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Biggest Summer Signings

90sSpursBook

90sSpursBook

Erik Edman
Thought I'd take you on a journey back over the past 25 years or so to think about who our big Summer signings have been which I hope will generate some discussions about which was the best, worst, bizarre and jaw dropping. My list is certainly not exhaustive so feel free to add others.

2014 (Baldini/Pochettino): Vorm, Dier, Fazio, Stambouli
2013 (Baldini/AVB): Soldado, Lamela, Paulinho, Chadli, Capoue, Chiriches, Eriksen
2012 (AVB): Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen, Dempsey, Sigurdsson
2011 (Harry) : Adebayor (loan), Friedel, Parker
2010 (Harry): Van Der Vaart, Gallas,
2009 (Harry): Crouch, Bassong, Walker, Naughton,
2008 (Commoli, Ramos): Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Modric, Giovanni Dos Santos
2007 (Commoli, Jol): Bent, Kaboul, Bale,
2006 (Jol): Berbatov, BAE,
2005 (Arnesen/Jol): Lennon, Huddlestone, Jenas, Raziak,
2004 (Arnesen/Santini): Pedro Mendes, Davis, Pamarot, Edman, Robinson, Carrick
2003 (PLeat/Hoddle): Zamora, Postiga, Kanoute,
2002 (Pleat/Hoddle): Redknapp, Keane, Acimovic
2001 (PLeat/Hoddle): Teddy, Poyet, Ziege, Richards. Bunjevcevic
2000 (Pleat/Graham): Rebrov, Thatcher, Sullivan
1999 (Pleat/Graham): Perry, Leonhardsen,
1998 (Pleat/Gross): Tremazzani,
1997 (Francis): Ferdinand, Ginola, Dominguez
1996 (Francis) : Nielsen
1995 (Francis): Armstrong, Clive Wilson,
1994 (Ossie): Klinsmann, Dumitrescu, Popescu
1993 (Ossie): Dozzell, Calderwood
1992 (Venables): Teddy, Anderton, Austin
1991 (Venables): Durie
1990 (Venables):
1989 (Venables): Lineker,
1988 (Venables): Gazza, Stewart

A couple of observations:
1. My memory is better in recent years but generally it seems that we look to make 6-7 signings per summer whereas we'd make no more than 2-3 several years ago......do we need to be making so many signings per summer and does a large turnover mean it more difficult for a team to settle? I can't think of any additions to the squad in Summer 1990....we finished the season 3rd and started 1990-91 fantastically; although the league form dipped we went on to win the FA Cup.

2. As far as I can remember the transfer window was introduced about 2001 or 2002 - i recall Robbie Keane being a transfer window signing in 2002 and that he was one of our first 'final day' signings. Before then you could sign players at any point up until about March?

3. I doubt any summer will be as exciting as 1994 was for us; firstly when Dumitrescu, who had starred for Romania in the World Cup signed and then a week or so later Klinsmann - the best striker in the world. I was 13 at the time and remember finding out about it on Teletext in the days before rolling news, transfer ITK and twitter - would it have been kept as quiet nowadays?

EDIT: 2005 - Davids, YP Lee, Stalteri
2006: Zokora, Malbranque
 
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You missed Edgar Davids (2005). I remember it for two reasons... firstly because it was Edgar fecking Davids!

And secondly because I had signed up to the Spurs official text message service (the missing link between teletext and twitter! :)

I was sitting in a pub in West Dublin with my Dad (a Spurs supporter since the 1950s) and two cousins (a Liverpool fan and a Chelsea fan). Getting that text message was pure gold that night!!
 
Gascoigne
Sheringham
Lineker
Klinsmann
Bale
Modrić
Keane
Berbatov
Defoe
Carrick
Van der Vaart
Ginola
Anderton
Davids
Lloris
Eriksen
Mendes
Gallas
Lennon
BAE
Robinson
Friedel

...the rest

At least the above rate of something under one real standout a year appears to be being maintained, more or less.
 
DublinSpur said:
You missed Edgar Davids (2005). I remember it for two reasons... firstly because it was Edgar fecking Davids!

And secondly because I had signed up to the Spurs official text message service (the missing link between teletext and twitter! :)

I was sitting in a pub in West Dublin with my Dad (a Spurs supporter since the 1950s) and two cousins (a Liverpool fan and a Chelsea fan). Getting that text message was pure gold that night!!
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right......it was prob very end of July or early days of August - I think he came to watch a pre-season match at Reading and that's when we knew for sure we had signed him.

I forget whether it was Summer 2001 or 2002 (GHod was manager and Levy Chairman) when that horrible story about Rivaldo writing Levy a letter explaining how flattered he was to have been offered such a lucrative deal to join us but was going to go elsewhere. Think that was also the Summer we 'nearly' signed Morientes who Glenn kept stating was 'desperate to join us'.

