Tottenham Hotspur's January Transfer Window Is Unlikely to Offer Any Surprises
The January transfer window is to the Premier League season what Boxing Day sales and summer vacation adverts are to Christmas Day. In the middle of one of the very best parts of the year, you are rudely pulled out of the moment with jarring reminders of a less festive and altogether more commercial world.
The wall-to-wall football that makes up the festive period in England is as good as the sport gets. The now-tiresome scuttlebutt that comes with the window—and its anticlimactic deadline day in particular—is just about the opposite.
Boring as it mostly is now (admittedly in large part because of the media), it is an unavoidable part of the season. For Tottenham Hotspur in 2016-17, it will serve as a barometer of just how they regard their ambitions for the remainder of the campaign.
By the first full weekend of the New Year, manager Mauricio Pochettino and his side will have a better idea of where they stand.
Securing tricky away wins over Southampton and Watford would strengthen their hopes of pushing back into the Premier League's top four. Following that up with a positive result and performance against league-leaders Chelsea would boost their title credentials considerably.
That is a best-case scenario. Anything less changes things somewhat, but the main point is it could decide or reaffirm whether the north Londoners plan to invest.
Going by Tottenham's previous two January windows during Pochettino's tenure, you would not anticipate them doing so.
Youngster Shilow Tracey was recruited from Ebbsfleet United in 2016. A year earlier, Dele Alli was signed from Milton Keynes Dons but then loaned back for the remainder of the season.
Generally speaking, there is not much value in the window this time of year anyway.
Clubs obviously do not want to sell players they may still need, even for a healthy fee. Allowing lesser names to move on is not a decision taken lightly either, given the risk they could come back to haunt them.
But desperation and/or the feeling you can find someone who makes just the difference you need will make clubs take a punt.
Tottenham and their chairman, Daniel Levy, are among the Premier League's most stringent when it comes to transfers. Aiming to improve on last season's title near-miss and the motivating factor of getting back into the Champions League after this season's all-too-brief run could sway them in loosening up a little, though.
In theory, it sounds great.
Spurs already have one of the division's best defences, a strong midfield and some top-notch attacking talent. Surely there is some mythical player out there who will bring it all together and take them to the next level?
Think the all-consuming drive, leadership and methodical brilliance of a Dave Mackay mixed with the exuberant star quality of a Jurgen Klinsmann (the former joined in March 1959, a crucial building-block in Bill Nicholson's double-winning team two years later, while the latter returned for a second, survival-salvaging spell in the middle of 1997-98).
Of course, finding such a figure is unlikely. But save for bringing in an Alli-type player with an eye on the future or an emergency stop-gap in the event of someone getting injured long-term, it is only a potential catalyst for greater things that is likely to tempt Pochettino and the Tottenham hierarchy.
Pochettino will also be tasked with getting more out of the players bought for him in the summer window.
"Today, when you look at our squad we have the possibility to play in different ways," he told Tottenham's official website in September. "That is important because we have different alternatives across the team in order to compete in all competitions. I am happy with the squad. We trust in all these players so we can be optimistic."
Pochettino's former player at Southampton Victor Wanyama has delivered. With last season's first-choice pair Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier missing time through an assortment of suspensions, injuries and different assignments, the Kenyan has become a mainstay in the team's central midfield.
The Argentinian described Vincent Janssen as "perfect for us" in the summer.
The striker has not lived up to that billing, not yet anyway. While he has struggled to find the net amid wider creative issues for the Tottenham attack, his new boss' complimenting of his work rate has been seen.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou got a five-star scouting report. "His qualities are unbelievable, he's an explosive player who can play on the left or inside with both feet, and he has a very good mentality."
Still, Pochettino also offered that "he needs time because he's young and still needs to work hard, he hasn't had a pre-season and he's still improving his fitness, so he needs a few weeks more to be ready."
The estimated schedule has proved off by a few months but Pochettino has rightly retained faith in Nkoudou. Time should see the talented winger come good.
Spurs' existing options and the coaching staff continuing to work on those only recently signed would seem to preclude them going for some of the notable players they have been linked with. Plus, as noted earlier, there is the difficulty of signing anyone this time of year anyway.
Bleacher Report's Dean Jones suggested in November that Spurs were contemplating pursuing Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge after looking at him last summer (see video below).
The north London club got a firsthand reminder of Sturridge's quality when he scored twice against them in their 2-1 EFL Cup defeat in October. On paper, the prospect of him paired with England team-mate Harry Kane, supplied by the likes of Alli and Christian Eriksen, is an enticing one.
But with both Sturridge and Kane naturally wanting so much of the ball, in practice, it may clash and will likely need time for work the team cannot afford midseason. Experiments with Janssen as part of a two up front have also impacted the shape and flow of the the team's supporting midfield work.
Besides, unsurprisingly, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has dismissed the notion of selling.
"The funny thing is you create stories that aren't stories, and then you ask me about the stories that aren't stories," he said earlier this month, per Sky Sports' Michael Kelleher. "There is absolutely no idea to sell anybody from the first-team squad. It wouldn't make sense."
Everton midfielder Ross Barkley and Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha have also been mentioned with Tottenham, per The Telegraph's Matt Law and The Sun's Warren Haughton respectively.
The latter story suggests Spurs will wait until the summer for a player they have gone after earlier this year, according to BBC Sport. While a speedier winger like Zaha makes some strategical sense already, it is harder to argue for the talented but often underwhelming Barkley coming in ahead of Alli or Mousa Dembele, or even talented prospects Josh Onomah and Harry Winks.
The January transfer window offers few surprises anymore. Tottenham going big in the market this season would be one of them.
While one or two leaving is possible, it would take a significant chain of events unfolding for Pochettino's team to end up with a worthwhile post-Christmas gift.
.jpg?w=480 "NFL Draft Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Fans React to Simpson Pick 😱")
.jpg?w=600 "McVay's Reaction to Ty Simpson Pick 😅")