Spurs’ Summer Transfer Strategy Part One: The Outs
You often see people post their dream transfer windows on social media. The various ins and outs they think their club should instigate to ensure a fruitful season. I’ve often thought those lists are stupid and rarely do they come to fruition. And for Spurs, a £150m war chest, as reported last week, might sound mighty alluring, but there’s no guarantee every penny of that will be spent as expected. I repeat: these kinds of lists are dumb and pointless
Well, colour me dumb, stupid and pointless, because that’s exactly what we’re doing today. In part one of Spurs’ Summer Strategy, we’re going to look at the likely sales Conte might have in mind to boost the North London club’s spending capacity…just like they do at the fabulous casinoroar. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at who’s in the departure lounge.
Harry Winks
A Bournemouth or West Ham signing for £22.5m if ever I saw one. The marginally less talented Harry in the Spurs squad has plenty of technical ability and a neat first-touch and passing range that each coach before Conte seemed impressed by. Sadly he hasn’t ever quite pushed on from his England squad-bothering days and he’s never going to be quite good enough for this high-energy counter-attacking side. Oliver Skipp is already way ahead of him and he’s 5 years younger. Sorry.
Tanguay Ndombele
This should’ve worked. There were moments which had us believe he could’ve been one of the finest midfielders in Europe. Pace, power, ridiculous technicality, and an ability to drift, dance, and pirouette around opponents had Spurs fans dreaming of a Moussa Dembele second coming with perhaps more end product. But it’s not worked out and neither party seems particularly arsed. Let Lyon stump up a cut-price £35m and be done with it.
Giovani Lo Celso
Another one to file under: should’ve worked but didnae. Super talented, a lovely player with the ball at his feet, and in glimpses gave fans a hint that he could be something really special. But the former PSG man just doesn’t seem to quite have it. Nowhere close to what you might call an archetypal Conte player. Nor does he fit into the Italian coach’s preferred 3-4-2-1 which doesn’t generally incorporate a traditional playmaker. Can you imagine the Argentine filling one of the wide forward positions ahead of Son, Kulesevski…or even Bergwijn or Moura? Nope. It’s got an £18m permanent move to Villarreal written all over it.
Right, that’s a juicy £75.5m to add to the £150m War Chest™, giving us a grand total of £225.5m. Join us tomorrow as we ruminate on how Spurs might spend it. Big moves.
