Tottenham Hotspur: Scott Parker Is the Signing of the Season for Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 win over Arsenal in Sunday's North London derby has truly put to bed dark thoughts concerning the back-to-back defeats at the start of the season.

Since those consecutive losses to the two Manchester clubs—an unfortunate piece of scheduling exacerbated by the cancellation of their first game at home to Everton (due to the London riots)—Spurs have beaten Wolves, Liverpool, Wigan and Arsenal. They go into the October international break at sixth in the league table with a game in hand.

It is no coincidence that that sharp upturn in form has coincided with the arrivals of late-summer pick-ups Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker.

Adebayor's arrival on loan has given Spurs greater quality up front, but the real driving force behind Tottenham's revival is Parker.

The England international midfielder has settled right into the heart of his new team and is already playing as though he's been with the club for years.

He has always been a driven, intelligent and adaptable player, and he had ample opportunity to showcase all of those attributes last season when he almost single-handedly saved West Ham from relegation.

He may have started this season playing in the Championship, but it was inconceivable that such a talented player would remain in the second-tier of English football for too long. 

The amazing thing about his move to West Ham's bitter local rivals Tottenham was that it did not happen until deadline day, and that he only cost Spurs £5 million.

Even for a player who turns 31 later this month, that fee is an absolute steal. It follows on from previous bargain signings made on the final day of the summer transfer window by the club under Harry Redknapp's savvy management.

Last year, Rafael van der Vaart arrived from Real Madrid for a paltry £8 million and went on to be the club's top scorer. The £2.5 million they paid for Niko Kranjcar 12 months before that was, quite frankly, an insult, and the Croatian more than repaid that fee just with his brace in a 3-0 win over Manchester City midway through the 2009-10 season, which went a long way to securing Champions League football for the club.

All these purchases came about due to certain factors arising—West Ham's relegation, Real Madrid's glut of midfield talent, Portsmouth's financial struggles—but it was always Spurs who would swoop in to take advantage of the situation.

This season the talk of the transfer market is Parker, the reigning Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year. He has already shown himself to be the ideal foil for Luka Modric, allowing the Croatian playmaker the licence to roam forward and take more risks with the ball, safe in the knowledge that his new teammate has got his back.

It's the perfect tonic for the dynamic Modric, who so nearly left the club this past summer in a fit of frustration. He's now back playing his best football, and a big reason for that is Parker's calm dedication in the middle of the park.

He has been the most efficient passer of the ball in the opposition half so far this season, but that is not purely down to winning tackles and giving it simple to a more skilled teammate. Parker's ability to surge forward and make key passes in offensive positions has added another string to Tottenham's attacking bow, as evidenced by his assist for Adebayor's first Tottenham goal on his debut against Wolves.

Along with stalwart defender Ledley King and fellow new signings Adebayor and Brad Friedel, Parker is a key component of a high-quality spine that runs right through the Tottenham team this season. Few players manage to be both destructive and creative in the way that Parker does, but being a domineering presence in midfield has always come naturally to him. 

His leadership qualities are yet another trait he brings to the table. It is no small wonder that Arsenal did not make a more concerted effort for Parker's signature this past offseason.

Parker could have provided the Gunners with the sort of commanding presence on the pitch that has been so lacking during their current malaise. It is hard to imagine the Gunners would have gone to sleep as they did in the build-up to Kyle Walker's winning goal on Sunday if they had boasted such a motivator among their midfield ranks.

As another piece of deadline-day opportunism is already paying off for Spurs, it is impossible to think of another player who arrived this summer offering greater value for money than Scott Parker.