Serge Aurier joined Tottenham at transfer deadline day
Tottenham, it appeared, had completely forgotten to sign anybody at all.
But as the transfer window shut at 11pm, it marked the end of another day of late deals by the north London club as Daniel Levy once again usurped Jim White as the star of deadline day.
While the chairman had top billing for weaving his magic, undoubtedly he was ably assisted by the lovely Mauricio Pochettino.
The reputation the Tottenham manager has built for himself together with his Catalan connections was enough to persuade Barcelona’s Andre Gomes to snub West Ham to enter discussions with Spurs.
By keeping his powder dry while the market rode the tidal wave of Neymar’s record-breaking move, Levy has cast into stiller waters and plucked out a few late bargains.
Davinson Sanchez was the first, finally, to arrive for a fee which, if he is successful, will rise to £42m. That is just £7m more than Arsenal paid for Shkodran Mustafi last year before fees went through the roof.
Daniel likes to do it on the last day to get the best deal, but we just have to wait and see
Tottenham star Harry Kane
Paulo Gazzaniga followed from Southampton for an undisclosed fee to provide goalkeeping cover while £8m teenaged defender Juan Foyth from Estudiantes. More names for Danny Rose to Google. The Tottenham and England full-back’s name was notably absent from the search engines on deadline day despite speaking his mind to a national newspaper.
Levy is a man whose arm cannot be forced, so while he was quite happy to pocket £68m for two defenders in Kyle Walker and Kevin Wimmer who could not make the team at the end of last season, the exit door at the club’s training ground remained firmly locked to everybody else.
As a result, prize assets like Harry Kane could just sit and watch yesterday.
“Daniel likes to do it on the last day to get the best deal, but we just have to wait and see,” the Tottenham talisman said from his relaxed perch on one of the St George’s Park sofas earlier this week.
“Daniel is a great businessman, the way he runs the club, the new training ground, the new stadium, he does what he wants to do. Some chairmen are different. But he does what he does and feels it’s the best way to help out the team.”
Sure enough, Serge Aurier’s paperwork was finally completed in the final 24 hours. At £23m Tottenham had a replacement for Walker who is three years younger, with 14 more international caps and two league titles under his belt. Oh, and £31m in the bank.
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Not for long, though. Some of that was earmarked already for Swansea’s Fernando Llorente who at 32-year-old falls outside Tottenham’s usual template but at £15m definitely suited their budget.
And of course it was completely irrelevant that signing him would mean putting one over Chelsea, who Levy still has not forgiven for pinching Willian on the drive into London from the airport.
One year, famously, pizzas had to be called for as Levy burned the late night oil. That shouldn’t have been necessary with a state-of-the-art kitchen at the new training ground.
However, either way Levy can wake up this morning content with another deadline day’s work and a renewed appetite for the rest of the season.
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