After a flurry of rumor and speculation over the past week, Spurs did not end up signing West Brom’s Saido Berahino nor Fulham’s Moussa Dembélé in the January transfer window.
While the former didn’t seem entirely likely – especially after the botched attempt to sign the young Englishman back in the summer – the latter move seemed like it was a lock as late as this past weekend. Fulham’s reluctance to sign over their young striker without an immediate loan back apparently sunk the rumored £6 million transfer before it could be completed.
If Spurs were going to make a move for a striker in January – the narrative supposedly went – they would want the move to happen immediately. While Harry Kane has been absolutely prolific since becoming a regular starter for Spurs last season, there are legitimate concerns that the club lack the ability to cover for him should he go down. That became especially true after Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado were released and sold respectively.
It’s important to note that all of this turmoil came after repeated assertions by Mauricio Pochettino that the club could survive the remainder of the season without a second recognized striker in the squad. He has cited the form of both Heung-min Son and Nacer Chadli as evidence that either player could feature as Spurs’ striker. Neither might be nearly as potent as Kane tends to be, but they both should have goals enough in them to capably sub in when called upon.
More from Tottenham Transfer Rumours
- Tottenham’s Pierre Hojbjerg to Manchester United transfer rumour
- Tottenham transfer window state of the union
- Tottenham Hotspur sends two players out on loan
- Tottenham’s striker search continues: Brennan Johnson update
- Tottenham’s pursuit of a 21-year-old Gift heats ups
Spurs interest in acquiring Dembélé immediately does not mean that these claims from Pochettino were all hot air. We have no real idea what actually went on behind the scenes with the transfer, and Spurs’ insistence that the 19-year-old make the move immediately could have been for any number of reasons.
The primary lesson we can derive from this transfer window is that Spurs were not so concerned about acquiring another striker that they would follow the failure to sign Dembélé with an attempt for Berahino or another available player. If Pochettino’s claims were all empty confidence, then presumably we would have heard more about a scramble to get someone – anyone – in before Monday night’s deadline. But we didn’t.
Next: Spurs Lineups n' Tactics: Away at Norwich
What we do know for sure is that following the sale of Andros Townsend, Spurs’ books are essentially evened out for the 2015/16 campaign. That £53.4 million in sales and £53.4 million in purchases since the summer is no accident. It’s part of a relatively newfound desire for sustainability in Spurs’ transfer proceedings, one likely inspired as much by Pochettino’s youth and developmental oriented approach to improving the team as the cost of the club’s new stadium.
If acquiring a new striker – one that might or might not be needed – meant upsetting that balance, then it’s understandable that Daniel Levy or Pochettino himself would have nixed the deal before it could have happened, especially if the terms of that deal were not of an immediate benefit to the team. This is a new era for the club, one in which the wheeler-dealer tendencies of past eras have been exorcised. Spurs are leaner than ever before, but they’re also meaner. And that’s okay.