Report: What happened to the ‘Magnificent Seven’ Spurs signed with the Bale money

Tottenham Hotspur were one of the busiest teams in the transfer market this summer, bringing in seven new additions in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Joe Hart, Matt Doherty, Gareth Bale, Sergio Reguilon, Carlos Vinicius and Joe Rodon.

The last time the North Londoners re-shaped so much in a single transfer window was arguably in the summer of 2013 when they sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for what was a world-record transfer fee.

Using this cash, they then went out and signed Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Nacher Chadli, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen. Needless to say, Eriksen and Lamela turned out to be the most successful acquisitions of the seven.

Although the Dane has endured a difficult time at Inter since leaving Spurs last January, the North Londoners certainly landed a huge bargain in singing him for £11m as he went on to become one of the best playmakers in the Premier League for more than five years.

While Lamela was the most expensive of the signings that summer, with Tottenham paying £30m to Roma to land the Argentine, he has since proved to be decent value for money, going on to make over 200 appearances for the club.

The other five players failed to live up to expectations in North London and The Sun have now investigated how their career trajectories have gone since they left Tottenham.

While Capoue did not turn out to be the replacement for the injury-prone Sandro that some Spurs fans would have hoped for, the Frenchman has arguably carved the best career out of the five, making more than 163 appearances in the Premier League for Watford.

The Frenchman is arguably the one that got away for Spurs as he has since proven that he could be a solid cog in the wheel of a top-flight club. The midfielder will be hoping to bounce straight back up from the Championship with the Hornets this season.

The report in The Sun does not paint Soldado’s spells at Villarreal, Fenerbahce and Granada (current club) in a good light as it is revealed that he never quite managed to recapture the goal threat he possessed during his Valencia days.

It has been a similar downward slope for Paulinho, who arrived in North London with plenty of promise but has gone on to have an uninspiring career at Guangzhou Evergrande, barring a rather puzzling but largely ineffective one-year loan spell at Barcelona.

While Chiriches’ ability on the ball was never in question, he never quite looked good enough defensively to cope with the Premier League during his time at Spurs, barring a brief spell at right-back under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Romanian star’s defensive frailties are said to have haunted him during his spell at Napoli as well, where he made just 48 appearances across four seasons, before joining Sassuolo.

Nacer Chadli was certainly popular among sections of the Tottenham fan base as he epitomised a typical Spurs player, possessing plenty of flair and a natural ability to score goals, although he was lacking in consistency and grit.

While the Belgian’s talent was not in question, a move to Tony Pulis’ West Brom never appeared to be a good fit for the winger and he predictably went on to struggle at the Hawthorns, partly due to injury troubles.

After an unsuccessful spell at Monaco and failing to hit the expected heights on loan at Anderlecht last season, the 31-year-old completed a move to Istanbul Basaksehir in the summer, and he will be hoping to regain some form in Turkish football.

Overall, it would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that Spurs wasted the £85.3m they got for Bale that summer, although some of the players the club bought were not lacking in talent.

Thankfully for the Lilywhites, the seven bought in this summer have not only cost considerably less but the early signs seem to indicate that they are also much more prudent acquisitions.

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