Ranking The 30 Tottenham Transfers in the Daniel Levy Era
By Ryan Wrenn
#1 Worst Transfer: Roberto Soldado, Striker
Transfer fee: £25.8 million
Former club: Valencia (La Liga)
Years with Spurs: August 5, 2013 — August 14, 2015
Stats: 76 appearances, 16 goals, 11 assists (all competitions)
Before Érik Lamela trumped it mere weeks later, Roberto Soldado’s transfer fee was a record for Tottenham. He was just coming off a season in Spain where he was the most prolific goalscorer not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Tottenham figured they had gotten their man to solve their striking woes. They could not have been more wrong.
Somehow, Soldado’s skillset simply did not translate into the English game. He often would do just about everything right up until the final shot, which would almost invariably miss the target by some measure. Critics said he was suffering at first from over-confidence, and then as the matches wore on and the non-penalty goals did not come, it was later known as a shattered confidence.
As Emanuel Adebayor’s hot streak came and went just in time for Harry Kane to begin his ascent, Soldado got less and less look-ins to the first-team. By the end of last season he was the afterthought of afterthoughts. Tottenham did manage to get a decent check for him from Villarreal this summer, but still took a considerable loss on the striker.
We’ve done the best and worst transfers, now it’s time for the best bargains.
Next: Best Bargain: #5