Spurs and our record signings

[eddiebailey]

The best two players I ever saw in a Spurs shirt were Glenn Hoddle and Harry Kane, and we didn’t pay a penny for either.

Inflated transfer fees and insane wage demands just make this sort of marquee signing too risky now. Clubs like Brighton and Brentford are showing how to do it.

Hopefully in Ange we now have a manager who, unlike Conte, Mourinho or late period Pochettino, won’t throw his toys out the pram at not getting the big names, and will instead be prepared to trust young talent.

Just imagine had Pochettino not turned his nose up at a young James Maddison and landed us with Ndombele instead…

 

[carpediem991]

I’d rank them something like:
1. Gazza
2. Sissoko
3. Ferdinand
4. Armstrong
5. Sanchez
6. Lamela
7. Bent
8. Soldado
9. Rebrov
10. Pauliniho
11. Ndombele

That is a quite incredible list. Gazza aside pretty much none of them were worth the money, only Ferdinand, Sissoko, Armstrong and Sanchez were half decent and that’s being kind considering they were our record signings at the time, the rest of the list were an incredible waste of money.

I think the article misses out Dean Richards god rest his soul who for a while looked pretty decent in a very poor spurs side.

But yea absolutely incredible how bad our ‘record’ signings have been, especially considering some of the incredible players we’ve bought for fractions of the prices.

Just shows spending big isn’t everything but spending big this wrong so often is also someone’s fault…

To have Sissoko on rank 2 out of 11 on your record signings list says it all.

 

[eddiebailey]

I’d rank them something like:
1. Gazza
2. Sissoko
3. Ferdinand
4. Armstrong
5. Sanchez
6. Lamela
7. Bent
8. Soldado
9. Rebrov
10. Pauliniho
11. Ndombele

That is a quite incredible list. Gazza aside pretty much none of them were worth the money, only Ferdinand, Sissoko, Armstrong and Sanchez were half decent and that’s being kind considering they were our record signings at the time, the rest of the list were an incredible waste of money.

I think the article misses out Dean Richards god rest his soul who for a while looked pretty decent in a very poor spurs side.

But yea absolutely incredible how bad our ‘record’ signings have been, especially considering some of the incredible players we’ve bought for fractions of the prices.

Just shows spending big isn’t everything but spending big this wrong so often is also someone’s fault…

Feel Coco deserves to be higher. But as with Sir Les injuries scuppered him, which is always a risk with a big money signings.

I was really excited when we signed Dean Richards, it didn’t work out but who knows how much his health issues contributed to that.

 

[danielneeds]

Big Les was class, what's going on here?

He was a class player, but he had a lot of miles on the clock when we bought him, which Newcastle knew apparently, which is why they sanctioned the sale. Just a load of injuries lost a bit of pace.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Feel Coco deserves to be higher. But as with Sir Les injuries scuppered him, which is always a risk with a big money signings.

I was really excited when we signed Dean Richards, it didn’t work out but who knows how much his health issues contributed to that.

Na everyone says this about Lamela, fact is he was rarely consistently fit for a period of about 7 years and when he did play aside from the odd Rabona and a lot of effort and ankle kicking he wasn't particularly effective, for a £30mil at the time record signing that is a serious disappointing return and all of the others above provided more value.

I get that to some Lamela was a fan favourite because he tried really hard and used to love winding up Arsenal but the truth is he was valuewise a very very poor signing.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I think Ferdinand is way too high (33 league goals in 6 seasons, never more than 10) - Darren Bent had a better record. And then Coco is way too low - 177 games for spurs, including being an important part of Poch’s early breakthrough side. Otherwise would agree so Lamela up to 3 and Ferdinand down to 7

Fair I didn't realise Ferdinand only scored 33 goals I thought he'd got quite a few more than that. I still wouldn't put Lamela that much higher up because of his constant injuries and of those 177 games so many will have been sub appearances or not completing 90 mins but 177 games is a lot to be fair and like you say he was pretty good for a few months during Poch's earlier times.

Interesting debate, so what would your new order be then?

 

[Chimbo!]

