Everything could have been so very different.
It’s easy to overanalyze a football team’s transfer activity in retrospect—the ins and outs, the right and wrongs—but Daniel Levy’s appointment of Ange Postecoglou as Tottenham Hotspur manager in June of last year signaled the arrival of a new, concentrated direction.
It was also fortunate that Spurs were vying for the Premier League title after missing out on continental qualification entirely; more problems could have been disastrous because teams like Aston Villa, Newcastle United, West Ham United, and Brighton & Hove Albion were all set to challenge the renowned “big six.”
Furthermore, Postecoglou’s early efforts at N17 hardly received the momentum boost needed when club record scorer Harry Kane decided he’d done his duty and finalized a transfer to Bayern Munich. These aspirational teams are fighting tooth and nail to tip the Premier League scales off.
Nevertheless, the hiring process since Postecoglou’s arrival has changed significantly from the ineffective, regretful method that has prevented silver-plated success for more than 15 years.
Over the years, Tottenham has undoubtedly produced some incredible players, but far too many have failed or faded away.
Even if it didn’t result in any awards, Tottenham’s decision to keep onto Kane and let him lead the team for nearly 10 years is undoubtedly one of their greatest recent success stories, with the Three Lions captain solidifying his status as a Premier League legend.
The Spurs career of Harry Kane
Although Kane did not leave Tottenham with any major awards, he has made his mark in the club’s history and is without a doubt one of the best goal scorers in Premier League history, second only to Alan Shearer in terms of scoring average.
Following a nomadic start to his professional career during which he bounced from loan stint to loan spell, Kane finally secured a chance in the latter part of the 2013–14 Premier League season, showcasing his skills with three goals and two assists from six games at the end of the campaign.
All the rest is history; Kane’s skill as a top center-forward is well known, and he ended his Tottenham career as the team’s top scorer, recording 278 goals and 64 assists in 430 games. Henry Winter of The Times called him a “supreme professional”.
After moving to Germany, Bayern Munich may be having a difficult domestic season, but Kane has shown his usual imperious strike ability, tallying 33 goals and eight assists from 33 games played so far.
As previously stated, he is without a doubt Tottenham’s brightest star in recent memory and may even be the greatest player in the team’s history. Levy and company did a truly remarkable job holding onto him for so long.
As everyone is aware, Kane was selected by Arsenal during his early development. Former academy coach Roy Massey told talkSPORT that Kane “didn’t have” the necessary skills to go through the Hale End ranks at the time.
A huge error, but one that can be forgiven given the situation; it would literally take perfect foresight to make sure that no aspirant is left behind when the much-feared release occurs.
Tottenham can celebrate their win, but even after several years, they were unable to persuade another England international, Bukayo Saka, who is currently valued at £90 million by Football Transfers, to choose the Emirates Stadium over the north London club when he was a young player.
Why Bukayo Saka opted for Arsenal instead of Spurs
The man himself disclosed back in 2022 that Chelsea and Tottenham, Arsenal’s London rivals, had tried to sign him as he was a young player before he became one of the Premier League’s biggest stars.
“I remember one session, and I don’t think I went to another one,” he remarked in an interview with Sky Sports. However, we always had Arsenal in our hearts, so I believe it was just a matter of going out and trying out other clubs.
“There were Chelsea and Arsenal.” I spent some time there; Watford and Tottenham were there. These are the ones that immediately come to me when I think of others; there may have been two more.
“I’ve always wanted to see Arsenal. There appeared to be a clear path and a great deal of faith in their youth.
“You could see the players coming up from Hale End to London Colney, and my dad also really believed in the project and he loved Arsene Wenger a lot.”
Right now, Arsenal is sailing high on a golden wave. Mikel Arteta’s team has been playing at a fast pace in the Premier League thanks to an incredible run of performance against both the resurgent Liverpool and the unstoppable Manchester City.
William Saliba has been the rock at the back, and Declan Rice has been the general in the engine room. Saka, on the other hand, is a phenomenal attacker whose quickness, vigor, and inventiveness can penetrate even the strongest defenses.
In terms of goals scored, assists, and shot-creating actions during the last year in Europe’s top five leagues, the 22-year-old is ranked in the top 11% of attacking midfielders and wingers by FBref, the top 16% for advanced carries, and the top 7% for tackles per ninety.
With almost three months of play remaining in the current campaign, just 16 goals and 15 assists have been recorded across all competitions. In the Premier League, players are averaging 2.5 crucial passes, 4.8 ball recoveries, and 5.9 successful duels per game, according to Sofascore.
Among the greatest on the planet? Although it has been up for discussion for a while, Saka is still very young and, as Arsene Wenger recently stated, he is not unquestionably “world-class”; it would take a courageous opponent to challenge that following his recent impressive performances.
Without a doubt, Saka would steal the show at Tottenham and work in perfect harmony with Heung-min Son on the opposite wing, providing the prolific South Korean with a more adaptable and imaginative style.
Releasing his impact and influence from Arsneal’s grasp over the last few years and bringing it to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would have, in fact, only helped to tip the scales in favor of Spurs, possibly laying the groundwork for historic heights that haven’t been reached very recently.
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