A Week Of Tottenham Transfer Rumours – Possible Departures
By Logan Holmes
There have been numerous rumours over the past weeks of players leaving Tottenham. The past week has seen some progress but nothing has been completed although some of the younger players have gone out on loan to Swindon Town.
Is Tom Huddlestone off to Sunderland? [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]
Tom Huddlestone
Tom Huddlestone has been linked with Sunderland for the past week. Spurs are believed to have accepted an offer of around £5m for their midfield player who has been on the fringes of the first team for much of the past three seasons due to injury and being unable to claim a regular place in the team. Following discussions, according to the London Evening Standard, it is thought Huddlestone has agreed terms and is due to undergo a medical soon.
Scott Parker
Scott Parker is a target for Queen’s Park Rangers with Harry Redknapp keep to recruit the player who he signed for Tottenham two years ago. Parker was a great success alongside Luka Modric in the first season but after his exertions for England in the Euro2012 competition missed the first five months of 2012-13 with injury.
In that time Sandro had formed a formidable partnership with new signing Mousa Dembele so Parker didn’t reclaim his place immediately. Injury to Sandro in January gave Parker a chance but the team was less effective than it had been with Sandro in place.
Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adebayor looked to be the striker set to leave White Hart Lane with a move to Besiktas almost completed. The latest news in the Sunday Mirror, however, indicated that the player doesn’t want to leave and is returning to London to commence pre-season training. The most significant point about this is that it restricts Tottenham’s options for signing a new striker for next season as they were looking to sell first to reduce the wage bill and raise funds.
Clint Dempsey
The news that Spurs are open to offers for Clint Dempsey has alerted West Bromwich Albion according to the Sunday Mirror. With Spurs looking to raise funds to finance bids for a new strike, possibly Christian Benteke, an offer may be looked on favourably while Dempsey will be anxious to have guaranteed football this season with the World Cup next summer. Dempsey’s agent, however, has stated that thee have been no discussions with Tottenham over Dempsey’s future and that he is happy at Spurs and looking forward to helping them into the Champions league.
Young Players
A number of young players who played regularly or the Under-21 team last season have gone out on loan. Swindon have benefited from these arrangements, signing Alex Pritchard, Massimo Luongo and Grant Hall on a season’s loan. They have also signed two former Tottenham full-backs – Jack Barthram was released by Spurs this summer while Nathan Byrne has been transferred to Swindon following a period on loan at the end of last season.
Hall, Luongo and Pritchard played for Swindon in the 2 – 0 win of Forest Green Rovers on Friday. The Swindon manager, Kevin MacDonald, resigned at the weekend so it will be a matter of waiting to see if that has any impact on the loan arrangements. All of the young players will be looking forward to the match against Spurs who open their season at the County Ground on Tuesday evening.
Another young player who was released by Tottenham this summer is Jake Nicholson. He was on trial at Swindon but has now moved to Crystal Palace on loan. He scored for them in a win in a friendly match on Friday. Nicholson made one senior appearance as a late substitute against Hearts at White Hart Lane in the Europa League in August, 2011. He looked confident in that short time on the pitch but was unfortunate as he missed much of the final 18 months of his time at Spurs, through injury. Speaking to the Croydon Advertiser, he said,
"“I’d been out for 15 months with a couple of injuries and now I’ve parted ways with Tottenham.”"
We wish the young players well in their year on loan and hope that they get the opportunity to experience first team football. to those who have left Spurs, we hope that they will get an opportunity to prove themselves at their new clubs.