indeed what we need in order to move that step further and challenge for the title, but we are not going to get that kind of striker in January.

In the summer, we were unable to get the likes of Aguero, Llorente, Rossi or Forlan, because we couldn’t afford their wages and we couldn’t guarantee them Champions League football. Despite riding high, nothing has changed on either factor.

Even if we did have the money and were able to lure someone of that ilk, look at what has happened to the two major big-money signings of last January’s window, namely Torres and Carroll. One was off the boil (and still is) and unsettled the Chelsea forward line and the other was just a flop. My view is that we take stock; stick with what we’ve got and – using one an age-old cliché – don’t change a winning team.

Spurs have won 14 from 22 games in the league this season, compared with 16 wins in the entire 2010/11 league season.

With the Transfer Window Shut, Spurs can Restart their Season

Thankfully the summer transfer window has now closed and from Spurs fans’ point of view, we can start the season proper (albeit with two games down in the Premier League and 0 points in the bank). It turns out that Tottenham’s bi-annual day of madness, Transfer Deadline Day (TDD), was actually a bit of an anti-climax.

In the run up to TDD, it was predicted – as usual – that Spurs and Harry would be pulling out all the stops, wheeling and dealing, and calling every chairman in Europe to see what bargains were on offer. However, in a reversal of the norm, there was much more movement out of Spurs than in – and that didn’t include Luka Modric!

But as Harry and the public have come to realise, it is Daniel Levy who calls the shots when it comes to transfers. It was Levy who kept a granite-like stance on the retention of Luka Modric’s services, Levy who deemed the services of Peter Crouch surplus to requirements – Harry has always expressed his love for the 6”7 striker – and Levy who saw that the summer dealings ended in profit for the club.

The overly-open Redknapp has often admitted in the Press, that as far as transfer dealings go, it is the chairman who does the negotiations and he simply expresses the players that he wants and Daniel takes it from there. It was Levy’s 11th hour phonecalls that culminated in Spurs pulling off the bargain of the previous summer’s transfer window; getting Rafael van der Vaart for a cut-price £8 million.

There was no last-ditch deal for Spurs this summer, but despite a relatively quiet window by Tottenham's standar ds , the summer moves that were made should still be viewed as positive, even if there should have been at least one more addition the squad, i.e. Gary Cahill:

· Brad Friedel may be 40 years old, but he is a Premier League stalwart who has amassed over 400 PL appearances and even if he doesn’t represent a signing for the future, it is a quick-fix in a position which saw costly, high-profile failures, as the clown half of Heurello Gomes re-immerged in the second half of last season.

· Scott Parker is a steal at £5 million – despite him being 30 years old – and the passionate and battling midfielder is exactly what Spurs need to help level out the flamboyance in the middle of the park, adding bite and leadership. Now we have the Writers Player of the Year to add to the PFA Players Player of the Year (Bale) at our disposal.

· In Emmanuel Adebayor, Spurs have a proven Premier League goalscorer on our books for a season. Despite Crouch’s cup goals and goals for England , he is just not prolific in the league, Jermain Defoe is a flat-track bully and Roman Pavlyuchenko blows hot and cold. Like so many of the strikers we were linked with throughout the summer, Adebayor would have been above and beyond Spurs’ tight wage bracket had Manchester City not agreed to pay a significant chunk of his wages. He may be an ex-Gooner who fans sang a controversial song about and he may be a hot-head, but William Gallas is both of these things and he has been a revelation at Spurs.

If only we could have just paid the slightly inflated price for Gary Cahill we could have proudly boasted the addition of a strong re-enforced spine in our first team, which is what all good teams need. However, injuries aside, we do have enough defensive quality at centre half to not be too devastated at not getting the Cahill deal done.

Frustration for Harry

Harry had been briefed all summer that Tottenham were in a “sell before you buy” position in the transfer market and this frustrated Harry as he was desperate to flash the cash, but he was struggling to get the right value for his fringe players. This was why he was clearly tempting Chelsea to re-bid for Modric in his interviews, maybe thinking Levy resolve would crumble as the extent of bi ds increased. You sense that if it was up to Harry he would have quite happily let the little Croatian go for £30 million and set about using the fun ds for a whole host of new players.

