This summer’s transfer activity at Tottenham can only be frustrating if you are new. The club has a rock-solid record tradition of being conservative, reactive and largely unimaginative, if the truth be told. There are, of course, a few exceptions, such as the time that Real Madrid remarkably offloaded Rafael van der Vaart on us, just before the deadline. What an absolute baller he was, incidentally.
Also, who could forget the transfer activity Gareth Bale’s money facilitated? Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, and Erik Lamela all arrived at N17 in the space of just 55 days, with a strategy of letting coach André Villas-Boas build for the future. That was more of a mixed bag.
This time around, the Deloitte Money League darlings would have us believe that times remain tough at the club, despite the unchecked amounts of cash from subsidiary events at the stadium, such as boxing and live music. That’s right, ‘Sell to buy’ has been wheeled out yet again, just when one thought that Daniel Levy’s ambitions to win the Premier League and the Champions League were based in reality.
Now, GMS, among many, are relaying the news that Son Heung-min has been sold to Los Angeles Football Club for what very much looks like a new MLS league record transfer fee of some $20-26 million. This is some climb down from the money that ENIC managed to claw back out of the Harry Kane to Bayern Munich deal. That said, the England captain was a little younger and very much more of an out-and-out goal machine.
Curiously, this sees Sonny depart for more or less what we paid for him, which will make Daniel happy. One has to question the long-term fate of our South Korean fans, who have made up a sizeable chunk of home game audiences.