Tottenham Must Show Ambition To See Off Paris Saint-Germain

Tottenham must show ambition in the coming weeks if they are to see off Paris Saint-Germain who have in the past three days initiated a two pronged attack to prise away Spurs’ greatest assets – Andre Villas-Boas and Gareth Bale.

Andre Villas-Boas a target fror PSG? [Photo: Jav _The_DoC_66]PSG Interested in AVB

Tuesday: The news broke on Twitter and was reported in the Daily Mail that Paris Saint-Germain were preparing to approach Andre Villas-Boas to take over as their manager to replace the departing Carlo Ancelotti who is wanted in Spain by Real Madrid to succeed the departed Jose Mourinho.

PSG Want Gareth Bale

Thursday: The shock of that news was followed by further reports in the Mail that PSG are prepared to pay a record breaking fee of £85m to acquire the services of Gareth Bale. Tottenham have been steeling themselves all summer to ward of any approach from Real Madrid who are poised to strike once their manager has been appointed. PSG with their financial backing would be able to rival any bid which Real might offer to tempt Tottenham into selling Bale.

Constant speculation over Gareth Bale’s future. [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]Lack of Ambition

Tottenham have been accused of showing a lack of ambition in past transfer windows. Spurs frequently talk the talk when transfer negotiations are going on but have failed to deliver at the last moment. The past two January transfer periods are prime examples where a major signing could have seen Spurs into the Champions League. They were reported to be in negotiations with various players but in the end nothing materialised and at the end of the season that could also be said about Spurs in terms of Champions League qualification.

Last July Tottenham took a chance when they appointed Villas-Boas. He had had a torrid time at Chelsea and with the media but he has turned that around in the past eleven months and his star is once again in the ascendancy. Tottenham was good for Villas-Boas but AVB has also been good for Tottenham who achieved their highest ever points total in the Premier League and again were unfortunate to miss out on the Champions League.

Villas-Boas is a young, ambitious manager who craves success and PSG can offer him the opportunity of managing in the Champions League plus an unlimited budget to sign the top players needed to bring success. AVB has developed an affinity with Tottenham in his one season in charge but any offer which might be made by PSG could prove a very tempting proposition.

Faced with the prospect of fighting off bids for Gareth Bale from Real Madrid and PSG and the possibility that the French champions could also tempt AVB away, it is even more important that Daniel Levy is decisive in his decision making concerning transfer negotiations and brings the deals to an early and successful conclusion.

Tottenham can not afford to allow AVB to leave through a lack of ambition and effort on their part to sign the players the manager wants to improve the team and its chances of success. In a similar vein Spurs need to show Gareth Bale that they are ambitious and have the desire and the will to not only improve his contract but to also persuade top class players to come to White Hart Lane to strengthen the team and make it a trophy winning club.

If Tottenham don’t show that ambition they could suffer a “double-whammy” from PSG and lose both their manager and their star player in the coming weeks. If AVB were to leave, I expect that Gareth Bale would not be far behind him and they could well meet up again in Paris as Bale has great respect for his manager and how he has helped him develop his game in the past season.

I’m sure that there have been times in Daniel Levy’s very successful business career that he has speculated to accumulate. It is a concept that he has frequently set aside in his dealings on behalf of Spurs, preferring the cautious approach. This transfer window may well be the occasion when he needs to make that big step forward in faith and back his manager with the players he wants to sign and get the deals completed quickly.

If the Chairman fails to do that the consequences for Tottenham don’t bear thinking about as they could face losing not only Gareth bale but also Andre Villas-Boas.

I trust that Daniel Levy will be aware of the dangers of dithering and waiting for the end of August bargain sales – this summer they might come too late to save Tottenham Hotspur from being a club permanently on the outside looking in.