Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tottenham, when mentioned over the past couple of months and certainly these last few weeks the rest of the sentence is usually completed with “where are the new signings?” The Premier League runners-up are the only top flight team to have not signed anyone this summer and that is something that it is unlikely to change before the weekend.
The fact that there have been no new faces to bolster the team that pushed Chelsea all the way to the line in last season’s title race is undoubtedly a concern for fans of the club and manager Mauricio Pochettino has aimed to alley those fears by saying that the club will be signing players before the month.
The club are almost in that impossible position where unless they get a real superstar – say for example Gareth Bale then who can they really sign that is going to make that first eleven any stronger, for them it is the task of finding players who can add depth to the squad while not spending over the odds in what is already a crazy transfer market.
The harder task they arguably have and one that will always be ongoing until success can truly be delivered in the form of trophies is keeping hold of those first eleven players and after the departure of Kyle Walker last month they will certainly not be looking to sell any more before the end of this season transfer window.
And with that very much in their mind the club will not have been too enamoured by the comments that Danny Rose made in “A Newspaper” (I’m not mentioning the name of that rag but you can guess) that have been published Today (Thursday August 10th)
Rose is quoted as saying the following:
“I am reaching my peak and have probably only got one big contract left in me,”
“Time is running out and I do want to win trophies. I don’t want to play football for 15 years and not have one trophy or one medal.
“I will say this too, I will play up north. I don’t know exactly when but I will get back up north and play some football somewhere. I have been away for over 10 years now and I don’t get to see my mum that often.
“I’m not saying I want out, but if something came to me that was concrete, I’d have no qualms about voicing my opinions to anyone at the club.”
Now this can be looked in a manner of ways and obviously what is said and what is then published can always be somewhat wide of the mark. Firstly you can perhaps look at these comments and think “Well at least they are refreshing and I appreciate the players honesty”
Or you could also think these are somewhat ill informed and says everything else bar formally asking for a move. Whatever your take on it though one thing you can agree on though is the fact that the comments have come at the worst possible time.
Not only will this over shadow Tottenham’s preparations for their opening league fixture at Newcastle but it will no once again raise the idea that all is not well in North London and that the club are once again struggling to keep hold of their big names.
Behind the scenes Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy will be fuming at what can only be adjudged to be ill advised comments and ones that should have been kept behind close doors, especially this will have their title rivals monitoring the situation with keen interest.
Already rumours are abound that Manchester United are interested in signing the former Leeds player and they will undoubtedly be boosted by the comments of the England international and will now consider testing the waters with a polite inquiry.
Another point this does raise is whether or not Tottenham can match Rose’s or any of their squads current ambitions. It’s all very well qualifying for the Champions League these past two seasons but players will not want to look back over their careers and just have a host of top four finishing to remember.
Tottenham are no longer perceived as a “selling club” that term has long since been removed but they still are a rung below in the football ladder when it comes to transfers if the club cannot deliver trophies then they are always going to be vulnerable to the bracket of clubs above them which is Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
As a club what they need to focus on now is bridging that gap in the transfer hierarchy and aim to be on a level with the trio of teams mentioned above. The only problem is it’s either going to take a whole host of money in which to do so or delivering a league title in the very short term.
It is certainly an exciting time for Tottenham but this transitional season is going to go somewhere to shaping the team over the next few years, should the momentum not continue then an already difficult job of warding rival clubs off may just get even tougher.
