Ange Postecoglou savages Tottenham and reveals incredible four-man shortlist they rejected
Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he looked at signing four players during his second summer transfer window at Tottenham, only for the club not to bring any of them in
Ange Postecoglou has slammed Tottenham's transfer policy and revealed he had a four-man transfer shortlist in mind that the club REJECTED during the 2024 summer window.
Postecoglou, 60, was sacked from his role as head coach at Tottenham last summer following two years in north London. During his time in charge, the Aussie guided Spurs to a fifth-place finish in his first season before ending the club's 17-year trophy drought by winning the Europa League last campaign.
However, Spurs decided to make a change with Postecoglou getting axed and Thomas Frank coming in to replace him after doing a stellar job at Brentford. Postecoglou recorded a 46.5 per cent win rate at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, winning 47 and drawing 15 of his 101 matches in charge.
But now, after describing Tottenham as "not a big club" when it comes to wages and transfer fees, Postecoglou has savaged his former club and claimed he tried to sign Pedro Neto, Bryan Mbeumo, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi during the 2024 summer transfer window - all of which did not happen.
Speaking on The Overlap, Postecoglou said: "At the end of my first year when we finished fifth, for me I was like, 'how do you go from fifth to challenging?' Well, we had to sign Premier League-ready players, but finishing fifth that year didn't get us Champions League, we didn't have the money so we ended up signing Dom Solanke who I really like and three teenagers (Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert).
"I was looking at Pedro Neto, Mbeumo, Semenyo at the time and Marc Guehi. Because I said if we want to go from fifth to there, that is what the other big clubs were doing at that moment.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest news, analysis and much more on Mirror Football's Facebook page
"Those three teenagers are outstanding young players and I think they'll be brilliant players for Tottenham, but they're not going to get you from fifth to fourth and third. But what was coming out from the club was that we are a club that can compete on all fronts."
Postecoglou added: "I still felt like Tottenham as a club were saying we're one of the big boys but in reality I don't think they are, in my experience over the last two years. You see Arsenal spend £100m on Declan Rice, I don't see Tottenham doing that. Maybe now, I don't know."
After losing Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, Tottenham spent more than £210million during Postecoglou's first summer, with the club signing James Maddison, Pedro Porro, Brennan Johnson, Micky van de Ven, Dejan Kulusevski, Guglielmo Vicario, Alejo Veliz, Ashley Phillips and Manor Solomon.
It was backing that helped led Spurs to a remarkable start to Postecoglou's reign, with Tottenham sitting top of the Premier League with 20 points after eight matches. Although Tottenham ended up dropping off and finishing fifth, two points behind fourth-place Aston Villa, there was a feeling and belief that the Aussie could build something special in north London if he was backed in his second summer.
But, having missed out on Champions League football, Tottenham spent under £80m less on transfers, with Dominic Solanke the most high profile recruit. Teenagers Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert were the others to come on, though Spurs didn't lose a significant first-teamer, such as Kane.
While Spurs did go on and win the Europa League, performances and results in the Premier League dipped significantly and it led them to finish in 17th, their lowest final position since 1976/77. That contributed to Postecoglou's exit, with then-Spurs chairman Daniel Levy feeling a changed needed to happen.