Ranking The 30 Tottenham Transfers in the Daniel Levy Era
By Ryan Wrenn
#1 Best Youth Player: Gareth Bale, Left Winger
Transfer fee: £7 million
Former club: Southampton (Football League Championship)
Years with Spurs: June 1, 2007 — September 1, 2013
Stats: 203 appearances, 56 goals, 58 assists (in all competitions)
A 17-year-old left-back would sign from Southampton to join Tottenham but he would later switch positions once Harry Redknapp took charge as manager. It may have taken a couple of years to fully realize his potential — as a left winger instead — but when Gareth Bale had the ball, and was the only proven goalscorer on a team that lacked them, Bale simply dominated the opposition.
Time and time again, Spurs were bailed out by Gareth Bale’s magnificent efforts helping lead Tottenham to wins all by himself. The only thing that stopped Bale from continuing his success at White Hart Lane was fulfilling a dream move to join Real Madrid.
And that right there folks, are the top five best, worst, bargain bin pickups, most expensive and best youth players all signed with Daniel Levy as chairman of Tottenham. There may still be doubts that Levy doesn’t have a clue on what he’s doing, but no one can deny that he didn’t find some of the best footballers in the world to come and play for Spurs for a few seasons. While arguably having some of their best seasons wearing Lilywhite before moving on to other clubs and having mixed results.
With a sophisticated scouting model and the means to efficiently grow young players, Tottenham can transform itself from a big money buying club — with some players panning out and others busting — into a cost effective development club with no discernible impact on the pitch. We can expect more and more bargains like Alli in the years to come with Mauricio Pochettino as the man to bring about that change, and Dele Alli as its embodiment.
We’re done with what was, now let’s explore what could have been. Next up we’ve got the top five most rumored moves to Tottenham that never came to pass.
Next: #5 Best Transfer Rumor