‘A bang average window’ – Former Spur critical of club’s transfer activity

Jamie O’Hara has said that Tottenham have had the worst January transfer window of any of the top clubs in the Premier League and accused chairman Daniel Levy of ‘pulling the wool over’ the fans’ eyes.

Two players arrived through the door at Hotspur Way in January, with Arnaut Danjuma arriving on loan with an option to £21m (Rob Guest on Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham Podcast) while Pedro Porro was signed on an initial loan fee of £5m with an obligation to make the deal permeant for an additional £39m (Sky Sports).

It was reported ahead of the transfer window that right wing-back and the forward line are the two areas that Antonio Conte wanted to strengthen (90 min), with the Spurs boss even insisting just before the window opened that he does not want to sign a centre-back (Football.London).

In his interview with the club’s official website on Wednesday, Fabio Paratici explained that Tottenham are pleased with the business they have done, explaining that not many players were available to buy mid-season.

He said: “The January transfer window every time is not easy because, first thing, you can’t choose in all the market because a lot of players are not available because they are playing, because the other club are not happy to sell the player. Sometimes you can get your targets so we are happy that we joined our targets and we added two international players to our squad.

“I think we have to look at not the small picture about this transfer window but the big picture of our project. It’s a long-term project so when I came here 18 months ago, we used the word ‘rebuild’ the squad to be competitive in the most high level in the Premier League and we continue like this so every transfer window we sought to add two or three players, two or three pieces to our squad, to our plan. We want to sign just players that can add something to us, not to just sign players because we have to sign players or because we are under pressure about signing players. It’s not our style – we know our plans, we know our philosophy and we continue like this.”

However, O’Hara believes that the Lilywhites needed to sign a central defender, a wing-back and a creative midfielder as part of their transfer activity last month.

The former Spurs midfielder told Grosvenor Sport: “Tottenham’s window has been the worst of all the top clubs, they need more. They’ve bought in Pedro Porro, but it’s not enough. A bang-average window again,”

“The last-minute, getting the deal done with Porro sums up Daniel Levy and Tottenham’s transfer window. It’s like they are pulling the wool over our eyes. Like hold on a minute, where is the rest of the signings we need? Porro is a great deal; he improves the team; we need players who will boost the team, and Porro does that, but I kind of feel like we could have had Kieran Trippier two seasons ago for £12 million. It is one signing; Spurs need a lot more.

“Where are the rest of the signings? We need some more signings! We need a centre half, another wingback and a creative midfielder. There are good players going for cheap out there. Isco is out there, and he almost went to Union Berlin. I’d take him tomorrow. Get him in! That’s a creative midfielder that could do something unbelievable. Everyone is happy we have Porro, but it’s the same problem; we still have Eric Dier and are lacking a midfielder that can open the door.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It is funny that so many people are choosing to completely ignore the fact that Conte himself said that a centre-back is not a priority in January, in order to advance their agenda against Daniel Levy and ENIC.

Besides, not only have Spurs spent £44m on Porro but they have also sacrificed 15 per cent of their sell-on clause for Edwards and giving up a potential future transfer fee for Doherty to make way for the Spaniard.

So, in essence, they have spent close to a club-record fee on yet another right wing-back despite the fact that Sporting made the deal as difficult as possible. The club thus demonstrated that they were willing to pay over the odds to get Conte’s top target.

The fact that O’Hara names Isco as someone Spurs should have signed, tells you all that you need to know about his understanding of Conte’s system, and who would improve the side.

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