Roberto De Zerbi and Tottenham Hotspur have been accused of making a big transfer error this summer, and it came late in the window.
Spurs brought 10 new players through the door in the summer for a combined fee of close to £400m.
| Incomings | |
| Andrew Robertson | Free |
| Marcos Senesi | Free |
| Martin Dubravka | Free |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | £52m |
| Mateus Fernandes | £85m |
| Sandro Tonali | £100m |
| Savinho | £85m |
| Omar Marmoush | £60m |
| Tosin Adarabioyo | £12m |
| Mykhailo Mudryk | Loan |
| Total spent | £394m |
| Outgoings | |
| Luka Vuskovic | £50m |
| Will Lankshear | £20m |
| Radu Dragusin | £21m |
| Alejo Veliz | £7.7m |
| Alfie Devine | £6m |
| Tynan Thompson | £8m |
| Manor Solomon | £7m |
| Cristian Romero | £34.1m |
| Ashley Phillips | £20m |
| Djed Spence | £30m |
| Kevin Danso | £25m |
| Pape Matar Sarr | £25.6m |
| Total received | £254.8m |
| Tottenham’s net spend | £139.2m |
However, Tottenham had a net spend of just £146m, which was only the fourth-highest across the Premier League, with the Lilywhites also letting a lot of players leave the club.
Not every player who arrived through the door at Hotspur Way has hit the ground running, and a pundit is particularly unconvinced by one of the club’s deadline-day signings.
Tottenham told Mykhailo Mudryk may be another Timo Werner
Mykhailo Mudryk could now be out of action for six to eight weeks, with the winger picking up an ankle injury after playing just one game for the Lilywhites.
Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin has insisted that the 25-year-old has shown nothing to suggest he can be successful in the Premier League, and believes that Tottenham may have made the same mistake they did when they signed Timo Werner on loan.
Nevin told BetPack: “I can see why Chelsea let Mykhailo Mudryk go because he just wasn’t going to get a game for them.
“In the position he plays, it wasn’t going to work, he wasn’t going to get a sniff. So he needed to get out there and find somewhere to play, especially having not played regular games for a long time.
“It almost reminds me of the Timo Werner situation, where Tottenham have brought in a flawed player who never really hit the heights with Chelsea compared to what the expectations were. It wasn’t really working for him at Chelsea even before the loan move. Can the manager get something out of him at Spurs? Well, he believes he can, and he knows him quite well.
“But if I’m asked to tell Spurs fans, ‘You’ve got a cracker there, don’t worry, he’s going to do it,’ I’m afraid I can’t say that. He simply hasn’t done enough in English football to prove that yet, although he certainly has ability.”
Nevin suggests Mudryk may have lost his place
What makes the Ukrainian international’s signing even more of a gamble is the fact that he has not played any competitive football for nearly two years, owing to his doping ban.
Nevin suggested it remains to be seen whether the on-loan Chelsea man still possesses the raw pace he had when he first broke through at Shakhtar as a youngster.
The pundit added: “The one major attribute he relies on is his sheer pace, he was really, really fast. The key question now is whether he still has that pure pace and the willingness to use it.
“If he doesn’t, he’s going to struggle again. Every now and again, you need to take a long shot, and bringing him in on loan is exactly that. That’s all I can really say to Spurs fans, it’s a long shot.”
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