It’s difficult to criticise Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer operations in recent years.
So far, Ange Postecoglou‘s summer recruitment effort has been a masterpiece in how to navigate the transfer market. However, the spectacular work had begun in North London prior to the arrival of the Australian from Celtic.
Spurs finished outside of the Premier League’s European places last season, but agreements for Yves Bissouma (£25 million), Destiny Udogie (£15 million), and Cristian Romero (£42.5 million) suddenly look inspired, owing to the guidance of a manager who knows how to get a team ticking.
In addition, Spurs signed Guglielmo Vicario for £17.2 million, Micky van de Ven for £43 million, Brennan Johnson for £47 million, and James Maddison for £40 million in the summer, while Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro made their loan spells permanent for £29.2 million and £37.3 million, respectively.
According to Sky Sports, Spurs spent £212.3 million in the summer, but nearly half of that was offset by Harry Kane‘s £100 million move to Bayern Munich.
Spurs‘ net spending during Postecoglou‘s first summer was believed to be £102.3 million.
Based on the club’s performance this season and current place in the Premier League, it was money well spent and well justified given the calamity that occurred in 2022/23.
The London Evening Standard claimed on Wednesday (22 November) that Tottenham‘s recruitment is now being driven by statistics.
According to the newspaper’s website, Spurs have an arrangement with a “external London-based company” to help with their transfer deals, which is why such good recruits appear to have been brought in for bargain prices.
Pape Sarr is proving his worth after joining from Metz for £14.6 million in 2021, while Italian aces Vicario and Udogie were both brought in for less than £20 million each.
According to the Evening Standard, the organisation Tottenham is dealing with “specialises in sports intelligence,” but they also have “in-house” experts who compile shortlists of potential transfer targets for Postecoglou and the Spurs recruitment staff to consider.
Anyone who has watched the film Moneyball will recognise this as a football equivalent in which Spurs sign players not necessarily because they are big stars costing big sums. However, there are players who stand out in the world of statistics, algorithms, and xG.
Brighton have become the envy of the Premier League in previous seasons for the manner they have handled the transfer window.
Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, and Kaoru Mitoma cost them a total of £15 million, and while Mitoma is still playing at the AMEX, Caicedo and Mac Allister have brought in ten times that amount (£150 million).
Daniel Levy is no doubt salivating at the thought.
Spurs are outsourcing a significant amount of transfer ‘groundwork’ to a third party, and a mega-money deal like those two Brighton agreements would undoubtedly pay for their services for decades to come.
So far, working with this methodology has been extremely beneficial to Tottenham, but it is not solely due to the discovery of previously unknown players from Empoli, Metz, and Wolfsburg. The appropriate manager must be at the helm to steer them in the correct direction, bring them together, and instill a spirit that money cannot buy into their souls.
Postecoglou is already doing so, and if he can replicate that deal for the North Londoners, he’ll be worth far more to Tottenham than Caicedo was to Chelsea.
Leave a Comment