£20m+ Signings since 2019 - review of Big Six from The Athletic

[chas vs dave]

So sess and Emerson are miss' but the jury's out on sancho who has been a 70m flop

 

[Stuart Leathercock]

The lesson here is we shouldn't spend more than 20M on anyone. Levy is spending too much

Ourselves and Chelsea have been spending recklessly. Bentancur and Kulu change the metrics for us a bit and haven't been included in that assessment, but we've wasted far too much. Ndombele and Royal are probably the two biggest misses for us, just scandalous fees for guys with contrasting but deep problems (attitude and ability).

20M is a good threshold to evaluate going forward. I'd spend more on Harvey Barnes, for example, but also spend less to get Trossard if Barnes isn't available. Is there a very real chance that Porro will have an effect at RWB for us that (for example) Trippier is having at Newcastle. If so, pay the release clause. If there are doubts, don't.

And there ar eplenty of hits on these lists that are decent but not worth the outlay:
White, Zinchenko, and Tierney are fine, but not worth what they paid
Antony, MAguire, MArtinez, Wan-BIssaka - all ok, not worth up to 80M
HAvertz, Mendy, even Richarlison (as others have said) - work to do to justify those crazy transfer fees

It seems only Man City really know what they're doing by getting it consistently right for the most part. And that is likely a combination of good scouting and structure, plus an astronomical salary level.

I always find it strange that Lo Celso escapes the wroth of our fans. He was a FAR worse buy than Royal IMO. His output for us was probably also worse than Ndombele's (who at least got some goals and assists).

 

[The Apprentice]

Richarlison named a hit is amusing. Barely played and scored twice in the cup. Gil deserves a jury’s out.

But whether we agree with the ratings or not, it’s fairly apparent that bar Romero we haven’t signed anyone in that bracket for four years that has made any sort of impact on the first XI. Just all round poor recruitment.

 

[punkisback]

I always find it strange that Lo Celso escapes the wroth of our fans. He was a FAR worse buy than Royal IMO. His output for us was probably also worse than Ndombele's (who at least got some goals and assists).

I agree completely. I’m not part of it as I liked him but a lot Fans never really warmed to Ndombele, they just saw what they thought was a stroppy bloke playing in a languid style and made an early judgement.

 

[brasil_spur]

Taking this back further in time (10 years) it only gets worse (brasil_spur ratings):

Richarlison - Jury's Out
Romero - Hit
Bissouma - Jury's Out
Kulusevksi - Hit (technically not purchased yet but will include)
Gil - Jury's Out
Royal - Miss
Lo Ceslo - Miss
Reguilon - Miss
Ndombele - Miss
Sess - Miss
Bergwijn - Miss
Sanchez - Miss
Aurier - Miss
Moura - Miss (tough one to call as had some excellent moments, but overall a miss in my opinion)
Sissoko - Miss
Janssen - Miss
Son - Hit
Soldado - Miss
Lamela - Hit (another touch call, but just scrapes a hit for me)
Paulinho - Miss

To me it's clear we lack a proper player buying strategy, many of those above names were in the mix with other players and we let the market ride out a bit to see who was the "best deal" that could be done. Its a occurring picture that annoyingly we're still seeing today.

 

[Stuart Leathercock]

Taking this back further in time (10 years) it only gets worse (brasil_spur ratings):

Richarlison - Jury's Out
Romero - Hit
Bissouma - Jury's Out
Kulusevksi - Hit (technically not purchased yet but will include)
Gil - Jury's Out
Royal - Miss
Lo Ceslo - Miss
Reguilon - Miss
Ndombele - Miss
Sess - Miss
Bergwijn - Miss
Sanchez - Miss
Aurier - Miss
Moura - Miss (tough one to call as had some excellent moments, but overall a miss in my opinion)
Sissoko - Miss
Janssen - Miss
Son - Hit
Soldado - Miss
Lamela - Hit (another touch call, but just scrapes a hit for me)
Paulinho - Miss

To me it's clear we lack a proper player buying strategy, many of those above names were in the mix with other players and we let the market ride out a bit to see who was the "best deal" that could be done. Its a occurring picture that annoyingly we're still seeing today.

Eriksen, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Hojbjerg, Davies?

 

[brasil_spur]

Eriksen, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Hojbjerg?

All less than £20m (+/- 10%)

 

[Stuart Leathercock]

All less than £20m (+/- 10%)

Suspect a few of those you listed were also less than £20m, especially as a lot of our transfer fees are heavily incentivised with bonuses. Janssen for example, I'd bet we got nowhere near the £20m full fee for. Paulinho wasn't even a £20m fee including the bonuses.

I also think you've been a little harsh on some of them. Sissoko for example played a lot of games for Spurs. Calling him an outright miss is incorrect IMO. Moura is also definitely not a miss. Nor Bergwijn IMO (who we got our money back on).

I think the problem is often that we buy 'cover' players and then expect them to be as good as the player they are covering. If we actually went out and bought players we felt were going to walk straight into the first team then we'd likely have more hits than misses. Problem is there is additional cost in transfer fees and wages to sign such players.