List is in the article below. TLDR: it’s a disaster since Gazza. Armstrong, Ferdinand, Rebrov, Bent, Paulinho, soldado, Lamela, Sissoko, Sanchez, Ndombele. Says something when Sissoko is comfortably the best of the bunch

Tottenham's record signings and what happened next

A closer look at Tottenham Hotspur's club record signings in the Premier League era, with some enjoying far more success than others

www.football.london

I think Lamela became a good signing evrntually. Sanchez was fine, just not great. Bent the same. Ferdinand wasn’t bad either! So they aren’t all duds, but none will make our all time 11.

 

[Fergus]

Ossie?

Arrived at the same time as Villa and was £25,000 cheaper.

 

[Thenewcat]

I think Lamela became a good signing evrntually. Sanchez was fine, just not great. Bent the same. Ferdinand wasn’t bad either! So they aren’t all duds, but none will make our all time 11.

A few people have said this now, it’s not how I remember it and the numbers are objectively terrible. 33 goals in 118 games, never played more than 28 games or scored more than 10 league goals in a season. Interested to know why people think he did Ok?

 

[smithym]

I’m assuming you rate Sissoko fairly high on the list of record transfers….

 

[eddiebailey]

With bad buys there’s possibly a need to distinguish between
- players who might have been good but injuries meant we never saw the best of them (Ferdinand, Lamela, Richards)
- players who turned out to be bang average but who at least tried (Armstrong, Bent, Soldado, Paulinho, Sissoko, Sanchez)
-players who turned out to be surplus to requirements (Rebrov)
- players who didn’t give a fuck (Ndombele)

 

[Chimbo!]

A few people have said this now, it’s not how I remember it and the numbers are objectively terrible. 33 goals in 118 games, never played more than 28 games or scored more than 10 league goals in a season. Interested to know why people think he did Ok?

I class that as OK. Nothing special. So I think we’re just interpreting the same facts slightly differently. Maybe you’re right, but when you look at Soldado, Rebrov, and Postiga, Ferdinand seems fine - he actually scored some goals. He was average but not a disaster. If Richarlison or Johnson posted those numbers, would we say they were bad signings?

 

[daveduvet]

? David Bentley was pricey wasn’t he?

 

[Fergus]

You think Les Ferdinand was worth the money? He was a massive failure, a worse goals per game record than Armstrong or Bent and couldn’t stay fit either

Than I can only assume that you agree with me about all the other record transfers I cited. 10 out of 11 isn't bad.

 

[Thenewcat]

I class that as OK. Nothing special. So I think we’re just interpreting the same facts slightly differently. Maybe you’re right, but when you look at Soldado, Rebrov, and Postiga, Ferdinand seems fine - he actually scored some goals. He was average but not a disaster. If Richarlison or Johnson posted those numbers, would we say they were bad signings?

Fair enough - I put Ferdinand ahead of those guys as well when I did my rank, but a) I’d like to think Johnson will beat those numbers (tough for Richy after his start) but they are different players not pure CF goal scorers anyway

 

[Thenewcat]

Fair I didn't realise Ferdinand only scored 33 goals I thought he'd got quite a few more than that. I still wouldn't put Lamela that much higher up because of his constant injuries and of those 177 games so many will have been sub appearances or not completing 90 mins but 177 games is a lot to be fair and like you say he was pretty good for a few months during Poch's earlier times.

Interesting debate, so what would your new order be then?

Already said higher up - since Gazza,

sissoko
Lamela
Armstrong
Sanchez
Bent
Ferdinand
Soldado
Rebrov
Paulinho
Daylight
More daylight
Ndombele

 

[Thenewcat]

Then I can only assume that you agree with me about all the other record transfers I cited. 10 out of 11 isn't bad.

Yep. We used to be good at this until Gazza and Teddy, and since then we’ve been terrible

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Already said higher up - since Gazza,

sissoko
Lamela
Armstrong
Sanchez
Bent
Ferdinand
Soldado
Rebrov
Paulinho
Daylight
More daylight
Ndombele

Fair decent order.

 

[14/04/91]

It's not just record signings, a large percentage of our big money signings haven't worked whereas we've had huge success with players signed for lower amounts - basically the entire peak Poch first XI were bargains (all under £20m if my memory serves me right).
There was talk that Rebrov, Soldado etc had scared Levy off sanctioning large transfer fees and you can sort of see why. I can't think of one that has worked. Obviously with inflation/market conditions, you can't just look at numbers - there's an argument that £40m for Maddison isn't a big money signing these days - but generally we have much more success with the lower numbers.