The Rice Money? – Lessons From Spurs

Blind Hammer looks at the poor results from a previous record transfer.

The transfer window of 2013 was dominated by the record £86 million transfer of Gareth Bale from Tottenhham to Real Madrid.

Like West Ham now, Tottenham were reluctant to part with Bale.
Like West Ham. Tottenham hoped to use the mega fee to overhaul and rebuild their team.
How did they get on?
Tottenham used the Bale money to sign seven players. They gambled on all of them as foreign recruits in an attempt to find value.
Yet, alarmingly, only one of these fired.

The dodgy Seven

Who remembers Roberto Soldado? Roberto was the star striker earmarked to fire their team rebuilding.
Yet, as Gianluca Scamacca has found, success in foreign climes does not necessarily translate into PL success. Costing £26 million from Valencia he proved one of the biggest flops in PL transfer history. He was a disaster, scoring only seven goals over two season and four of the were penalties.

Erik Lamela at £30 million was the biggest investment but he never achieved the intended filling of Bale’s shoes. He caused as much frustration as excitement.

Even less exciting was the failed recruitment of £8.6 million Etienne Capoue, who made just 17 starts, before disappearing to the obscurity of ~Watford.

Another failed recruit was the £8.5 million capture of Vlad Chiriches, who flickered for one season, only before disappearing back to Napoli.

Paulinho at £17 million was the third most expensive recruit. Ultimately, he also failed to structure the team rebuilding Spurs required.

Nacer Chadli at £6 million was arguably the best value, though again he can hardly be called a Spurs legend, but the final recruit bought with the Spurs money did fire.

Christian Eriksen at £11.5 was the best value recruit. Bought to fill another gap form by Real Madrid’s raid for Luka Modric, he twice was name player of the season and formed an integral part of the team before transferring to Inter Milan for a profit, at £18 million.

Yet one success out of seven would be a disastrous return for our Rice money.

Where did Spurs go wrong?

They focussed on untried foreign recruits who too often failed to adjust to the demands of the PL.
Gamble transfers of untried players is inherently risky. Christian Eriksen paid off, too many others did not.
Spurs would have been better off recruiting narrower PL experience rather than spreading out the net for seven foreign untested gambles.

We simply cannot afford to waste the Rice money on the similar untested foreign  model, This failed strategy has revealed players of the ilk of Seb Haller, Nikola Vlašić, Scamacca, Felipe Anderson and Simone Zaza.

We also must avoid the failed recruitment strategies of Leeds and Southampton in bringing in untried youngsters in the gamble that they will quickly adjust to the PL and provide re-sale value. Southampton got away with this for a few years but it has caught up with them.

To avoid the wasting the once in generation Cash input from Rice we need to focus on two or three proven performers at Premier League or at least Championship level. Foreign recruitment with the Rice money is simply too much of a gamble, as Spurs proved to their cost.

We can gamble but not with the Rice money.

David Griffith