No two individuals have drawn more criticism from increasingly frustrated Tottenham Hotspur supporters for the current mess than the club's main decision makers Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange, and as Spurs get closer and closer to relegation from the Premier League, the ills of the winter transfer window are coming under further scrutiny.
It did not take Nostradamus to predict that Spurs would suffer for being so inactive in the winter when they could already see desperate needs littered across their squad, and yet the one expericned first team player Tottenham signed was Conor Gallagher - a player whom Atletico Madrid barely used and were all to eager to get rid of.
Not only that, but Gallagher did not fit a role that Spurs actually needed; he is worse than the existing options. Worse yet, Spurs both overpaid his wages and his transfer fee - and blatantly so. By definition, Gallagher was a winter panic buy after Rodrigo Bentancur and not even a replacement for the injured Uruguayan.
Tottenham panicked by buying Conor Gallagher
What makes the obviously failed Gallagher transfer look even worse in hindsight is the fact that Lange tried to justify his otherwise quiet transfer window by stating that Spurs did not want to make any panic buys in the winter. He specifically referred to them as stress purchases.
Well, two things: Firstly, maybe Lange and Spurs should have panicked, because they are under a whole lot of stress right now with survival on the line. Secondly, Gallagher himself was the worst of the panic buys, so in avoiding actually addressing real needs because they did not want to make regrettable purchases, Spurs made the ultimate regrettable purchase in Gallagher.
Once again, Gallagher was terrible, laying another egg against former employers Crystal Palace. He came on in the 42nd minute with everything on the line, and then Tottenham completely imploded. Every time he is on the pitch, with the exception of one or two games, Spurs are visibly worse, and the idea that he is any sort of an upgrade on, say, Pape Matar Sarr is laughable.
Tottenham blew 40 million pounds on his transfer fee and 200,000 pounds per week on his wages for nothing - or worse than nothing, to get closer to relegation. Gallagher's transfer makes Lange's words of panic buys look like a total lie, because what else was he? The former Chelsea midfielder was the panic buy, and Ademola Lookman, who will now face Spurs as a star for Atleti, would have been the wise signing to stave relegation.