Spurs Odyssey arrivals and departures lounge
It is still early in the domestic close season, and of course all eyes are on the Euro 20 Tournament which is only just under way. Already, on Day Two of this delayed competition the headline story was former Spur Christian Eriksen’s collapse on the field of play towards the end of the first half of Denmark’s game against Finland. At this time, what appeared to be potential disaster has turned into a positive story of stabilisation and recovery on hospital. The incident brought back memories of Fabrice Muamba’s collapse at White Hart Lane in March 2012. With that distinct memory, watching the incident on Saturday in Copenhagen became especially emotional for those who had witnessed both incidents. Of course, Spurs Odyssey sends its heartfelt best wishes to Christian and his family, along with the much-deserved praise for the superb paramedics and the strength and unity of Christian’s team-mates, not least Denmark's captain Simon Kjaer who cleared Christian’s airway and placed him in the recovery position.
Earlier on the same day, Spurs formally announced the appointment of Fabio Paratici, who formally becomes our “Managing Director, Football” on July 1st. This appointment has been much-heralded in the media and the delayed announcement comes as not so much of a surprise to Spurs fans used to hearing news of appointments and departures from their club after virtually all media outlets have already reported the fact. Paratici has had a successful 11-year term of office in a similar role at Juventus, and whilst it appeared one of his early recommendations was going to be the appointment of former Roma coach Paulo Fonseca, that idea fell by the wayside. Spurs are still looking for a new coach two months after sacking Mourinho. A Daniel Levy interview was promoted on the club’s official website on the same day in which the chairman defended his and the club’s stance in the light of much media and fan discontent. Mr. Levy did indicate that Fabio Paratici would be addressing the issue of future player arrivals and departures once his term of office commences.
For now, we know of three players, whose names are very familiar to us, who have left the club. Danny Rose and Paulo Gazzaniga were released at the end of their contracts and Juan Foyth was signed permanently by Villarreal who took up the buying option that was available to them after his season-long loan.
Danny Rose
Danny was born in Doncaster on July 2nd, 1990. After being signed from Leeds Academy in 2007, Danny appeared in our youth teams, and often played as a marauding winger. When he made his senior debut in 2009 against his home club, as a late substitute, Danny replaced Tom Huddlestone, but played at left back. After a brief loan spell at Peterborough, Danny was given three FA Cup outings early in 2010 by manager Harry Redknapp, but of course put his name firmly in the minds of Spurs fans with his sensational Premier League debut goal against Arsenal on April 14th, 2010 – also the anniversary of "Saint Hotspur Day". Danny played on the right side of midfield in that game, but it was at left back where he would become a regular for Spurs. That didn’t happen until 2013-14 season, but Danny’s popularity was such that his name would often ring out around the ground “Danny, Danny Rose!”.
Danny was awarded 29 England U-21 caps, scoring three goals, and he was recognised at senior level for the first time in March 2016 for an away friendly against Germany. Team-mates Harry Kane and Eric Dier scored in that game. Danny won 29 senior caps in all, and his last game came in October 2019 against The Czech Republic. We lost that game 2-1. Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot, so there is a certain symmetry about Rose’s England career.
There was a time when right back Kyle Walker and left back Danny Rose were considered two of the best full backs in the country. When Kyle Walker left for Manchester City in 2017 that partnership came to an end. Spurs have yet to find a full back pairing to match these two players. Danny played in less than half our games in 2016-17 (21), but he did win the Spurs Odyssey player of the season vote, just pipping two-time winner Jan Vertonghen.
Danny made 32 European appearances for Spurs, including 18 in the champions League. He was in England’s Euro 2016 squad and their 2018 World Cup squad. He appeared in two losing finals for Spurs. These were the 2015 League Cup Final and our Champions League Final two years ago. On that last occasion, Danny was voted our man of the match with a 7/10 performance. His last senior appearance was also against Liverpool in a 1-0 defeat on 11th January 2020, before he went on loan to Newcastle for the rest of that season. Sadly, Danny fell out with the club (and some fans) with his negative utterances about Spurs and their transfer policies, and he spent the whole of last season out in the cold, as he was not named in Jose Mourinho’s Premier League or European squads for the season. The club had tried to engineer a move last summer, but Danny chose to see out his contract. He did make a couple of appearances in the under-23 team, and he spent some time passing on his knowledge and experience to those players.
