I didn’t even know it was open.
One of the joys of not having Sky Sports News anymore is being able to let 6pm on August 31st pass without having to listen to Jim “hyperbole king” White frothing at the mouth over the loan move of Marcus Bent from Brum to Wolves.
It was very easy to stay at a distance from this year’s deadline with the thought that what little business Spurs were going to do has already been done. Sandro had signed some time back and had finally turned up, Pletikosa finally arrived on loan after what seemed like years of will he, won’t he. And of course there is Gallas.
But that was it, a bunch who were no where near the first team were either offloaded completely or let out on loan. Unfortunately the deal everyone wanted to see was destroyed by the player in question chickening out of a move to Stoke. Jenas would rather sit on Spurs bench, where he obviously thinks he can hide better than amongst the big lumps in the potteries. Did feel that Stoke signing Gudjohnsen was a bit of a waste, would have liked to have seen him back at The Lane.
‘Arry wasn’t doing much passed all that because as we all now know he ain’t a “wheeler-dealer”…
But then came the late coup, Rafael van der Vaart from Madrid. Apparently getting him for £8m, when he was going to Munich for £18m a few hours earlier was too good a deal to turn down.
Have to say this left me a little nonplussed , pretty sure I’ve slagged the Dutchman in this place previously, if not just a few weeks back during the World Cup. Well the Dutch side certainly looked a better outfit when he was substituted for the young winger Elijero Elia. It’s a problem that I’ve just never seen van der Vaart consistently do anything to get me excited, most of it has been for the Dutch national side and left me wondering, what is he supposed to be doing?
He has a good assists record according to the stats people. Which is good but one of Spurs problems of late isn’t creating it’s finishing and that’s where we missed out on finding someone who can play up on their own in a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 / formation, a striker who can also strike. Problem being is there many of them about, ones that are in Spurs price range, wage range and not cup tied in Europe.Wonder how Asamoah Gyan would have worked out, rather than see him at Sunderland.
So wonder where van der Vaart will line-up, who is going to drop out to make way and is he seen as a replacement for Modric because the Croat might be out for a while. Does it Bale moving back to left-back more often? Still on the plus he’s not Jenas who should now move further down the pecking order ad it could have been Ryan Babel.
Still might all be a moot point as the Premier League will no doubt shaft us because all the Is weren’t crossed and the Ts dotted in the paperwork before the 6 o’clock deadline, much in the same way they let the scum away with it for the Arseshaving deal.
Wonder if Sylvie will make many games.