How Tottenham Hotspur came up short in the transfer market

Tottenham Hotspur had a good transfer market overall, as they sold some players and brought in some new blood, however, the window left Spurs with work to do in the future. 

Tottenham Hotspur undoubtedly had a successful transfer window. The team under the direction of new football director Fabio Paratici moved a number of players out and brought some new players in. Additionally, Tottenham’s two best players are still at N17. Harry Kane‘s long-rumored sale to Manchester City never materialized and Heung-Min Son signed a big extension. However, despite some very good things happening for the club during the window, there is still unfinished business as the Tottenham rebuild continues.

Spurs short on sales receipts

Tottenham likely would have brought in more players had they been able to get some more transfer fees. The Spurs did manage to move eight senior players on from last year’s squad. And while the sale of eight players should produce a nice windfall, the reality is the Lilywhites actually only sold four of those eight players.

Tottenham received a fee for Juan Foyth, Toby Alderweireld, Moussa Sissoko, and Joe Hart – that’s it. Those four sales totaled $35.97 million (£26.2 million) according to tramsfermrkt.com. Once again, that’s it.

Danny Rose, Erik Lamela, Paulo Gazzaniga, and as of deadline day Serge Aurier all left the club. Rose and Gazzaniga were both out of contract. Lamela was included on top of cash to bring in Bryan Gil and Serge Aurier came to a mutual parting of ways with the club after a suitable buyer could not be found.

So while Tottenham has started to move some players on it would be really nice if moving forward they could get real value for them.

Tottenham still has some holes to fill

The Spurs did a good job addressing a couple of priority areas like goalkeeper and center-half. However, there are definitely still some questions about some holes that seem to exist in the team. Whether or not you felt their goals were meaningful, Gareth Bale and Carlos Vinicius added a lot of goals last season – 26 combined – and in theory, a replacement was not brought in for either player.

Add in that there is no recognizable back-up for Harry Kane – outside of Son who has his own job – and the team is potentially again just one injury away from disaster. It is great Spurs kept Kane and renewed Son but what is the backup plan?

If Son goes down, there goes Kane’s best target and the most likely option to score if Kane does not. If Kane goes down that takes away the team’s best forward and best creative player and it does not seem like any cover was really found for either role, let alone both.

Besides striker, there is still a belief among many supporters that the team lacks a real creative force in the midfield. Maybe Tanguy Ndombele could be that but it seems unlikely. Bryan Gil likely is not quite ready for that big of a role, and who knows how many games Giovani Lo Celso will be available for in-between World Cup Qualifiers for Argentina.

The Spurs still have some balance issues

Sometimes a player is just so good the opportunity that presents itself is simply too appealing to pass up. That is likely the case with Emerson Royal. Tottenham needed a right-back heading into the window, however, after three games in the Premier League, Japhet Tanganga is going to be hard to beat out. However, when Emerson became available, the team pounced.

Emerson is likely to be a great player for Spurs however right now – even after Aurier’s departure – is one of three right-backs in the squad. Given injuries happen having three players at a position is not a bad thing, however, when it means only have one player at other positions, it might become a problem.

Currently, Tottenham has a few too many left wings and right-sided defenders and not enough right wings and left-sided defenders. The defense added two players this summer, plus the emergence of Tanganga and the return to form of Davinson Sanchez, yet all those players play primarily on the right.

Even the player who most often players on the left side of the center-back pair for Tottenham is probably better on the right – Eric Dier.

Then up-field, Son, Steven Bergwijn, Bryan Gil, and even to some extent Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso all could argue left-wing or left-sided forward is their best position. However, only one of them can play in that position and then one of them is going to have to play on the right.

Even if you look at the midfield, the Spurs have a number of workhorses but potentially lack the creative flair to break down stuck in defenses in the side. Dele Alli is known for making those runs that break down the defenses not delivering the pass. Pierre Højbjerg is showing a growing eye for the pass but he is not a creator and Oliver Skipp is there for his defense and distribution, not setting up goal-scoring opportunities.

All three, like Bryan and Lo Celso, can all do a job but can they find the pass to unlock Burnley or Leeds, or Chelsea? Like it or not we are going to find out.

It is clear Tottenham has a plan and has started a job.  It is also clear that the job is not finished, not that anyone expected it to be in one window. The balance issues that began years ago under Mauricio Pocehttino remain and it is going to take more than one window to fix.  The good news is, this summer was a big step in the right direction.