Tottenham Hotspur Football Club archives on the Football Soccer Blog
In his first full season as manager Martin Jol achieved something that those who came before him had not. Spurs qualified for European competition by virtue of their league position. His Recruitment policy last season was to buy the cream of young English talent, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon, Calum Davenport, Tom Huddleston, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Routledge to name just a few. Jol has added some foreign talent this summer in the form of Dimitar Berbatov, Didier Zokora, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Dorian Dervitte. These players join an already strong squad at White Hart Lane that contains players like Robbie Keane, Reto Ziegler, Young-Pyo Lee, Edgar Davids, Teemu Tainio, Danny Murphy,Pascal Chimbonda, Paul Stalteri and Paul Robinson.
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Tottenham: Has Ramos Got A Masterplan Or Are His Spurs Falling To Pieces
Comments (0)After a poor finish in the Premier League Ramos has begun ringing the changes in the Spurs squad, moving on those not in his plans and those that do not want to be at the club.
Everyone in football knew that the majority of the transfers would not happen until the European Championships were over. However Ramos got in ahead of the game and made a bold move buying Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb, luckily the midfielder made it through the competition unscathed and may have inflated his price tag which was already a club record.
Ramos brought in two goalkeepers in Ranieri and the Brazilian Gomes who helped put the Spaniard’s side out of last seasons UEFA Cup. These arrivals signalled the end of Paul Robinson’s reign and he was offloaded to Blackburn Rovers. Ramos continued to reduce his wage bill buy getting rid of a number of players signed by Martin Jol. Sunderland manager Roy Keane was only too happy to avail of the services of players like Chimbonda, Tainio and Malbranque who had helped Spurs to two top five finishes in the last three seasons.
The biggest coup for Ramos though was the rapid and unexpected sale of the clubs biggest earner Robbie Keane. A player who in the euphoria of the Carling Cup celebrations said he would be happy to stay at the club for as long as he was wanted there. Just a few months on and the whiff of interest from Liverpool and he was ready to head up the M6 to Anfield. The irishman’s departure has made way for Darren Bent to come out of the shadows and stake a claim for a first team place. An opportunity he has grabbed with both hands scoring seven goals in two recent friendlies.
There have been a few more other high profile arrivals at White Hart Lane, Mexican youngster Giovani dos Santos moved from La Liga giants Barcelona for the benefit of his career on the advice of former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry.
John Bostock arrived amid controversy after a tribunal decided the fee to be paid to Crystal Palace should be just £700,000. A decision that angered disgruntled Palace chairman Simon Jordan, who has since vowed to leave football and find suitable new ownership for the Championship side.
The most recent arrival was that of David Bentley, who made it clear after the departure of Mark Hughes from Blackburn Rovers for the managers job at Manchester City, that his future lay elsewhere. Spurs won his services with a £15m bid that could rise to £17m depending on his success. The bitter pill for Spurs fans is that a large share of the £15m will be finding its way to Arsene Wenger’s transfer kitty, due to a clause in the players original sale from Arsenal to Rovers.
There will more than likely be more movement in and out of the Spurs dressing room with Dimitar Berbatov indicating that he would like to move to Manchester United, although Spurs would prefer him to stay or move to another league. Should he leave Spurs have been linked to a number or potential replacements including Andrei Arshavin who has allegedly agreed personal terms with the club.
Will Ramos be able to get all these new players to work well enough to improve on last years poor league position? Will he continue to have his midas touch for trophies? Given a full preseason will he be able to win yet another UEFA cup?
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