The Lilywhites must surely regret selling their £25m flop under Antonio Conte…
Tottenham Hotspur, in their pursuit of a return to the apex of English, were brutally exposed for a lack of planning following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.
Having enjoyed steady progress under the former Southampton boss, who had slowly developed a team truly capable of challenging for elite honours once again, a rough start to the 2018/19 Premier League season saw Daniel Levy act quickly, making the rash decision to dismiss the Argentine who had done so much towards rekindling a club that had been stagnant for so long.
The chairman wanted to win now, but has since admitted his mistakes with the appointments of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in a recent fan forum: “I had gone through a period where we’d almost won. With Mauricio we went through some very good times. We didn’t quite get there but we came very close and we had a change in strategy. The strategy was ‘let’s bring in a trophy manager.’
“We did it twice and look you have to learn from your mistakes. They’re great managers but maybe not for this club. For what we want, we want to play in a certain way and if that means it has to take a little bit longer to win maybe it’s the right thing for us. That’s why bringing Ange in was from my point of view the right decision.”
With Ange Postecoglou now set to usher in another bright regime, hopefully set to go one step further than Pochettino did, it must be admitted that he has already made great strides towards achieving such a goal.
The Lilywhites are flying, with those who may have struggled in the past handed a new lease of life under the affable Australian. Even Heung-min Son, who by his standards endured a torrid time last year, seems back to his brilliant best, set to lead them into this brighter future as the new captain of the club.
How did Heung-min Son perform last season?
Having started the new term in blistering fashion, with six goals already in just eight league games, it is crazy to think that the South Korean is already over halfway towards matching his goal tally from last season.
It was a tough year for pretty much everyone at the club as they struggled through each game week, and in the end, their form saw them fail to qualify for European football despite starting the campaign in the Champions League.
However, it felt like the former Bayer Leverkusen man was suffering more than most, and he would reveal back in June: “I hesitate in telling this (publicly), but I actually struggled significantly during the season. I played eight to nine months while enduring pain, but I have ended up having to take the surgery now.
This showed in his abysmal form, having finished on just ten league goals for the year, and only scoring in one of his opening 15 matches, which admittedly was a hat-trick. It marked such an astronomical drop-off, from a man who seemingly could not be stopped throughout the 2021/22 season which saw him claim the Golden Boot.
Despite that, he has been vocal about the refreshing change in leadership that is aiding not just him: “I am so grateful that I am working with him. I have learnt so many things as a player, but also as a human being. It has been a fantastic journey until now, but I think in the future we will have more fun working together.
“I will do everything he asks because he is giving so much good information to us as a human and manager. We are very, very happy working with him.”
Whilst it might seem a silly suggestion now, given how important Son once again is to his side, there would have certainly been grounds for questioning Conte’s decision to sell Steven Bergwijn, who was starring in his homeland whilst pure devastation occurred in N17.
Why did Spurs sell Steven Bergwijn?
Having joined under Mourinho, the acquisition of the Dutch winger marked an exciting one given he had scored five and assisted ten in just 16 Eredivisie matches in the run-up to January, and had commanded a mouth-watering £25m fee.
However, it would be an ill-fated deal, with the trickster failing to keep up with the physicality of English football despite scoring a special debut strike to claim victory over Manchester City.
The 26-year-old would only muster 83 appearances across his year and a half in north London, scoring an abysmal eight and assisting a further ten goals.
