Arnesen Youth Signings

[thfc1989]

Now that the transfer window has begun, I have been doing a bit of reminiscing back to the Arnesen days. I remember being very excited by Arnesen's youth signings, boasting as a naive 15 year old that we had one of the best youth scouts in the world, and that he was going to sign us the next Ronaldo. 8 years on, its interesting to re-visit what those players I was so excited about are doing now.

Spase Dilevski

Signed for us as a defensive midfielder, but has most recently been playing right back for Melborne Victory. He has just been released by the club after only making 14 appearances for them this season. Since leaving Tottenham, the teams he has played for include: Brisbane Roar, Romanian team - Universiitatea Craiova, and Adelaide United.

Rodrigo Defendi

Such a shame that someone with such a great name never became the defensive rock I envisaged. After leaving Spurs, Defendi joined Italian Seria B side Avellino, after 2 unsuccessful loans at Udinese and Roma. He has veryD recently signed for Botafogo in Brazil.

Leigh Mills

I remember being told that he was going to be the future of Tottenham's defence. He is currently marshalling the defence of Blackfield and Langley.

David Limbersky

Out of the 2004 youth signings, Limberski can probably be considered one of the bigger successes as he is playing left back in the Czech national team, starting a few matches in the Euros. He currently plays for Viktoria Plezen, who were eliminated in the round of 16 in last years champions league.

Edson Rolndo Silva Sousa
I assumed he was Brazilian, so naturally I thought he was going to be amazing. Turns out he was actually Portugese and is currently unattached without a club. Career highlights include 7 appearances for Den Haag on loan, and 33 appearances for UTA Arad - the Romanian second division club.

Mournir El Hamadoui

By far the most successful of Arnesens youth signings (excluding Aaron Lennon of course), I remember being very excited by him after his amazing bit of skill in the Peace Cup. On a side note it shows how far we have come, considering how excited many of us were when we won that competition. In 2008-2009 Mournir was named the Dutch footballer of the year, and was the division's top scorer, he then transfered to Ajax, and now plays for Fiorentina - although he has only made 3 appearances.

I'm not entirely sure what the point of this thread was, but i guess the question is what players did you expect to have a big impact, ultimately for them to be useless?

 

[$hoguN]

His signings weren't great but what he did do was a lot of work in re-organising the club.

 

[thfc1989]

His signings weren't great but what he did do was a lot of work in re-organising the club.

I don't dispute that at all. This is really just a look back at his work as a youth scout, which is what I was incorrectly most excited about at the time.

 

[Danners9]

I always wondered if he had a favourite agent that would push these players around, taking bonuses each time. Dilevski and Edson Silva Sousa were both at PSV, like Arnesen, before Spurs.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

John Bostock

 

[llamafarmer]

what players did you expect to have a big impact, ultimately for them to be useless?

Gareth Bale. Looked a good left back at Southampton, with a decent freekick. What a flop he turned out to be.

 

[sim0n]

Reto Ziegler played for Sampdoria for 4 seasons and bounced around a bit,.... good left back with a decent freekick... wouldn't say flop, but not Prem level

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reto_Ziegler

 

[Pat Rice Spurs fan]

Frank's available again after being released/sacked by Hamburg. Would you consider taking him back - enen if Levy wouldn't?
It was an exciting time when he was here before but has he progressed like we have?

 

[davidmatzdorf]

You forgot Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, both signed in Jan 2005, when Arnesen was in charge. Not exactly teenagers, but promising young players.

 

[Gbspurs]

You forgot Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, both signed in Jan 2005, when Arnesen was in charge. Not exactly teenagers, but promising young players.

Got lucky with this one though as originally we only wanted Reid. Same with Walker/Naughton.

 

[sim0n]

Spase Dilevski went to the Brisbane Roar,.... just had to type that...

Does Frank get credit for signing 18 yo THudd? I think that was more of a BMJ move?...

at 21 and 20 respectively in 2004-05, do andy reid and michael dawson count as "youth signings?" or were those already in the pipeline from Pleaty in 2003-04?...

edit - just saw post above

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Got lucky with this one though as originally we only wanted Reid. Same with Walker/Naughton.

Half-correct about Dawson - he had quite a reputation, but we were mainly after Reid, because we didn't have a decent left-footed winger at all.

Definitiely incorrect about Walker & Naughton. There was plenty of info at the time that Walker was the one we were really pursuing.

 

[beats1]

His signings weren't great but what he did do was a lot of work in re-organising the club.

This is it and you know what Chelsea are looking very strong atm and they are rumoured also to resign the guy from Benfica that released!

While the extent of restructuring is unknown his job at chelsea makes me think that he did play a major part tbh

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Does Frank get credit for signing 18 yo THudd? I think that was more of a BMJ move?...

Huddlestone and Lennon were signed in July 2005, shortly after Arnesen left and Comolli arrived. It depends on whether you consider the scouting or the signing negotiations more important. Both players were identified and pursued by Arnesen, but it was Comolli who did the deal.