 

[BPR_U16]

What this shows is that we do sometimes spend the money - just not on the right players.

Naturally changing managers doesn't help the situation

 

[Rogmeister]

I cannot see how Richarlison is a hit. I think they felt sorry for us

 

[npearl4spurs]

just damning....the glaring reason we are on the edge of mid-table if Conte goes.

 

[Yiddo100]

I cannot see how Richarlison is a hit. I think they felt sorry for us

Probably influenced by the world cup, even though that shouldn’t be considered.

 

[For the love of Spurs]

Taking this back further in time (10 years) it only gets worse (brasil_spur ratings):

Richarlison - Jury's Out
Romero - Hit
Bissouma - Jury's Out
Kulusevksi - Hit (technically not purchased yet but will include)
Gil - Jury's Out
Royal - Miss
Lo Ceslo - Miss
Reguilon - Miss
Ndombele - Miss
Sess - Miss
Bergwijn - Miss
Sanchez - Miss
Aurier - Miss
Moura - Miss (tough one to call as had some excellent moments, but overall a miss in my opinion)
Sissoko - Miss
Janssen - Miss
Son - Hit
Soldado - Miss
Lamela - Hit (another touch call, but just scrapes a hit for me)
Paulinho - Miss

To me it's clear we lack a proper player buying strategy, many of those above names were in the mix with other players and we let the market ride out a bit to see who was the "best deal" that could be done. Its a occurring picture that annoyingly we're still seeing today.

Look at the very top one, the more recent, I do think Kulusevski, Richarlison, Romero, Bissouma and maybe Gil will prove themselves good over time. there has been a marked increase in good signings since Paratici came in and Hitchin went away. So there is at least that bright spot.

Was Hitchin just rubbish or something, we seem to have been a shambles during his tenure.

 

[StockSpur]

I cannot see how Richarlison is a hit. I think they felt sorry for us

i said in the summer i wasnt convinced for which i was universally despised on here, gratifying tbh ?

 

[Freddie]

Suspect a few of those you listed were also less than £20m, especially as a lot of our transfer fees are heavily incentivised with bonuses. Janssen for example, I'd bet we got nowhere near the £20m full fee for. Paulinho wasn't even a £20m fee including the bonuses.

I also think you've been a little harsh on some of them. Sissoko for example played a lot of games for Spurs. Calling him an outright miss is incorrect IMO. Moura is also definitely not a miss. Nor Bergwijn IMO (who we got our money back on).

I think the problem is often that we buy 'cover' players and then expect them to be as good as the player they are covering. If we actually went out and bought players we felt were going to walk straight into the first team then we'd likely have more hits than misses. Problem is there is additional cost in transfer fees and wages to sign such players.

Come on dude. Sissoko was awful and was the Royal of his time in terms of how much stick he got. 2 bad seasons then suddenly became good for one year and then back to terrible. One good season out of five for 30 million isn't good value.

 

[Stuart Leathercock]

Look at the very top one, the more recent, I do think Kulusevski, Richarlison, Romero, Bissouma and maybe Gil will prove themselves good over time. there has been a marked increase in good signings since Paratici came in and Hitchin went away. So there is at least that bright spot.

Was Hitchin just rubbish or something, we seem to have been a shambles during his tenure.

Yes. But the problem was deeper than that with a complete lack of strategy, direction and funding from the top.

 

[guiltyparty]

“Richarlison has been a smart addition”

This is a stretch and a half. Done virtually nothing to be considered a wise purchase at £60m. Time will tell I guess but seems incredibly nice in the context of giving others a kicking

 

[Neon_Knight_]

It would look slightly less horrendous if Kulusevski was included in this (permanent deal only postponed for cash-flow reasons). Also, Bentancur should have cost more than £20m, so not including him definitely distorts this picture of our transfer success. Our astute business last January is completely overlooked.

Richarlison as a "hit" is generous - probably more influenced by his World Cup performances for Brazil than what he's done in a Spurs shirt. Some decent performances, but those have been dispersed between injuries and lacklustre / impact-less / very brief substitute appearances.

Can Maguire really be considered a hit after being dropped for much of this season?

 

[Cochise]

Richarlison should be a "jury's out". I don't think it's easy to classify every player. Bergwijn for instance is an example of a "miss" but realistically he was a Son backup and did well at times. Those two goals late at Leicester arguably were the difference between top 4 and not last season. Moura cannot be a miss because of Amsterdam, even if he has been poor for large spells.

The biggest eye opener for me though is how many +£40m signings we have made compared to the rest, not to mention the +£60 million ones. We are so severely outgunned in the transfer market, it's a joke.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

“Richarlison has been a smart addition”

This is a stretch and a half. Done virtually nothing to be considered a wise purchase at £60m. Time will tell I guess but seems incredibly nice in the context of giving others a kicking

I kind of get the feeling whoever wrote that watched the World Cup and just assumed he was a hit.