Tottenham's £47.5m gamble just paid off as Ange Postecoglou's 'crime' claim proven right - opinion

One of Tottenham’s biggest transfer gambles in recent years has just proven his worth. Tottenham became Europa League champions on Wednesday night when they defeated Manchester United at Bilbao’s San Mamés.

The win means Spurs end a 17-year trophy drought and secure qualification for next season’s Champions League despite enduring a disastrous Premier League campaign - the worst in their history, to be precise.

Somehow, Ange Postecoglou has managed to keep his players on board through all the trials and tribulations of this season, with the Spurs players still standing by their manager and battling tooth and nail in Europe to salvage the season. That character paid off on Wednesday night when Brennan Johnson poked home a first-half winner, with Spurs defending admirably for the rest of the game.

It wasn’t necessarily a game of high quality, but that wasn’t surprising given the seasons the two teams put together, and all that Tottenham fans will care about is that their players showed the character and the grit required to win a European final. Their reward is silverware and Champions League qualification for next season, a feat most would have accepted before a ball was kicked this season.

Johnson gamble pays off

Tottenham turned heads when they spent £47.5 million to sign Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest in 2023. It was seen as a hugely inflated fee for such a young player who had not yet proved himself as being capable of playing at the elite level.

In fact, only as recently as September Postecoglou had to issue a passionate defence of Johnson due to abuse he received on social media over his form. The Spurs boss said: “I hate how we’ve just normalised all that stuff. I’ve been around long enough and even when I was playing, I copped a fair bit. But it was usually on the terraces and then the game was over and you’d go home.

“You’re talking about a young guy who is probably lacking a bit of confidence at the moment. Things haven’t gone his way. But he comes here every day, he’s working his backside off, he’s asking for feedback, he’s doing everything right, he’s trying so hard to become the player he wants to be. It’s hurting him a lot. It’s not like he’s out on the town and he doesn’t care and he rolls up late. So what’s his crime? His crime is he isn’t performing at the level that people expect of him.”

Few players have managed good form throughout this season, but Johnson has turned up in big moments in Europe, not only scoring in the final, but also managing the first goal in the semi-final first leg and managing three other goals during the competition.

The goal in the final netted Tottenham £20.6million in prize money between Europa League prize money and Champions League qualification prize money, the Welshman significantly discounting his fee if we look at it in a very literal sense. And above all that, Johnson is just 23 years of age, with his best clearly yet to come. Tottenham’s gamble is already paying off, and what once looked like an ambitious swing is now proving to be a shrewd piece of recruitment.

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