To what must have been the displeasure of Redknapp, Levy sanctioned the sale and loan of a number of players on TDD – Jenas, Palacios, Bentley and of course Crouch – without seeing anymore than Scott Parker coming into Spurs Lodge. Harry has already said that this has been the “worst pre-season ever” in terms of disruption and planning for the already up-and-running season.

Now the dust has settled though, Tottenham players and fans alike should be positive about the remainder of this season. We trimmed the squad down of players who were either not going to have many first-team opportunities or were not good enough last season, we have the addition of a handful of top Premiership players who should improve the first team and we still have the our prized asset, Luka Modric, intact. If he can clear his head, he may be able to help the club’s push towar ds a return to the Champions League places.

Fabregas Goes, Modric Waits

Top Gunner is a Goner

After two seasons of chasing, rumours, offers rejected and fellow Spanish players coaxing him into the club, finally Barcelona have wrestled Cesc Fabregas from Wenger’s clutches. Another one of Arsenal’s young protégées – poached at a young age, nurtured and moulded into a growing superstar – has been sold on to a bigger club, in this case for a sum of around £35 million.

A huge profit yet again for the Gooners – think Overmars, Anelka, Henry – and a reward for the Premiership’s best salesman Arsene Wenger; a man who balances the books like no other in the transfer market. Forget wheeler-dealer ‘Arry Redknapp, Wenger is the numero uno when it comes to finding a bargain and polishing a diamond a few years down the line.

However, it will come as little consolation for Wenger that another of his prized assets has turned in a tidy sum of money after eight years of great service for his club. Wenger takes pride in having won honours and plaudits for his pretty brand of football, whilst rarely having to spend over the odds for big-name players, but it is a worrying trend that has seen his most talented players moving away for more “ambitious” clubs and one that may see the back of the stubborn Frenchman if they finish empty-handed again at the end of this season.

Wenger’s dream, like Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved, is to have a team of young superstars grow into a dominate force for years to come, but Wenger never replaced the experienced winners from his "Invincibles" team, to lead his current crop of youngsters to glory. Since the likes of Patrick Viera were deemed over-the-hill, the gifted, but inexperienced posse have not had enough senior leaders to drive them on to trophies.

Resolve and Ambition

Across the North London divide, the similarity in predicament is alarming, probably as much for Arsenal as it is for Tottenham. £35 million is also the fee that has been looming in the Luka Modric saga and has been adjudged as the magic number that may or may not see the Croatian maestro leave for pastures new and greener.

The good news for Spurs fans is that Daniel Levy appears to remain firmly behind his original position on the matter, which was that the club would not be selling any of their prized assets – essentially Modric, Bale and Van der Vaart – and that the sale of any of these players would be counteractive to the board’s vision for Spurs as a being a regular participator in Europe’s premier competition and a direct challenger for all major domestic honours in the near future.

Many football fans, Spurs or other, might scoff at such grand illusions (or delusions), but these are ambitions that Arsenal have come to expect in the Wenger era, but now are realising they can no longer take these for granted. In the past few seasons there has been the hint or threat of a “shift in power in North London”, a phrase that the Media and not just hopeful Spurs fans have coined – but as yet has not quite materialised.

The closest Spurs have got to claiming that the “shift of power” is imminent is in recent victories over the Gunners at the Lane, a League Cup victory in 2008 – during Arsenal’s barren silverware stretch – and a further advance in the Champions League last year, albeit by one round. However, the difference between the power shift being a dream or reality could hinge on the sale or retention of Luka Modric.

Statement of Intent

Things have certainly cooled off a bit on the transfer saga, after the initial furore when the little Croatian spoke openly in the Press of his desire to leave Spurs for Chelsea and of the alleged betrayal of a verbal agreement between himself and Daniel Levy regarding letting him wriggle out of a six-year contract renewal if a big suitor came in for him. Unlike Arsenal, who played at the weekend and left out their two want-away stars, Fabregas and Nasri, but due to the damage to the High Road in the London Riots, Spurs were unable to get their Premier League campaign underway – so we are yet to see whether it will be business as usual for Modric when
Tottenham get their season underway.