We were a bit of a laughing stock (imagine if Adrian Durham had been on talksport drivetime and NEil Ashton has a daily Daily Mail column!)
 
Edgar Davids was one of my favorite players and when he played for two of my fave teams - Inter and Spurs. When I heard he had joined Spurs I was elated.
 
SpursNorway said:
1998: Tramezzani... Terrible, simple as that. As you, I remember the summer of '94 very well, for us to get Klinsmann was brilliant!
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Always bugs me that Klinsmann is held in such high esteem by spurs fans. He came when He was not doing as well at Monaco. Had an amazing year and buggered off to Bayern as soon as he could. When his career was flagging again and we were in trouble he came to help, got something like 1 goal in 7 games but then 4 in the last game and suddenly he is a hero again.

Personally when I think of Jurgen I think of someone who buggered off as soon as he could and only came to us twice when he was not doing well.
 
Gascoigne signing was a big deal and getting Lineker a year later was big too. Klinsmann is the one where I remember where I was when I heard (read) the news though.

I really enjoyed the 2004 summer too, I think that it was where we turned a corner as a club and started moving forward again.
 
2012 had the potential to be massive. Hasnt quite worked out though

Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen, Dempsey, Sigurdsson............exciting names at the time i thought
 
Think Mido deserves a mention for both his loan spells and permanent deal. Looked a decent striker in his first full season with us. When we got him in permanently I remember him saying he expected to be better as he'd lost a couple of stone but that actually seemed to be counter productive to his style of play.

Always thought fondly as him though, mainly for his comments about Judas and some of the things he's said on twitter about Arsenal.
 
milo said:
Gascoigne signing was a big deal and getting Lineker a year later was big too. Klinsmann is the one where I remember where I was when I heard (read) the news though.

I really enjoyed the 2004 summer too, I think that it was where we turned a corner as a club and started moving forward again.
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Klinsmann I remember reading the back of a paper, as no internet around then. It was either that or Teletext. Was it 410 and 101?
 
indianspur said:
2012 had the potential to be massive. Hasnt quite worked out though

Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen, Dempsey, Sigurdsson............exciting names at the time i thought
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They were, the incomings in that window were fine to be honest. We also bought Adebayor in that window. The problem was that we lost some truly good players as well, which were always going to be hard to replace. Modric, King, VDV...
 
2008 (Commoli, Ramos): Gomes, Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Modric, Giovanni Dos Santos

At the time i thought this was one of the best windows i'd ever known. You actually missed out David Bentley. Such an exciting signing at the time which is strange looking back, but £17m and he'd had an outstanding season for Blackburn the year before.

Giovanni looked awesome in the pre-season game against Dortmund and Modric had looked superb for Croatia at the euros, as did Pav for Russia. Obviously the excitement ended with the now-infamous 2 points from 8 games.

It's funny that two of the most disappointing seasons (Ramos in 2008/9 and AVB in 13/14) followed two of the most exciting summers for transfers.

The best season I remember, on the other hand (Redknapp in 09/10) followed one of the most low-key summers ever.

Just shows that rather than splurge loads on a large-number of big-names, having a settled squad and making a few intelligent additions can lead to a very good season.

Some people get suicidal if we haven't signed anyone big and they see other clubs signing big-name players.

For me, if we keep all the players we want to keep (including Lloris), get rid of some deadwood, it will have been an excellent summer. Trippier will either cause Walker to up his game in a similar fashion to Rose/Davies last summer. Wimmer provides a good prospect and more competition across the centre-back positions, allowing us to bin Kaboul/Chiriches.

I think with what Pritchard and Alli showed at their clubs last season and what Winks showed in the two post-season tour matches, we are in a really good position even if we sign nobody. People have to remember that. This squad finished 5th last season, which is realistically with our budget the maximum that can be EXPECTED (as opposed to achieved) and so what we need is evolution not revolution. Makes me laugh when people post stuff like "we DESPERATELY need a striker, two wing forwards, two central midfielders and two centrebacks" as though the team needs decimating and rebuilding.

Obviously not learnt from our 13/14 season or Liverpool last season either. In that two many first-team signings do nothing but upset the balance of the team.
 
Craig_J said:
Think Mido deserves a mention for both his loan spells and permanent deal. Looked a decent striker in his first full season with us. When we got him in permanently I remember him saying he expected to be better as he'd lost a couple of stone but that actually seemed to be counter productive to his style of play.

Always thought fondly as him though, mainly for his comments about Judas and some of the things he's said on twitter about Arsenal.
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Mido was outstanding in his initial spell. Berbatovesque. People forget that season with him and Defoe upfront. We came so close!
 
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