Tottenham's brutal worst XI of Daniel Levy era as new chapter opens including 35-cap Brazilian and £55m flop
There is an air of positivity around Tottenham just now, but it hasn’t always been this way with Daniel Levy pulling the strings.
It feels like Tottenham are on the cusp of a new beginning, a new era both on and off the pitch.
Thomas Frank has brought order when previously there was chaos, even if Ange Postecoglou did deliver the Holy Grail of a major trophy before heading off into the sunset. The man responsible for handing the former Spurs boss his P45 has also left with Daniel Levy’s shock departure opening the club for a different direction in terms of player recruitment.
Levy left with something of a flourish; not only did he beat Chelsea to the signing of Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani arrived on loan and Mohammed Kudus was also signed to give depth to a forward line that lost Heung-min Son to MLS and James Maddison to injury in the summer.
The former chairman’s signings haven’t always been of this sort of calibre though with an ugly looking worst XI from his time in control of the purse strings not doing himself any favours. Whether it is failing to live up to a big fee or just failing, these are the players who have failed to make the grade.
Worst Tottenham XI from Daniel Levy signings
GK: Fraser Forster
Fraser Forster is almost throwback to a forgotten age when goalkeepers were allowed to pick the ball up from pass-backs. How the 6ft 7inch ex-England international would wish that to still be the case as he sits at home waiting for a new club after being released by Spurs.
A phenomenal shot-stopper on his day, Forster’s best years were long behind him by the time he had to stand his sizeable frame between the posts for Tottenham.
DEF: Ryan Nelson
Ryan Nelson arrived in a bizarre transfer from Blackburn Rovers and, like Forster, didn’t cost a penny. Unfortunately, Spurs still paid to much for the New Zealand international and he was swiftly moved on.
DEF: Bongani Khumalo
Bongani Khumalo struggled at teams like Colchester United when he was out on loan from Spurs and spent almost every season at an English lower league club before returning to South Africa. He might only have cost £1.5m, however, there was never any indication that he was anywhere near the standard needed for the Premier League in what was a bizarre signing.
DEF: Gilberto
Gilberto – no, not that one – signed for £5m from Hertha Berlin and, with 35 caps for Brazil, probably should have been a relatively low risk signing. A year later and Spurs cut their losses, releasing him on a free to sign for Cruzeiro in his homeland with a grand total of seven Premier League appearances to his name.
MID: Clinton N’Jie
Clinton N’Jie, a big money signing in 2015 costing around £10m, N’Jie spent more time on loan at Marseille during his Spurs contract than he did in London and only made a handful of Premier League appearances failing to make any sort of impression before leaving on a permanent deal to the Ligue 1 outfit for a £5m loss.
MID: Benjamin Stambouli
Somehow, despite only appearing in 12 Premier League games following his £4m move from Monpellier, Spurs managed to turn a profit of £2m on Benjamin Stambouli. The latest in a long line of midfielders who looked nowhere near the level needed for the Premier League but is still playing in Ligue 1 at 35. Maybe he wasn’t that bad after all...
MID: Tanguy Ndombele
Tanguy Ndombele was signed for, at least, £55m with some reports suggesting that fee could even have been £65m. The 28-year old spent most of his five-year contract on loan from Spurs and eventually had it cancelled by mutual consent so that he could join Nice.
Despite playing 63 times for the club, the transfer fee paid and his output when wearing the white jersey makes him one of the biggest transfer flops of all time, never mind just during Levy’s reign.
MID:Bryan Gil
With 24 appearances and no goals, Bryan Gil’s time at Spurs was short-lived after making a £20m+ move from Sevilla, that Levy managed to bring any sort of money in for him from Girona is a minor miracle with the Spaniard having an agent who deserves every penny for keeping his client at such a high level of football.
Forward line flops
FWD: Vincent Janssen
Vincent Janssen couldn’t stop scoring goals in the Eredivisie, compared to when he was in the Premier League and he just couldn’t score. In fairness though, had he been even slightly more competent, Spurs might not have given Harry Kane a chance, so I suppose there is that.
FWD: Roberto Soldado
Roberto Soldado, signed for some £25m in 2013, the Spain international left for half that fee only two years later with just seven goals in over 50 Premier League games in the pre-Kane era of strikers who weren’t Jermain Defoe or Peter Crouch and seemed incapable of scoring goals.
Another who was a member of that club was Gzegorz Rasiak who was cheap, not so cheerful, and left after just six months following a record that said; played nine, scored zero, assisted zero.