Despite Redknapp suggesting that Luka’s future is not certain with rumours circling that he, rather than Levy, would be prepared to let “the good lad” go if the price was right, as it would release the cash ‘Arry so dearly wants to fund his pursuit Lassana Diarra and at least one world-class striker, Levy though remains unmoved.
This should appease fans, who gave Modric a rapturous reception – despite his quotes in the newspapers – in Spurs’ final pre-season warm-up game against Athletico Bilbao. In contrast, as Nasri was omitted from the Arsenal squad for their Premier League opener, fans treated him to a chorus of displeased vocals.

Trim to Win

We Tottenham fans don’t see the need to sell last year’s fan-voted Spurs Player of the Year and star playmaker to fund a much-needed clinical striker, as we are all frustrated with seeing our bloated squad, packed with fringe players – think Bentley, Dos Santos, Palacios – who have no real future at the club, still preventing our expenditure. We are told that Levy has briefed Redknapp with the line “sell before you buy”, but the money is there if they can trim the benchwarmers, especially as there has been interest for them. It just seems Levy is playing the usual late-show transfer game to get the most value out of his players.

However, Robbie Keane has set the ball rolling with another “dream move”, this time to LA Galaxy for approximately £3 million, which was an important deal as he was in the top bracket of the Spurs wage bill despite only playing a handful of games since his return from Liverpool . Tottenham could certainly compile a stash of around £20-25 million from additional fringe player sales, not forgetting that we banked £5 million for offloading Jamie O’Hara to Wolves after his loan spells away from the Lane, but it is a dangerous game trying to eek the most money out of prospective buyers.

The conclusion is that we don’t need to sell Modric to fund the players we need to kick-on and get back into the Champions League. Modric certainly owes the club a bit more loyalty, with another season to try and get the club back in the Top Four before moving on to a bigger club, and we don’t have a chance of getting there if he goes this month. Arsenal have little chance of getting a replacement of equal quality or inspirational impact for Fabregas and Nasri – if he goes to City – even for the money they receive. And Spurs certainly don’t. We don’t have the time or the pulling power to get an adequate replacement for Modric, and splitting any potential transfer fee to get several players will mean just mean getting several players no better than what we have got.

Spurs fans have been assured that Modric missing the Europa League qualifier against Hearts is not a sign of an imminent transfer, but only time will tell in the remaining days of the transfer window whether he will stay or go, but for sure the answer will be pivotal for Spurs’ season.

All Hail Bale

MarshlandSpurs is back after a long spell on the sidelines and the first thing to do on my return is to congratulate Gareth Bale after he picked up the coveted PFA Player of the Year Award.

What an honour for the young Welsh wizard, to have the backing of his peers in a Premier League littered with talent; from the battle-worn veterans to the hottest young talent. At a time when the Welsh national team are at their lowest ebb and worst ever position in the FIFA world rankings – currently 115th and below international heavyweights such as Jordan, Kuwait and Mozambique – ironically they possess their most exciting talent since Ryan Giggs burst on to the scene 20 years ago, who surely has taken his last bow as a Welsh international player.

Great Welsh Hope

After almost two decades of excellence in England’s top division, Giggs finally bagged an overdue PFA player of the year award two years ago, in what was seen as more of a lifetime achievement award, rather than an one for the actual best performer of that 2008/9 season. At 35, with retirement beckoning, and having just kept his record going of having scored in every Premier League season since its inception, it felt more like a gesture or statement of respect for a wonderful, loyal and glittering career; one that all players should be inspired by.

After Wayne Rooney picked up last year’s PFA award, Bale’s feat ends a four-year dominance of the award by Manchester United and he is the first player outside of the pre-2010 “Big Four” (Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool) to take the prize since former-Spurs man, David Ginola, won it in the 1998-99 season. Ginola helped Spurs lift the League Cup in a season otherwise ending in mid-table mediocrity in the Premier League.

Play the Spurs Way

Spurs favourite Ginola was the kind of player who induced a gasp of expectancy from the crowd whenever he picked up the ball, as he looked to entertain and amaze with that little bit of magic. And if football is about entertainment – incidentally John Terry is the only defender to win since the1992/3 season – then Gareth Bale deserves this year’s PFA award.

