- Jul 9, 2007
- 12,780
- 13,817
I'll give you that Berchiche was a late bloomer from nowhere, that sometimes happens.
But the only difference I see is that Naughton got afforded 70 or 80 first team games over a couple of years whilst Smith didn't, because he was seen as the safer option and probably because money had been spent on him. That sort of squad filler signing (iirc the one we really wanted was Walker, and took Naughton as a punt too when dealing with Sheff Utd), for all clubs not just Spurs, is just completely unnecessary and where the vast amount of money in football, in my opinion, goes down the drain.
I watched a fair bit of Smith back then, and I'd rather Naughton any day. Smith had his fans but he was defensively all over the place. He was bypassed so regularly in championship and in the U21s. I think he really wasn't ready for PL football.
On the bolded bit, I'm pretty sure its the other way round. Naughton was having a great season as an under 21 year old and got into the championship team of the year. Walker had made ten appearances of professional football mostly in league 1, he was the punt. With Naughton we thought we were getting a capable player.
Naughton wasn't our greatest player but it was clear he could play in the PL. He got two Championship team of the year awards and was generally ok. I think Smith, despite being the more talented player, would have struggled in the PL at the time.