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