Thursday, November 21, 2024

Will January moves be enough for Spurs to revive top-four bid?

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It seems that all of a sudden there is a surge of transfer activity at Tottenham. The north London club has sold Christian Eriksen to Inter while turning Giovani Lo Celso’s loan move into a permanent one. The club from the capital has also spent a reported £27million plus add-ons to sign PSV and Netherlands winger Steven Bergwijn, with the signing confirmed earlier today.

The question is, will all this activity help to revive Tottenham’s bid for the top four?

A poor season so far

It is funny to say, but Tottenham may well have been a victim of their own success this season. Former head coach Mauricio Pochettino raised the level of the team d expectations in his tenure.

Tottenham became regulars in the Premier League top-four. It was almost taken for granted after such a long time in the shadows of arch-rivals Arsenal. By recent standards, Spurs are enduring a poor season, despite sitting sixth-place in the table and having one of the best coaches of his generation in the dugout.

The malaise set in far before the arrival of Jose Mourinho as head coach. The Portuguese boss has enjoyed a mixed start to life in north London. However, Spurs are still very much still in with a realistic chance of finishing in the top-four.

Big changes in January

While most clubs believe that the January transfer market is a difficult one to operate in, Tottenham have been busy reshaping their squad. Tottenham brought in Portuguese midfielder Gedson Fernandes from Benfica on an initial loan deal, with a view to a permanent deal in the summer.

The move was an understandable one, as the Tottenham have needed to strengthen in the centre of midfield for a while. The youngster will add fresh energy to the Spurs midfield.

Eriksen finally left the club joining Inter for a fee of £16.8million. The deal was not a surprise, as the Denmark international’s contract expired this summer. The midfielder wanted out of the north London club since last summer.

Last summer Tottenham prepared for Eriksen’s exit last summer by bringing in Argentinian attacking midfielder Giovani Lo Celso from Real Betis on-loan. Spurs have now taken up the option of signing the 23-year-old on a permanent deal for £27million.

However, possibly the most exciting signing of January is the reported £27million signing of Netherlands international winger Steven Bergwijn from PSV Eindhoven. The 22-year-old is highly-rated. He had previously been heavily linked with moves to Crystal Palace and Watford last summer.

Tottenham still need a striker

While the signings of Fernandes and Bergwijn look like good signings, Spurs still look short of a striker. The team from north London have, according to Sky Sports, are in talks with AC Milan over a deal to sign Polish striker Krzysztof Piatek. Tottenham wants a loan deal, while the Rossoneri are hoping to sell the striker in a permanent deal.

Signing a striker would certainly improve Mourinho’s team’s attacking options. In fact, signing a central striker could be the key to Tottenham working their way back into the Champions League spots. Spurs are currently outsiders to clinch a Champions League spot at odds of 7/2.

Tottenham are certainly not out of the picture for a top-four spot this season. They are just six points outside the top-four and the signings look to be good ones. Only time will tell if the moves made in the winter transfer window will be enough to see Mourinho side once again finish in the Premier League top-four.

Will January moves be enough for Spurs to revive top-four bid?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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