Tottenham Hotspur fans were bitterly frustrated with the club’s lack of transfer activity during January, but Johan Lange has now discussed why it was such a tricky month.
Conor Gallagher and Souza were the only two additions Spurs made to the squad, despite losing several key players to injury and selling Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace.
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Gallagher was signed for £36 million from Atletico Madrid; meanwhile, Souza arrived from Santos in a deal worth around £13 million.
There were big hopes that the North London club would be far more ambitious, but the Danish director explained why that simply wasn’t possible.
Johan Lange on Tottenham’s January window
Johan Lange has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur struggled to do more than two deals during the January window due to a lack of available players.
The new European format meant that teams were still playing group stage games in the latter stages of last month and could not afford to lose players.
The increased volume of matches and chances to rest also led to more injuries, which Spurs certainly felt by losing the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Richarlison and Pedro Porro.
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Speaking about the window, Lange told Tottenham Hotspur: “I saw this transfer window as one of the quieter January windows, across not only the Premier League, but across football.
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“I think, including free transfers, there were 33 across the Premier League. That is a result of the new format in Europe, now we have clubs competing in the Champions League and Europa League during December and the last part of January.
“That has changed the dynamics of the January transfer window with less business getting done, and of course, a knock-on effect of the fixture schedule is also, not only us, but a number of clubs say that they have too many injuries.
“This meant that there were simply not many available players across the market in January.”