Thursday 29 August 2013

Spurs must heed flood warning as they splash the cash

Changes are no longer afoot - they are here. It's easy to get overexcited when your team is making big signings but Spurs are getting into dangerous territory.

Too much more cash-splashing could flood the dressing room and past experience tells us it'll ruin more than just the tilework if the floor falls through.

With Erik Lamela's arrival from Roma imminent, our summer spending is set to outstrip even Manchester City's. And all sources - including manager Andre Villas-Boas - indicate that we ain't done yet.

But it is not the cost of this rapid recruitment that is the concern - we all know where the money is coming from after all - so much as the sheer turnover of players in a squad that cannot have expected this level of upheaval.

Gareth Bale was always going to cause some summer waves following such an impressive season but, having finished fifth by just one point, surely it was a case of signing a replacement then strengthening one or two positions - mainly up front.

Instead, there have been wholesale renovations with William Gallas, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore, Scott Parker, Steven Caulker and surely Bale all heading out and four so far coming in.

Argentine forward Lamela, 21, would make five but then we can supposedly expect deals for centre-back Vlad Chiriches and Ajax playmaker Christian Eriksen to be announced "within days". 

Add to that the links with Manchester United's Javier Hernandez and Real Madrid left-back Fabio Coentrao and it's all getting a bit silly.

In the last few years, a goalscoring box fox of Hernandez' quality is exactly what we have needed but that would make 10 new additions - and nearly all of them will expect a starting place.

AVB then has the unenviable task of juggling the egos and settling them into a first-team that - like so many others in the football world - is only allowed 11 players.

The last time the revolving door span so quickly was summer 2008, under Juande Ramos. 

Luka Modric, Gio Dos Santos, David Bentley and Heurelho Gomes - among others - arrived before the season started.

They were followed before the transfer deadline by Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko as the spending topped £104m.

More than 10 first team players including Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Younes Kaboul, Paul Robinson and Steed Malbranque were shipped out.

What followed is the single biggest horror show I have witnessed as a Spurs fan and "two points from eight games" became Harry Redknapp's mantra for the next three years as he came in to steady the ship and steer us away from the bottom of the table.

We were stung the previous season as well, when a turnover of 12 players, including the club-record £16.5m signing of Darren Bent, led to a run of one Premier League win in our first 12 games.

So, you see, we have previous for these mass overhauls and they don't always go to plan. It's no coincidence that in four seasons of relative calm we've now finished 4th, 5th, 4th and 5th.

But it's hardly panic stations yet. We've only completed four signings. And, unlike some in the past, they are quality players.

Paulinho would strengthen any midfield and we've been waiting on a goalscorer like Roberto Soldado for years.

Nacer Chadli fills the gaping hole on the left-wing and Etienne Capoue adds a more defensive option to what looks like a regular five-man midfield.

Lamela's £25m arrival sees us veer towards luxury but seems necessary to add excitement to a frontline now lacking one of the world's most explosive players.

And, but for Romania captain Chiriches,  we're hoping that is where it stops.

Otherwise it won't be long before that dressing room needs re-tiling.

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