Tottenham Hotspur’s January Transfer Window Is Unlikely to Offer Any Surprises

The January transfer window is to the Premier League season what Boxing Day sales and summer vacation adverts are to Christmas Day. In the middle of one of the very best parts of the year, you are rudely pulled out of the moment with jarring reminders of a less festive and altogether more commercial world.

The wall-to-wall football that makes up the festive period in England is as good as the sport gets. The now-tiresome scuttlebutt that comes with the window—and its anticlimactic deadline day in particular—is just about the opposite.

Boring as it mostly is now (admittedly in large part because of the media), it is an unavoidable part of the season. For Tottenham Hotspur in 2016-17, it will serve as a barometer of just how they regard their ambitions for the remainder of the campaign.

By the first full weekend of the New Year, manager Mauricio Pochettino and his side will have a better idea of where they stand.

Securing tricky away wins over Southampton and Watford would strengthen their hopes of pushing back into the Premier League’s top four. Following that up with a positive result and performance against league-leaders Chelsea would boost their title credentials considerably.

That is a best-case scenario. Anything less changes things somewhat, but the main point is it could decide or reaffirm whether the north Londoners plan to invest.

Going by Tottenham’s previous two January windows during Pochettino’s tenure, you would not anticipate them doing so.

Youngster Shilow Tracey was recruited from Ebbsfleet United in 2016. A year earlier, Dele Alli was signed from Milton Keynes Dons but then loaned back for the remainder of the season.

Generally speaking, there is not much value in the window this time of year anyway.

Clubs obviously do not want to sell players they may still need, even for a healthy fee. Allowing lesser names to move on is not a decision taken lightly either, given the risk they could come back to haunt them.

But desperation and/or the feeling you can find someone who makes just the difference you need will make clubs take a punt.

Tottenham and their chairman, Daniel Levy, are among the Premier League’s most stringent when it comes to transfers. Aiming to improve on last season’s title near-miss and the motivating factor of getting back into the Champions League after this season’s all-too-brief run could sway them in loosening up a little, though.

In theory, it sounds great.

Spurs already have one of the division’s best defences, a strong midfield and some top-notch attacking talent. Surely there is …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com