Bale may not have been the most consistent performer this season, but it has been a season for inconsistency in a Premiership that has seen the top six teams suffer a staggering 41 defeats between them and there are still six games left for most teams at time of writing. All the players in the PFA award’s shortlist, with the possible exception of Scott Parker – who has just picked up the Football Writers’ Association award – has had either periods of poor form or prolonged injury and possibly the most consistently good player, Nani, was not included in the shortlist for the main award. For sheer eye-catching thrills though, Bale has been the one who has caused most sensation and hype; talk of outrageous price tags and European suitors continually abuzz.

Every pub in the land has been full of active debate and superlatives about Bale and “is he that good”-type questions from the disbelievers. For all the adoration Tottenham fans have poured upon the Welsh winger, many would argue that Luka Modric has been the best player in a Spurs shirt this season for week-in-week-out performances or even the moody left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto, whose unflappable composure and endeavour have been integral in triggering Spurs’ potent counterattacks that let Bale of the leash. However, it is the direct nature of Bale’s work that excites most and draws such praise and it’s his meteoric rise from bench-warming zero to Roy of the Rovers-style hero that made him the shoe-in for PFA honour.

Everyone knows about Bale’s shocking early run of winless games for Spurs that made him appear more of a curse than a blessing not even two years ago, so it makes it all the more poetic that he is now the prized asset that Spurs must not let go in the Summer.

The naysayers may point to his dip in form since the turn of the year and return from injury. They might also argue that most the hype about Bale snowballed after his breathtaking hat-trick in the San Siro against Inter Milan and that the media have blown his talent out of all proportion. But it was that iconic performance against the current Champions of Europe that made everyone across the world wake up and notice the Premiership has a talent that could potentially match the magic we have seen in recent years from the likes of Messi and Ronaldo in La Liga.

Danger Man

Bale may have only turned a handful of these truly world class displays this season, but it is indeed this potential that has made him the players’ vote for this year’s PFA gong. Bale is the player every manager will have circled on their tactics board (or tactics App) and probably written in capital letters “STOP HIM”. This season and certainly after both Inter Milan games – including the one-man demolition of the best right-back in world in Maicon – teams have doubled up on him, kicked him, cynically obstructed him and set out on a mission to shackle him. Like with Adel Taraabt in the Championship, those who have been terrorised by Bale hail his genius and those who suppress him act like heroes.

No doubt Bale has all the makings of the complete player. He can finish, he can head the ball, he takes a mean set piece and he has flicks and trick up his sleeve. He has also seemingly developed a Rory Delap-type long throw! But what really makes him scary is that pace, power and direct intent. His main tactic is a simple hit and run game, but he has an unbelievable engine, enviable sustained acceleration and an incredible desire and knack of getting to the ball first, no matter how many players are in front of him of whatever the head start the defenders have.

Audere est Facere

It is not usually working out what Gareth Bale is going to do that is the problem for the opposition, it is working out how to stop him. So, to have every team pondering that question makes him a worthy player of the year and I’m proud of the young lad. He embodies the Spurs motto “TO DARE IS TO DO”. It’s great to have had another Spurs hero, Rafael Van Vaart, in this year’s PFA shortlist too. These are just two of several great players Tottenham have right now in these exciting times at the Lane.

Rowland Marsh

Young Boys II: Judgement Day

The sequel to Tottenham’s Champions League trailer has arrived and it is clear that, as predicted, Daniel Levy has kept his wallet closed until he knows if Spurs will be heading to the Hollywood of club football and mixing it with the A-listers or not.

In the Premier League era, the so-called “Big Four” have dominated the major honours and the Champions League places almost exclusively, bar the odd anomalies (Newcastle, Leeds, Everton), but with Liverpool struggling for money and Arsenal, Man Utd, and even Chelsea cutting back on the spending, Tottenham’s clinching of fourth spot last season and Man City’s endless squad strengthening means there is now suddenly a chance for other clubs to break the monopoly and force their way into the elite.

Spurs may only have a small window of opportunity in which to muscle in with the big boys with Man City ’s bottomless pot of cash and Arsenal and Liverpool looking to hit back after disappointing seasons, and this home leg with Young Boys of Berne is snowballing into a seismic game of huge significance for Tottenham’s immediate and ongoing fortunes.

However, Daniel Levy has invested heavily into the team over the last few years with his mission being to get Spurs into the Champions League and eventually challenging for the title. Martin Jol twice went close, finishing fifth two years running, but Levy wasn’t convinced he was the man to edge into the top bracket of the Premier League.

