Harry Kane is reportedly considering his future at Tottenham Hotspur in a move that is likely to send chills down the spines of many Spurs fans. Should Tottenham’s record Premier League goalscorer go, they must learn from previous mistakes to invest more shrewdly when re-entering the market.
When Gareth Bale was sold to Real Madrid in 2013, the north London club had £90.9m to play with, and seven players arrived at White Heart Line, with a large fluctuation in their degrees of success. Only one player remains with the club seven years on, Erik Lamela, who has made 145 Premier League appearances, contributing 16 goals and 25 assists. Though his total of goals and assists in the top-flight are not to be sniffed at, the Argentine has failed to establish himself as a crucial squad member, arguably falling behind Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Dele Alli in the Spurs pecking order.
Christian Eriksen is possibly the only genuine success story of the 2013 arrivals, making 226 Premier League appearances, scoring 51 and assisting 66, meaning he was involved in a goal every other game. But his recent departure to Inter Milan was under a cloud of smoke and Spurs made a tiny profit of £5.26m which could have been significantly greater, as he is valued £76.5m, had he not allowed his contract to run down.
Paulinho made just 45 Premier League appearances and was a dependable midfielder during that period but rarely caught the eye before departing for China. While Nacer Chadli was much the same, rarely exceeding expectations before being moved on.
However, Roberto Soldado utterly failed to replicate his impressive abilities as a marksman in his native Spain while in north London, scoring just seven Premier League goals before being shipped back to La Liga at a £12.6m loss. Meanwhile, Vlad Chiriches was a squad player, who appeared only 27 times in the top-flight.
Etienne Capoue is perhaps the strangest of all the arrivals, he was woeful in the white of Spurs but has gone on to exert an exceptional influence in the engine room for Watford.
Ultimately what Spurs must take from the past is that their scattergun approach didn’t replace Bale’s influence on the team. Attempting to squeeze the likes of Soldado, Lamela, Chadli and Eriksen into Bale’s shoes only left enough space for one of those players to thrive. Should Kane, valued at £135m (Transfermarkt), depart the club, Tottenham Hotspur simply cannot afford to make such mistakes again and must opt for a more targeted approach at replacing their talisman.
