Tottenham Shouldn’t Rue Losing Batshuayi

Deep down, anyone who has been paying attention knew what the outcome of Tottenham’s pursuit of Michy Batshuayi would be.

The player — a striker with a season of starting experience under his belt with Marseille in Ligue 1 — bore all the hallmarks of a Tottenham player. Youth, energetic, strong and, best of all, Belgian. When his name first began to surface in the rumors mills, it seemed like this could be the story to define Tottenham’s 2016 summer transfer window.

Except it wasn’t. The club was “interested”, a vague and broad enough term that might include most clubs in Europe. To our knowledge, Tottenham lodged no bids. Yes, Mauricio Pochettino explicitly said back in April that the club were looking after Batshuayi, along with others clubs. He also said that the striker was only one of several options for the club.

Based on what we know, it’s a stretch to consider the loss of Batshuayi to Chelsea anywhere close to devastating. If anything, Tottenham’s supposed front-runner status just provoked one of the club’s rivals into making a hasty and not wholly informed move.

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Consider the facts: Batshuayi has just one full season as Marseille’s starting striker. He made the most of that opportunity, scoring 17 goals in 36 appearances per Transfermarkt. It was a season that was otherwise close to devastating for the club as a whole, which lost some of its most influential players last summer — Dimitri Payet, André Ayew, Giannelli Imbula — along with coach Marcelo Bielsa and consequently dropped from 4th place in 2014/15 to 13th this most recent term.

So, yes, Batshuayi thrived despite the club losing its best creators and coach, and that’s no mean feat. But’s it’s still one good season in a league that’s rapidly losing its place as the fifth best in Europe. In a vacuum, how much is a player such as Batshuayi worth in terms of transfer fee and weekly salary?

Now, of course, we’re not operating in a vacuum. We’re in the pure capitalism of the summer transfer market, where market inefficiencies (young, but with experience) are rapidly being exploited to the extent that they are becoming the market. Suddenly a player like Batshuayi, who realistically should go for approximately as much as fellow Tottenham targets Vincent Janssen and Antonio Sanabria at roughly £10 million, is valued above £30 million.

Tottenham were never going to pay that much for Batshuayi, or any other player this transfer window. They no longer have Gareth Bale money to throw around, and with Pochettino’s youth and development-based approach probably wouldn’t want to even if they did.

Are they at a disadvantage now because one of their primary rivals for the Premier League title next season is now equipped with the likes of Batshuayi? There’s no easy way to tell.

The Belgian could be a revelation, adapting to the Premier League like a fish to water and becoming the next Harry Kane.

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Or, just as likely, he could struggle and fail to make as quick an impact as Antonio Conte likely wants out of Chelsea after their forgettable title defense last season. Perhaps he becomes the next Romelu Lukaku, sold off after barely being given a chance, or perhaps he becomes the next Memphis Depay.

The point is, Chelsea have invested a lot of money (even if they have enough to burn) on what is essentially a big unknown. Tottenham don’t have that luxury, and don’t want it.