As you say there’s so much utter crap in here but it’s easy to know where to start - the entire piece is a giant straw man. Since when has levy had a reputation as a master manipulator of the transfer market? Certainly not amongst spurs fans. He’s known as a tough negotiater but it’s very widely observed that this isn’t always a good thing.Saw this last night. Load of shite:
MARTIN SAMUEL: The idea that Daniel Levy runs rings around his rivals in the transfer market is utter FANTASY… Tottenham's two biggest targets signed for other clubs while he waited and delayed
- Spurs chief Daniel Levy's reputation as a wily transfer operator is utter fantasy
- The Tottenham chairman has failed to land a big signing in the past six years
- This transfer window, Levy was outfoxed on Luis Diaz and Adama Traore
- Antonio Conte needs to be backed and needs a chairman to put trust in him
As the deadline for this column was earlier than 10.58pm and 59 seconds, we cannot entirely know what the state of Tottenham’s squad for the rest of the season will be at the time of going to press.
This is, after all, when Spurs chairman Daniel Levy likes to do his business.
There’s always some poor soul standing in total darkness outside Tottenham’s training ground, a tiny light in the background the supposed evidence that the window’s leading protagonist is about to pull off another sensational coup.
And maybe he will. Maybe Levy will complete the loan deal equivalent of persuading Antonio Conte to become his manager.
Yet if Levy is the master of transfer negotiation, as is claimed, how come Tottenham’s two biggest targets in this window signed for other clubs?
How come he was outwitted by Jurgen Klopp over Luis Diaz and used by Adama Traore’s people to flush out a better offer from Barcelona?
How come a semi-professional striker from the seventh tier made Tottenham appear small?
And how come Tottenham could end up spending approaching £50million on players in this window — taking add-ons and converted loans into account —while still feeling as if the squad hasn’t significantly improved?
There is more anticipation around Dele Alli’s potential rebirth under Frank Lampard at Everton than anything Tottenham have done.
Increasingly, it is a myth, Levy as master manipulator. It is based on several colossal transfer fees received, rather than brilliant recruitment.
The money from Gareth Bale was mainly misspent. None of Kieran Trippier’s replacements were half the player he was.
Where is Tottenham’s Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne? Who was their last game-changing acquisition?
Son Heung-min? Toby Alderweireld? Summer 2015, the pair of them. More than six years ago.
The odd buy since has done a job — think Lucas Moura or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg — but the idea of Levy running rings around his rival chairmen is utter fantasy. He delayed on Diaz and Liverpool gazumped him.
He waited on Traore, and Barcelona swept in. Yet the deficiencies in Tottenham’s squad were known on January 1. Why, only 30 days later, is Conte finding out his future?
It’s not just Tottenham, of course. The same can be said of a lot of clubs scrambling around as the seconds tick away. Yet Tottenham have secured a brilliant but demanding coach, one who is never scared to make dissatisfaction known.
Wasn’t delivering for him a priority in this window also? Did Levy do that? Diaz is considered suitable for Liverpool.
Rodrigo Bentancur, the player Tottenham have secured from Juventus instead, was previously linked with Aston Villa.
Tottenham’s announcement of loan signing Dejan Kulusevski trumpeted his 27 games for Juventus this season, while neglecting to mention 20 were as substitute.
The Sweden winger actually started five games in Serie A. Too often, Tottenham seem to grab what’s about rather than what they want, or need.
Conte is a good coach. He should be trusted to turn Tottenham around.
Yet how much clearer his vision could have been with a chairman less in thrall to deadline day drama — or less inclined to believe his own publicity.
Where to start? Maybe the fact that the notion of Levy being a legendary transfer market guru was created by the media in the first instance. It's not a reputation that Levy has ever actively sought or deliberately fostered. If he leaves transfers until late in the window, it is only because he has found that that is the best, or even in some cases the only, time that transfers can be done. And, guess what, most other clubs also do much of their transfer business in the final days and hours of every window. Go figure.
And this idea that Levy dallied and was consequently outfoxed by Barcelona and Liverpool...........quite apart from the fact that he seems to have missed the memo that Levy is now only peripherally involved in Tottenham's transfer business, it's as if Samuel has no understanding of the football hierarchy. The failure to land Diaz had nothing to do with being too slow (a deal with Porto was agreed within a day or two of Spurs first being linked). It's just that Liverpool are, alas, a more attractive proposition and had a longstanding interest in the player. They were always going to bid for him and he was always going to choose them. Likewise Traore and Barcelona - especially with Mendes in his corner - not to mention his supposed reservations about being used as a wingback, as Conte intended. You just have to laugh at the agenda driven bollocks that is Samuel's claim that "a semi-professional striker from the seventh tier made Tottenham appear small".
As to the claim that Levy hasn't landed a big signing since 2015, what were Ndombele and Lo Celso if not big signings? What was Davinson Sanchez? The fact that they have all failed comprehensively to live up to their expensive billing doesn't diminish how big those signings were at the time. Christian Romero is undoubtedly another big signing. And he, at least, hasn't yet had the chance to prove himself a success or otherwise.
Samuel's scornful dismissal of Bentancur and Kulusevski is just typically bombastic English ignorance. As is evidenced by his own admission that Dele's future at Everton is of far more interest. Despite Samuel repeatedly implying that Levy hasn't supported Conte, it's perfectly apparent that he doesn't understand what supporting the manager really means. It's about getting rid of unwanted players - perhaps for far less than you think they are worth - as much as it is about bringing in new players. And that's exactly what Spurs have done this January.
Can add his article to the pile of steaming shite that is all too regularly served up by ignorant, self-satisfied tabloid hacks.
To add to your points:
— it was well known spurs were finished hours before the deadline - if some idiot was standing in the dark outside WHL they only have themselves to blame
— Spurs haven’t spent 50m in this window taking loans etc into account unless you ignore the potential value of the outs, and there’s only excitement about dele’s rebirth because he’s English and Samuel has heard of him
— the squad is pretty clearly improved. We’ve lost 4 players who have contributed nothing this season and brought two in the manager (presumably) wanted
— going on about misspending the Bale money (which in itself ignores one brilliant signing and a couple of decent ones) while missing out the players bought in who formed the spine of the peak Poch teams is selective crap. If you’re going to hark back to 2013 shouldn’t you also acknowledge Toby, Jan, Trippier himself, Dembele, Hugo, Sonny, Eriksen etc, all unambiguously outstanding buys
— as you say the idea that a player might prefer to join Liverpool over spurs is not a contemptible failure - but what I love is that he then dismisses Betancur on the basis that he was previously linked to Villa as if that means he’s shit. On that basis, shouldn’t Liverpool be slammed for signing a player who was previously linked to Tottenham???