Tottenham Hotspur got plenty of transfer business done early in the window this summer as Jose Mourinho looked to address the holes within his squad.
The Lilywhites introduced defensive midfielder, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to the equation at the beginning of the window, signing from Premier League rivals Southampton. Kyle Walker-Peters was then sold to the same team.
Joe Hart was then scooped up on a free transfer to provide experience and competition for the likes of Hugo Lloris and Paulo Gazzaniga.
Finally, Tottenham signed Matt Doherty from Wolves in order to strengthen the right-wing-back position in North London.
When asked during the first press conference of the season why he was so keen to sign up these three in particular, Jose Mourinho pointed towards their personalities.
Football London reported that Mourinho said: “I’m so happy, so happy and thankful for the club to give me the players.
“Of course, I have also to thank the players for trusting us and having the desire to come and play with and for us. All of them Premier League players with enough experience playing in our league. That’s a plus especially with a special pre-season which was far from normal.
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“Not much time to work, lots of problems, then national teams. Good for us that they belong to these habits and to play Sunday or next week is not a problem. That’s a plus.
“Then their personalities was something, we tried to go to a certain profile. I always felt the team needed to add a few personalities, directly related to the way they play football and belong in a working group.
“I always felt we needed that. Joe, Matt and Pierre – part of their qualities as players, they have the profile and experience the group needed.
“From a squad viewpoint, a goalkeeper to join Paulo and Hugo, especially a homegrown goalkeeper would be very, very important for us. We didn’t want to lose that opportunity with Joe.
“Matt was playing amazing for Wolves, being so offensive and so effective is something we want. Last season we had a whole season with Serge Aurier as a unique option to play right back and then we adapted Japhet Tanganga until he got his injury. But mainly we had the whole season with one right back.
“Again, with Pierre, a position where we need that kind of profile. We have enough creativity in midfield, people like Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy that’s more creative, offensive midfield player. We were missing an option there and Pierre gives us that stability. Very pleased with the three players and very pleased they come with enough time to have an understanding of what we are as a group and a football team.”
Spurs will be looking to get their Premier League campaign off to the best possible start this weekend when they face Everton and one would assume that both Hojbjerg and Doherty stand a good chance of being involved.
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