Being in the position of power (the seller) Levy could have pretty much asked for anything and knowing Real Madrid they would have forced the requests through.
Mistake 1 was not having a sub clause in the Bale deal that Real would not sell any players to Arsenal. This may seem like a bizarre request, but it's certainly "doable". Do not think for one second that Perez would not have done this. Or failing that why did we not ask for Ozil to be included as part of the deal? Again Real would have got what they want and Ozil would have been forced.
Mistake 2 was not sealing the move for Fabio Coentrao. Against Arsenal Rose looked ok but was getting caught out by Walcott often. So to allow our more senior player BAE to leave on loan was a BIG mistake without bringing in any replacement.
Mistake 3 not bringing in another striker. Ok I am not expecting another ridiculous world class striker here, but Ricky Van Wolfswinkel was signed by NORWICH for £8-9million. So I am sorry but we could have afforded to push the boat out that far. Failing that Real would have loaned Jesse to us for the season.
So to make things clear yes I am disappointed by those three mistakes, but do not think that I am not impressed with how Levy handled the market elsewhere. The issue was that we perfectly executed the other transfers, but as we came to the end of the market and I fear that we rushed this a little too much (the Bale deal). A bit more care and we would not have an obvious weak spot at LB (however Rose is good and will improve), Arsenal would not have made the sensational signing of Ozil and we wouldn't have Ade as our back up.
Squad wise we are without a doubt in a great position, but we were so close to absolute perfection. As perfection is not possible I think it is fair to say that we had the best time in the market. Strengthening in all the right places and I feel that we will see a dominant display in most games.
This year to be our year? We will need a little time to adjust and gel, but we have some outstanding players within our squad.
If there is one thing I learnt on Sunday though it's we were quite tight as a unit, a bit of confusion at the back (which will be stabilised with a fully fit Kaboul) and a little lacking in imagination (but with Eriksen and Lamela this will change).
The big thing for me this window was having Townsend come back, it's like watching Lennon for the first time after his move from Leeds.
Overall I am a truly happy Spurs fan. We lost to Arsenal I realise that, but Wenger said we needed time to gel, so to display such a dominate performance shows that the 5-2 losses at Emirates are a thing of the past (so the gap is made smaller again this season).
Let's get right behind the board, staff and players now fans, we have no excuse, we have a strong squad and a fantastic first team, but we also kept AVB. At the end of last season if I offered all of our signings and keeping AVB would you have turned it down? Of course not. Did we need to sell Bale? Not in my opinion, but either way this is exceptionally exciting and I can't wait till the next game and the next and the next.
COYS!!!!!
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