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