I usually argue that getting them signed is more crucial. Most football people in England were aware of these players. Comolli had no sense of how to assemble a balanced football squad, but he knew how to close a deal.

Jol merits credit for neither of them. He wasn't a scout, wasn't involved in contract negotiations and had no responsibility for recruiting youth players.

 

[Coyboy]

Comolli was appointed in September. I think there was a gap when Arnesen left, or was suspended, and Comolli arrived.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Comolli was appointed in September. I think there was a gap when Arnesen left, or was suspended, and Comolli arrived.

I have a spreadsheet that was originally sourced from announcements on the OS. It shows Arnssen leaving on 24/6/05 - that may have been when he went on 'gardening leave', but I have Comolli starting immediately thereafter, so it's more likely that I entered his actual departure date. Can't be certain without doing more research.

 

[Coyboy]

I am pretty sure he joined in September. I am sure there was a gap between the two; most likely is that they were sewn up before Comolli came and can be credited to Arnesen. If not, Levy most probably finished the deal. Jol may have been involved, but I honestly think they both pre-date Comolli.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/4224278.stm

 

[sim0n]

Jol merits credit for neither of them. He wasn't a scout, wasn't involved in contract negotiations and had no responsibility for recruiting youth players.

I do understand your point, but managers do scout players they want and do communicate their observations/wants to those who negotiate these transfers. So, I do not agree BMJ had nothing to do with players scouted or players signed for the team he was managing at the time.

 

[fatpiranha]

I'm not entirely sure what the point of this thread was, but i guess the question is what players did you expect to have a big impact, ultimately for them to be useless?

I was never very convinced about Arnesen's signings which seemed pretty random to me.

I used to watch a lot more football (especially youth) as I made a living spread betting for quite a few years. Each season I would compile a list of a dozen players I would like Spurs to buy. Only six have ever appeared on that list before we were linked with them that we later went on to buy: Sergei Rebrov, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Dean Parrett, Kevin Prince Boateng & Gylfi Sigurdsson. At least half of the players on the lists pretty much disappeared without trace and quite a few of the ones who did make it would probably have been unavailable for work permit reasons.

 

[noahrobert]

Now that the transfer window has begun, I have been doing a bit of reminiscing back to the Arnesen days. I remember being very excited by Arnesen's youth signings, boasting as a naive 15 year old that we had one of the best youth scouts in the world, and that he was going to sign us the next Ronaldo. 8 years on, its interesting to re-visit what those players I was so excited about are doing now.

Spase Dilevski

Signed for us as a defensive midfielder, but has most recently been playing right back for Melborne Victory. He has just been released by the club after only making 14 appearances for them this season. Since leaving Tottenham, the teams he has played for include: Brisbane Roar, Romanian team - Universiitatea Craiova, and Adelaide United.

Rodrigo Defendi

Such a shame that someone with such a great name never became the defensive rock I envisaged. After leaving Spurs, Defendi joined Italian Seria B side Avellino, after 2 unsuccessful loans at Udinese and Roma. He has veryD recently signed for Botafogo in Brazil.

Leigh Mills

I remember being told that he was going to be the future of Tottenham's defence. He is currently marshalling the defence of Blackfield and Langley.

David Limbersky

Out of the 2004 youth signings, Limberski can probably be considered one of the bigger successes as he is playing left back in the Czech national team, starting a few matches in the Euros. He currently plays for Viktoria Plezen, who were eliminated in the round of 16 in last years champions league.

Edson Rolndo Silva Sousa
I assumed he was Brazilian, so naturally I thought he was going to be amazing. Turns out he was actually Portugese and is currently unattached without a club. Career highlights include 7 appearances for Den Haag on loan, and 33 appearances for UTA Arad - the Romanian second division club.

Mournir El Hamadoui

By far the most successful of Arnesens youth signings (excluding Aaron Lennon of course), I remember being very excited by him after his amazing bit of skill in the Peace Cup. On a side note it shows how far we have come, considering how excited many of us were when we won that competition. In 2008-2009 Mournir was named the Dutch footballer of the year, and was the division's top scorer, he then transfered to Ajax, and now plays for Fiorentina - although he has only made 3 appearances.

I'm not entirely sure what the point of this thread was, but i guess the question is what players did you expect to have a big impact, ultimately for them to be useless?

Don't forget Emil halfredson!


Space was a winger I Believe and much like mist of your list was a loan player. Limberski was described as the next nedved, by nedved himself, I'm sure both of these only stayed 6 months or so and I don't think were permanent. The silva dude wasn't really a youngster either. He wad a quick in and out on a free I think. Think he was at at arnesons psv.

Defendi was a perm as was mills. I heard that mills just gave up football and was not interested anymore or couldn't be bothered something like that.

Emil halfredson went on to play for malmo, and I think we played against him in either a ECL or UEFA cup... This was the era we 'famously' had 3 teams, but not really. Arnesons was famous for his scatter gun approach, and none of the mentioned players was young young except mills. Think defendi was about 18-19, space about 23, silva maybe a bit older and limberski about 21.

Out of the list only limberski excited me, but wasn't here long and never made a proper appearance..