Ange Postecoglou has accomplished plenty during his short time at Tottenham but perhaps his greatest achievement yet is persuading notorious last-minute shopper Daniel Levy to get his business done at the start of the transfer window.
Following the loan signing of Timo Werner from RB Leipzig on Tuesday, Spurs are one of only two Premier League clubs to have signed a player this month, along with Sheffield United, and they are closing in on a second addition after surviving a last-ditch hijacking attempt from Bayern Munich for Radu Dragusin.
Having seen his squad decimated by injuries and international call-ups over the past two months, Postecoglou made a public appeal for the club to reinforce their first team as a matter of urgency. Previous Spurs managers have employed similar tactics before with limited success, but this time the club has acted with expediency and efficiency.
Postecoglou’s options were extremely limited during last Friday’s FA Cup tie against Burnley, so much so that natural full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal started in the middle of defence, and two teenage forwards – Jamie Donley and Dane Scarlett – came on as substitutes. On Sunday, when Spurs face Manchester United, the Australian will be able to select an experienced German international striker and potentially a new £26m centre-back, if Dragusin is registered in time.
Levy has been criticised in the past, often justifiably so, for not doing enough to support his managers in the transfer market. Spurs famously went 18 months without any newcomers during the peak of the Mauricio Pochettino era.
That accusation cannot be made now. New technical director Johan Lange is believed to have played a key role in the swift pursuit of Werner, while his predecessor Fabio Paratici’s fingerprints are on the Dragusin deal given that he brought him to Juventus as a 16-year-old in 2018.
The move for Werner was opportunistic and partly motivated by Son Heung-min’s departure to the Asian Cup, but a loan with an option to buy makes it practically risk-free.
Dragusin, on the other hand, is a prime example of the club’s rekindled policy of pursuing up-and-coming talent. The 21-year-old Romanian has emerged as one of Europe’s most highly-rated young defenders this season and was coveted by AC Milan and Napoli as well as Bayern. Spurs have a joined-up recruitment strategy after years of muddled thinking.
Getting them through the door inside the first 10 days of the window is as surprising as it is valuable.
Since 2002-03, the first Premier League season to incorporate a transfer window, Spurs have bought or loaned 42 players in winter. Of those, 28 were signed in the final week of January, with 14 joining on deadline day.
The club’s frantic late trading has yielded mixed results. The deadline day signing of Jermain Defoe from West Ham in 2004, for instance, was an inspired move; the double swoop for Danny Murphy and Hossam Ghaly two years later was decidedly less so. Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen were belated stocking fillers in 2012, while Dele Alli became English football’s golden boy following his move from MK Dons in 2015.
Other notable transfers that Spurs have finalised late towards the end of January or the start of February include Michael Dawson, Robbie Keane (in his second spell), Steven Bergwijn, and Jonathan Woodgate, the last player to score a winning goal for the club in a cup final back in 2008.
Tottenham’s best January buys
- Jermain Defoe – £7m from West Ham (2004)
- Michael Dawson – £8m combined fee with Andy Reid from Nottingham Forest (2005)
- Dele Alli – £5m from MK Dons (2015)
- Lucas Moura – £23m from PSG (2018)
- Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski – £55m combined from Juventus
- Pedro Porro – £40m from Sporting Lisbon (2023)
Many of the club’s 11th-hour recruits have gone on to become key assets, particularly in recent years. The club’s last five January deadline day buys are Dele, Lucas Moura (in 2018), Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski (both in 2022) and Pedro Porro (in 2023).
Tottenham are becoming the exception to the age-old cliché that January is a tricky month to conduct business in.
As successful as some there were and have been, their bosses would have much rather have had them in place sooner rather than later. Waiting until 31 January to strike deals may occasionally make sound business sense, but is much less logical in the football world. Managers like to have new signings in place as soon as possible, whether that’s in June or January, to speed up their adaptation.
Postecoglou could have two by the time Spurs play their first Premier League game of 2024. Higher-profile managers than Postecoglou have had their demands ignored. That further indicates the extent to which the club is backing him to lead them to glory.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/QsSwWbK
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