Danny’s farewell interview was quite an emotional affair. I personally have very fond memories of watching Danny developing in our youth teams and when at his best in the first team. In the 2008-09 season, Danny spent some time on loan with Watford in the Championship, and on 16th June it was announced that Danny would join the Hertfordshire club who won promotion after one season in the second tier. Danny has been given a two-year contract.
Paulo Gazzaniga
Paulo is 29 years of age, and was born in Argentina, for who he made one senior international appearance in a friendly against Mexico in November, 2018, when on Spurs’ books. Paulo’s club debut was with Gillingham in the 2011-12 season. Paulo was signed by Southampton where he played under Mauricio Pochettino during his term there. Gazzaniga played against Tim Sherwood’s Spurs in a game which we won 3-2 in December 2013. One of those goals was an own goal which followed a Danny Rose cross after good work by Christian Eriksen!
Paulo was signed by Pochettino for Spurs as back-up to Hugo Lloris in 2017. His one senior appearance that season came in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. My report for that game carried the headline “Son scores winner, but Gazzaniga saves the day.” Paulo was voted man of the match with a score of 7.9. His next first team appearance came in September, 2018. He made 37 appearances in all for Spurs, including one as substitute when Hugo was injured early in the game at Brighton in October 2019. Those appearances included 5 in the Champions League. For most of his time at Spurs fans felt confident in Paulo as a back-up to his club captain. It came as something of a surprise that he left on a season-long loan to Spanish club Elche, for whom he made just 8 appearances late in the season, and now he has been released. (Paulo signed for Fulham to play in The Championship in time for the new season)
Juan Foyth
Juan is another player of Argentinean nationality who was signed by Spurs during Pochettino’s time as manager. The right-side defender was just 19 when he was signed from Estudiantes and played 12 times for the Argentine U-20 side earlier that year. One of those games was a 3-0 defeat against England in the U-20 World Cup. The England squad included Spurs players Josh Onomah and Kyle Walker-Peters. Foyth’s Spurs debut came against Barnsley in a League Cup tie when he played beside Jan Vertonghen at centre-back. Walker-Peters was our left back and we won 1-0. I remarked that Juan had some nice touches to defend successfully and to win challenges. He made 8 90-minute appearances for the first team in his first season, but none in the Premier League. His League debut came in a 3-2 away win against Wolves in November 2018.
Juan was booked 8 times for club and country that season and he blotted his Spurs copybook at Bournemouth in May 2019 when he came on as a substitute at the start of the second half and was sent off within two minutes. Juan’s one Spurs goal was our winner at Crystal Palace a week after that Wolves debut.
Juan made his senior debut for Argentina in November 2018 and now has 13 caps, playing against Davinson Sanchez’s Colombia last week. He made just three appearances for Jose Mourinho’s Spurs. The one full game was the dead rubber Champions League defeat away to Bayern Munich. There were two league appearances, also in December 2019.
Foyth initially went to Villarreal for the 20-21 season, making 32 league and cup appearances, including the Europa League Final, when he won a winner’s medal. Now he has made a permanent move and can look forward to more Champions League football next season. I say more, because Juan has made 6 European appearances for Spurs, 5 of which were in the elite competition.
The list of young players released by the club is as follows:-
Enock Asante
Chay Cooper
Keenan Ferguson
George Marsh
Rodel Richards
Jack Roles
Aaron Skinner
Kazaiah Sterling
Shilow Tracey
Some of these names will be more familiar than others, but if you make use of the search box at the bottom of the page you will find most of these players turning up in reports by Ray Lo, who when he was able, followed our youth teams up and down the country and further afield. Striker Kazaiah Sterling made a brief Champions League appearance against APOEL in December 2017, and also came on as substitute in an FA Cup game against Crystal Palace in January 2019. Midfielder George Marsh’s one senior appearance was as sub in our 7-0 win at Tranmere in January 2019. Jack Roles is a Cyprus U-21 International who has had loan spells at Cambridge, Burton and Stevenage and had an eye for goal at youth level but did not make a senior appearance. Shilow Tracey was an exciting attacking prospect who had loan spells last season at Shrewsbury and Cambridge. He has now signed for Cambridge. I hope all these players find teams to continue their football career.
Apart from the Euro 20 competition, the 2021 Copa America is under way, and whilst there is no tournament in North America, I am sure there is an interest in betting information on bet365 in Canada.
I understand the appointment of Paulo Fonseca will be confirmed later this week. We hope for more arrivals, but especially not for the departure of Harry Kane. Spurs Odyssey will aim to enlighten you on details of such events as the close season progresses.
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