Redknapp has been given decent financial backing, like Jol (and Ramos after him) was, and he is close to delivering the Champions League dream, but Levy will want to see Spurs’ name in the pot for the group stages of Champion’s league before he gives the squad further investment.

If Spurs can get the win that they and us fans desperately want and need, expect to see some weight put behind some offers in the final few days of transfer window.

Away from Astroturf and back at the Lane, Spurs should beat Young Boys tonight, but we lived up to our reputation last week as a team who goes the hard way about getting a result. After conceding three goals in the opening half an hour in Bern last week, the Champions League dream was turning into a nightmare, but they stopped the rot before showing a lot of heart to pull it back to 3-2, after a stunning late strike from Roman Pavlyuchenko, giving them a good chance of progression at the Lane.

In the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2007, Spurs had a similar shocker when conceding two-goals in the first eight minutes at home, and although Spurs pulled two goals back, they went out on aggregate. As long as Redknapp’s men avoid conceding an early goal tonight, Spurs should begin to dominate an average but dangerously pacy Young Boys team and win the game.

King should be back to help out a defence that looked scarily off the pace in Switzerland, and the alarming ease with which the Young Boys attack cut through the Spurs backline fast-tracked the deal to bring in Gallas on free transfer. We were already crying out for cover at the back, especially with centre-backs Woodgate and King suffering from ongoing long-term injury issues, but Redknapp moved quickly to bring in a proven experienced centre-back, despite Gallas’ time spent on the wrong side of North London .

Whatever happens tonight, Spurs are still on a upward curve and the future looks bright for the club, but getting into the Champions League proper means so much for the fans, the status of the club and of course money. This is an extremely nervy time for all Tottenham fans, as above all, playing in the Champions League will signify a return to those Glory Glory days we so often sing about.

Champions League Draw, Levy Leaving it Late and Adel Tarrabt

Spurs got the luck of the draw on Friday – in fact we got the best draw possible in Swiss League runners-up Young Boys. Not only did Redknapp’s men avoid dangerous teams like Sampdoria, Braga (conquerors of Celtic in the last round of qualifying) and Dynamo Kiev, but the second leg is at White Hart Lane, which is a definite advantage.

The team from Bern are not to be underestimated. They beat Fenerbahce in the hotbed of intimation that is Istanbul to get to this stage and that is no mean feat. However, if Spurs can’t beat Young Boys then they don’t really deserve to be mixing it with the big boys of Europe this season.

Many Tottenham fans have been surprised by the very un-Spurs and un-Harry-like patience and inactivity in the summer transfer window to date. Whenever asked about his potential signings and targets, Harry has responded by saying they are “not close” to doing any deals yet. He quite publicly missed out on Joe Cole, but no concrete talks seem to have happened between Levy and Harry’s targets that are supposed to take Spurs to that next level.

Waiting on Champions League Pot of Gold

Tottenham surely have some pulling power with their fourth place finish last term, the lure of European football (hopefully Champions League group stages) and a squad brimming with young talent and depth. But maybe everything hinges on the result of this two-legged date with destiny against Young Boys. Spurs are notorious for deadline day moves, in and out, (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Kranjcar and the departure of Berbatov to name a few) and even though the 2010/11 season will have already been several games old before the transfer window shuts, don’t be surprised if additions and sales are made on or just before the final day of dealings.

Daniel Levy, with the financial backing of Joe Lewis, has always been happy to back his managers in the transfer market, but in this pivotal time for Spurs he may be waiting to see what happens in the upcoming Champions League play-off before letting Redknapp loose with the funds. If they make it through, not only will this give Spurs a much bigger carrot to try to entice the likes of Luis Fabiano or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with, but Levy would be able breath more easily when giving money to Harry to spend knowing the revenue will be coming in for the Champions League group game matches.

If Spurs fail to make it past Young Boys, Levy may be more inclined to hold back on the spending, knowing his squad’s rising stars are in with a shout of repeating their fourth place finish – despite the spending seen by Manchester City – and attempting to qualify for the group stages again next year.

Surely this huge qualifier is the reason for the tentative approach by Spurs in the transfer window, although Redknapp admitted that the inevitable James Milner move to Man City could spark off a domino effect in the market. Maybe Spurs are just playing the waiting game.

