So what’s been happening over the summer at Spurs..? The positive side – Part 1

I can sum up what’s been happening over the summer at Spurs very easily in two words: Very Little….

 

We have been keeping our money in our wallet so far this transfer season, having only picked up a couple of lower profile signings.

I think the most notable signing is 16 year old Soulemaney Coulibaly, brought from Italian club Siena. He did his reputation the world of good playing for the Ivory Coast in the recent U-17 World Cup in Mexico, where he scored 9 goals in 4 games, including hat-tricks against Brazil & Denmark. He is being touted as “The New Drogba”, but whether we see him out on the park as part of the 1^st team this season seems unlikely.

The move of Brad Friedel from Aston Villa to the Lane is an intriguing one, but with our perceived recent goalkeeping difficulties with Gomez & Cudicini, could this be a way to introduce a bit more competition for the number one jersey. I have always like the big American but I suspect his best years are now behind him, but as a reserve keeper we could do a lot worse.

We have also signed up another young Spanish player called Cristian Ceballos from Barcelona, via some iffy training trial at Chelski. I would imagine that he will be sent out on loan to the lower leagues for a season or so, just to blood him into the English game, so don’t expect to see him too soon.

We have parted company with a couple of players since last season, including Jonathan “Woody” Woodgate on a free to Stoke, and 2nd team player M’Poku to Standard Liege. I always liked Woody, especially after his goal in the Carling Cup Final in 2008, but he was injury-prone when we signed him and he never really overcame that tag. I wish him luck with the Potters.

Harry has continued his policy of sending out some of the younger players out on loan around the country, including Steven Caulker to newly promoted Swansea, & Kyle Naughton to Norwich. Lower down the league, Ryan Mason is on loan at Doncaster, Nathan Byrne at Bournemouth, and Bongani Khumalo will pay at Reading, all on a season-long loan.