The Hotspur conundrum

The impact of Chadli

In the lunacy of the transfer window as oil-bloated moneybags begin to throw their weight around and there was the vocal reaction to the Benteke debacle, a small transfer has seemed to escape the pervading gaze of the world’s media. This is our recent acquisition of the 23 year old Belgian Nacer Chadli.

The 7 million pound man is the second signing from new Technical Director Franco Baldini and could be the missing link in the Spurs jigsaw puzzle. Chadli is a versatile creative midfielder/winger with blistering pace and a tendency for long range pile drivers… remind you of anyone? This signing is critical to the new look side for a number of reasons; Firstly he will add some much needed width to the North London side as they were dire in some matches. Due to Bale moving inside and Lennon having an injury we were left with a side devoid of pace and with space severely limited, he will allow the fluid motion of the 4-3-3 format from attack to defence(4-5-1); However, the main input will be taking the onus off the mercurial Gareth Bale by providing a second source of goals and creative impetus. The new signing will also help the Welsh Wunderkind perform better as the defenders will be forced to go tight on Chadli and leave more space and time while indeed reducing the risk of him being doubled up on. This would make the side more balanced and stronger while also affording Dembele and Paulinho the chances to bomb up the field in a Lampard-esque style and contribute more goals to the side.

There is also no doubt about his quality as we well know after his brace for McClaren’ s FC Twente against us in our solitary Champions league appearance and his mere presence in a Belgium outfit amongst the crème de la crème of the Premier league stars. So the irrepressible question is: Can we win the title next season with all these components?

This is a title very much up for grabs next year with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all unknown quantities dealing with new managers and implementing new systems while we are well through our transitory period and AVB is just starting to implement his preferred system of 4-3-3 into the young, adaptable Lilywhites. We have the holder of the BPL player of the season, arguably two of the best talents from the much vaunted Selecao in Paulinho and Sandro while the emerging Belgian trio oozes class and guile. Needless to mention that one of the best goalkeepers in world football is the last line of defence.

However, many doubters would argue that if there isn’t a world class poacher in front then all of this speculation is in vain as there will be no-one to convert a new glut of chances. As Spurs’ targets are vanishing at an alarming rate perhaps this is a cause for concern. Is another big money striker needed for a title challenge and in what form will this come in. Can we just rely on Gareth bale for goals or do we still need an out and out forward to stop us relying primarily on his goals and to provide a plan B in case of ill form or injury. If Spurs don’t not strengthen in this area then they run the risk of struggling to break into the top four and become the nearly men once more. However we can be encouraged by the manager’s recent iteration that “We will continue to do our business and we have not stopped yet, for sure”. Someone of Soldado’s mould would turn a lot of heads in the direction of seven sisters and as a plea tom Mr Levy and Franco Baldini please make the investment as it could be the difference between a good year and a glory year… Watch this space. COYS.