QPR Take Taraabt

On another note, it was sad to see another Spurs player who had been tipped for greatness, fail to make to grade. Adel Taarabt has been offloaded to QPR, where he was on loan at last season, for just £1m three years after signing as an 18-year-old starlet from Lens. He was talked up as the new Zidane, but despite his clear raw talent, cocksure dribbling ability and fleet of foot, has flattered to deceive as a reliable team player.

He joins a long line of players in the last few years that Spurs’ so-called scouting experts have brought in as the next-big-thing from Europe. Unlike many of the young foreigners our North London neighbours have snapped up and nurtured in recent years, who have ended up turning into superstars, ours have been frequently been loaned out before being moved on. It brings up slight concerns about the coaches at Spurs, if they can’t develop these talented youths into Premier League successes. Taraabt has the skill, but not the application, but he is clearly a rough diamond and it is a great shame that he has not sparkled for Spurs.

Who Will Redknapp Entice to Join the Champions League Push?

By “wheeler dealer” Harry’s standards, this transfer window has been extremely quiet. Quieter than a Vuvuzela enthusiast at White Hart Lane will be this season. But although us Spurs fans have been blowing our trumpets (albeit nervously) about our first potential season in the Champions League, no big names have arrived - as of yet...

Redknapp has urged Chairman Daniel Levy not to “miss this opportunity” to establish the club amongst the big teams in Europe and even went as far as saying Tottenham could yet challenge for the title. Strange then that with just a couple of weeks before this big season begins we have only added the largely unknown and unproven Brazilian, Sandro – a deal which was sorted, in principal, before last season finished.

Own Cole

Redknapp tried and failed to lure Joe Cole to the club and has seen other potential signings escalate out of price range. Big name strikers like Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Luis Fabiano have been named in connection with Spurs, but nothing of substance has been evident.

Instead, Harry has been linked with several curious player choices. When it is clear that the two major areas for improvement or back-up are in the centre of defence and up front, why have Spurs been linked with keepers and centre midfielders?

Woody or Wont he?

Jonathan Woodgate is clearly struggling with an ongoing injury that not only threatens his involvement in this coming season, but his career full stop. Ledley King is in his usual chronic knee injury predicament and beyond Michael Dawson and Sebastian Bassong, we haven’t got established cover at centre-back.

These two are both growing in statue under the wing of King, but an experienced or proven defender in the ilk of Brede Hangeland or Thomas Vermaelen would be ideal to bolster the squad and push for a first team place. We know Spurs have been after Micah Richards for a long time, but it looks likely Man City will keep him.

Strike While the Spurs are Hot

Despite our array of forwards (Defoe, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko, Gudjohnsen, Keane) our 67 goals in the Premier League were dwarfed by the teams above us and nine of them came in the famous game against Wigan. All five forwards had a dry spell – Keane so much so that he was shipped out on loan to Celtic for the second half of the season – and only two are guaranteed to be at the Lane by the time the first whistle of the season is blown.

All the great teams in the Premiership and in Europe have at least one world class striker in their team, and although we have some good strikers, none are world beaters. If we are going to make a big investment, then someone of the calibre of Luis Fabiano is needed.

Harry Transfer Targets Get Fans Twitchy

But some of the players the tabloids claim we are moving in on are baffling. Why are we looking at goalkeepers when Heurelho Gomes had a fantastic season and Carlo Cudicini has just come back from long-term injury and signed a contract extension. Why are we trying to buy Scott Parker when we have Wilson Palacios, Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone, plus Niko Krancjer and Jermain Jenas on the fringes?

Going for Joe Cole was ambitious, but with Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Gareth Bale thrown into that midfield mix, where would he have played? It makes more sense than Parker, in that there is a certain lack of goals from the Spurs midfield compared with teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool who all have at least one prolific goal-scoring midfielder.

However, I think we already have a quality squad with lots of options in all positions, but with this rule of naming a 25-man squad before the season starts, if Spurs do trim the likes of a Bentley, a Pav, a Keane or an O’Hara I would like to think that in this season of high-hopes that the Levy-Redknapp sales and marketing team bring in a couple of class acts in the crucial areas to keep us up with the big boys.

By Rowland Marsh