Tottenham are the only Premier League team still not to make a signing in this summer transfer window, having seen rivals such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea strengthen already in key areas. However, this is no reason to panic.
We wake up on Sunday morning to reports that Daniel Levy and Spurs have now set a deadline on when they want to sign Everton midfielder Ross Barkley by. In an ideal world, Levy would like to see the deal done by Wednesday as Spurs jet off to America for their pre-season tour ahead of the new Premier League season.
The sooner Spurs end their interest in Ross Barkley, the better. There are just a couple of huge problems with this transfer that would damage Tottenham’s season and success in this transfer window. The first one is his enormous price tag. The Toffees currently value Barkley at around £50m. Wow. Although it may not seem like it in this crazy transfer window, £50m is still a lot to spend on any player, and this figure becomes almost ludicrous when you realise you are paying £50m for Ross Barkley.
A collective sigh of relief among Spurs fans surely came when the Mirror reported last night that Daniel Levy was not willing to spend more than £25-30m on Barkley, who Mauricio Pochettino has identified as his number one target for this summer.
£30m would equal the sum of money paid for Spurs flop Moussa Sissoko last season on transfer deadline day, and Ross Barkley is hardly an upgrade on the Frenchman in my opinion. He just wouldn’t fit in at Spurs. His work rate is poor, his decision-making is terrible and his attitude is below-par. Does this sound like a player that would succeed under Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs? It doesn’t to me. That is the second of my problems with the potential transfer, he just doesn’t look like a player who would become a key figure at Spurs.
The sale of Kyle Walker to Manchester City for around £54m was completed on Friday, and I am sure Mauricio Pochettino will be keen for this money to be spent on improving the squad before the new Premier League season kicks off in a few weeks.
A new right-back is needed after the sale of Walker, and a couple of squad players would be nice to improve squad depth. Spurs already have enough creativity in the squad with the likes of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son and the returning Erik Lamela. They do not need Barkley, who would be a terrible waste of money. Signing him would turn an already miserable transfer window into a complete disaster.
