Did Tottenham have a good window or not?
That is one of the questions already arising from the dust of this season’s transfer market and for many the jury is out. The four key signings, Victor Wanyama, Vincent Janssen, Moussa Sissoko and Georges-Kevin N’koudou will look to force their way into both Champions League and Premier League contention over the coming months but many actually feel more should have been done.
Spurs are entering the Champions League this season but it’s as if they feel they didn’t need many additions to their squad to compete in it and on the home front. Mauricio Pochettino may be right in that regard but it wouldn’t be overly surprising if he wasn’t to be blunt.
The club had a chance to really assert themselves amongst Europe’s elite but have arguably missed the boat to do so. This window may still be looked back on as a success but if all four players don’t seriously contribute it won’t be.
Tottenham’s transfer window wasn’t particularly exiciting, but 7 Of The Best is! We’ve teamed up with 7OTB to bring you a footballing treat for the season. It’s free to play and the best team each week wins £1,500, as well as monthly prize of £4,000 for the best individual. Want to win bigger? Nab yourself a whopping £500k if you get all seven of your selections correct for seven consecutive weeks.
How do you play? All you need to do is pick seven teams each week, one being your banker, five being teams you expect to win and one you believe will draw.
So with the theme of seven in mind, here are seven players Tottenham should’ve signed this summer…
Isco
Isco is one of those names that gets banded around in every transfer window and then nothing comes of it. This Summer was of course, no different but perhaps should have been for Spurs. The Spaniard isn’t going to be first choice at Real Madrid again this year but would have given Spurs the Champions League know-how that they sorely need. Maybe in January it’ll happen?
Wissam Ben Yedder
When you think of Ligue 1’s top strikers from last season this man came up after Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexandre Lacazette speaking volumes over his ability. He went to Sevilla in this window to undoubtedly progress further but Spurs should have done more to see him do that at White Hart Lane. He’d have been a well suited partner for Harry Kane and would have given the team and injection of pace in the final third.
Yevhen Konoplyanka
Spurs needed width. Spurs still need width. N’koudou has come in as a winger and that’s a start but aside from him they don’t have out and out wide-men. Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela both want to cut inside so unless Pochettino plays some of the kids he’ll be looking short when he wants to mix things up. Konoplyanka would have offered genuine and proven ability down the flanks but he’s gone to Schalke instead.
Paco Alcacer
It isn’t completely Spurs’ fault that they missed out on the young Spanish forward. Alcacer moved to Barcelona from Valencia as most Spanish players would do but where Spurs missed a trick was in being able to offer him a much bigger chance of playing regularly. Alcacer is good, but he’s not Luis Suarez and will find it tough at the Nou Camp and would have surely played more at White Hart Lane.
Denis Suarez
Another player who went to Barcelona this window, Suarez feels he has unfinished business at the club. Whether he can complete said business largely relies on him getting ahead of Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic as well as beating off competition from Andre Gomes so he’s got his work cut out. Again, Spurs could have offered him week in week out football and he could have offered them a potentially world class talent in their midfield.
Arda Turan
Barcelona really could almost challenge for La Liga with two teams with Arda Turan another star who usually finds himself watching from the sidelines. He’s figured quite regularly this season with Neymar still on a break from the Olympics but he’ll soon be back and the Turkey international will likely be back to his old position too – the Nou Camp bench. He’d have been a real gem for Spurs.
Iker Muniain
N’koudou comes with the reputation from Marseille of being quick which is something but he still has a lot to prove in the Premier League. Muniain meanwhile also has a big reputation – he’s dubbed the Spanish Messi – but has at least competed in one of the biggest three leagues in Europe. He’d have given Spurs more width and more attacking ferocity which, combined with Pochettino’s pressing tactics, would have been a potent combination.