Who can Spurs fans expect to see walk through the door before the transfer window shuts…
Tottenham Hotspurs fans were over joyed with the result against league leader Manchester United on Sunday. They were able to take a well-deserved point after Clint Dempsey’s dagger goal in stoppage time infuriated Sir Alex Ferguson and all the Man United fans. But what it showed more was a serious lack of depth in the Spurs club. When you are bringing in Tom Huddlestone and Beniot Assou-Ekoto off your bench as substitutes it should sound off warning bells to the chairman and the manager that they need to improve the depth and quality in the squad if they have serious aspirations for Champion League football next year.
You are not going to see Damiao, Wilian or even Moutinho walk through the door during this period. The reported losses the team reportedly suffered by not making Champions League this year will probably mute any chances of major purchases during this window. So what can the team realistic expect to get done?
Logic would have you believe the team has to pick up a striker has cover for Defoe and Adebayor. I know the American Clint Dempsey has thrown down his flag to play up from with Defoe but the team still needs to add depth up front.
You can expect probably one of three guys to come through the door from the following list:
Gary Hooper, 24 year old striker from Celtic. Hooper is an old school goal scorer, he is not going to provide flash or dazzle in his game. He just finds space and buries home his chances. He would be a reasonable pick up in the 10M range.
A more expensive but proven commodity to Spurs fans would Spanish International Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla. He is a former Real Madrid striker who also played on the European Champion team during the summer a guy that would excite Spurs fans as well as their manager. This one might be a long shot however, as of right now his price of 20m is not something that Levy is going to shell out for a player that has limited re-sale value at this point in his career. I think this is a deal that Spurs need take advantage of the fact that Sevilla is desperate for cash. So if a deal could be struck for around 12m I think that might be enough to get a deal down and bring in a player that would be a quality addition to the squad.
The guy I think would be the most intriguing pick would be the young striker from Hamburg, Son Heing-Min who is rated in the neighborhood of 10m. Son is a guy that former Spur Rafa Van der vaart has spoken very highly and Spurs might also be able to tempt Hamburg with a bid of around 8m for a team that is also in need of cash. The young striker would give the team a more versatile player as he could play out of the wing or right behind the center striker in the same fashion as Clint Dempsey.
Finally, Levy needs to quit playing games with Schalke and pay out the money for Holtby. He is a quality player that will play well in the mid-field after losing Sandro for the rest of the season. This would also allow the teams the flexibility of letting Jake Livermore to head to QPR on loan or possibly Huddlestone to be sold to Fulham who have been strongly linked.
Bottom line the team needs to add depth and quality to the bench which should see them bring in Holtby and Son, both of those players would give the Spurs the flexibility they need to change the shape when needed as both players can play in many different areas on the pitch.
They can add the major purchases in the summer once they have qualified for Champions League football which they will do if they are able to add the depth needed.
Source: DSG
