Harry Kane was the biggest story - and he stays!
The fact that you can find six Spurs Odyssey articles relating to the various changes of personnel at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club surely confirms that this has been a busy, and in my view successful, window. Each of the previous articles is listed below, with the first feature about the arrival of "Managing Director, Football" Fabio Paratici, who can be seen at most games, keeping very busy on his phone.
Next, we reported the appointment of head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, and the various arrivals and departures including those of Cristian Romero and Bryan Gil. Now as the summer transfer window has finally closed, we can report the acquisition of right back Emerson Aparecido Leite de Souza Junior, otherwise known as "Emerson Royal" (pronounced "Royale"). Emerson will wear the number 12 shirt, and if he keeps to his current routine, his shirt will be identified by E. ROYALE.
The over-arching story surrounding Spurs all summer, even before the Euro20 tournament began, has been what the media foresaw as an inevitable move to Manchester City for our star scorer and talisman Harry Kane. Harry finally announced he was staying ( at least till next year), and he started our play-off second leg game at The Lane against Pacos de Ferreira, scoring two vital goals that helped to take us into the group stage of the Europa Conference League. Whether Harry is truly happy about the situation and how long he stays remains to be seen, but Daniel Levy has "played his cards right", and we must assume that City were not prepared to stump up Mr. Levy's asking price.
Emerson Royal is 22 years of age and already has four senior caps for Brazil, including an appearance as substitute in this year's Copa America Final. He was a Barcelona player but had been on loan at Real Betis where he would have played with our own Giovani Lo Celso before Gio's move to Spurs. Emerson was signed for a fee of £25.8 million (including potential add-ons of £4.3 million), and was secured on transfer deadline day. His arrival heralded the departure of Serge Aurier, whose contract was terminated a year early "by mutual consent", making him a free agent. Serge had his defensive flaws as we all know, but made plenty of good attacking contributions for us, including 5 Premier League goals and three in other competitions.
There will be a lot of competition for the right back berth with Tanganga having made such a good start to the season, and Matt Doherty still here. Tanganga can play anywhere across the defence, of course.
Another signing (we won't see him this season) was 18-year-old Senegalese midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, who has returned to French club Metz on a season-long loan.
Departures include defender Timothy Eyoma, who has signed for Lincoln City, where he was on loan last season. Timothy came off the bench to take part in our 7-0 FA Cup win at Tranmere in January 2019. 23-year-old USA International Cameron Carter-Vickers is our perpetual loanee, having previously played at Sheffield United, Ipswich, Swansea, Stoke, Luton and Bournemouth. Now he has gone to Celtic for the season.
The final word goes to Moussa Sissoko who left for Watford and played against us last Sunday when he was roundly applauded by both sets of fans:-
Moussa was a "marmite" figure with Spurs fans. The squad loved him though and they would sing the "Moussa Sissoko" chant with gusto in the dressing room. Moussa was highy regarded by Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho alike. He played a part in 47 of our 55 games in 2017-18. The next season that figure was 44 (with 39 starts) of 58 games, which included the Champions League semi-final and final. Moussa played a part in our heroic last minute winner against Ajax, but of course was the unfortunate victim of Mane's aim for his arm in the penalty box in the final in Madrid. He was voted Spurs Odyssey man of the match no less than 9 times that season. I liked him.
· 1. Paratici arrives and departing players listed
· 2. Nuno says, "We are going to make you proud!"
· 3. Further transfer news
· 4. Farewell to a favourite
· 5. Latest arrivals and departures
Top of page | Index to 2021-22 Fixtures
