Spurs have one of the strongest squads in the league but a few offer very little.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino has done a fine job trimming the fat from Andre Villas-Boas’ morbidly obese and underachieving squad, but the Argentine’s recruitment has hardly been perfect at White Hart Lane. So, with the January window creaking open, who is in danger of a winter of discontent?
Moussa Sissoko
They can’t say they weren’t warned. There’s a reason Newcastle United fans had long since lost all hope in a midfielder who, through a Sky Sports lens, looked like a world beater. Through the naked eye at a 3 o’clock kick-off however, Sissoko tended to shapeshift into an ineffective lump of a midfielder, bumbling his way up the pitch with the ball cannoning off his shins.
Needless to say, his £30 million summer switch to White Hart Lane (BBC) hasn’t been all that positive so far. Four starts, no goals and a three match ban for an elbow on Bournemouth’s Harry Arter, there’s still a chance Spurs could recoup some of their losses if they farm him out to Italy in the new year.
Tom Carroll
Cast your mind to Tom Carroll and what do you see? A talented, tactically intelligent youngster who has sparkled in odd occasions in the Tottenham first-team? While true, the reality is that Carroll is now 24-years-old and the Spurs ship looked to have sailed a few seasons ago.
The Watford-born schemer has played just one minute of Premier League football this season, slipping ever further down the pecking order following the arrivals of Victor Wanyama and the rise of Harry Winks. Carroll’s quick feet and high-tempo passing means he wouldn’t find game time too hard to come by on the lower rungs of the top flight, however.
Clinton N’Jie
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas talks a good game and, like many others, gullible Spurs fell into his trap in 2014 when he talked up N’Jie to such an extent that famously tight-fisted chairman Daniel Levy threw £10.8 million in his direction for the speedy forward, The Telegraph reports.
It didn’t take too long for Spurs to realise they’d been sold a dud. All speed but no substance, N’Jie has more rough edges than a chainsaw but without an ounce of the efficiency. He’s currently spending the season on loan at Marseille as part of the protracted deal that took Georges-Kevin N’Koudou to White Hart Lane. Not that he’s proving too much of an upgrade so far.
Federico Fazio
Definitive proof that a star in one league can become an undisputed washout in another. Fazio was one of the most consistent centre-backs in La Liga during his seven years with Sevilla but, for all his qualities, the Premier League ruthlessly exposed each and every flaw in his game.
Nervy in possession and possessing the pace of Per Mertesacker lugging a Reliant Robin, the experienced Argentine could hardly have been a worse fit for Pochettino’s high defensive line. Roma have an option to turn his current loan deal permanent at the end of the campaign and Spurs will be desperately hoping they live up to their end of the bargain.
Kieran Trippier
From being relegated with Burnley to a title-chasing, Champions League-desiring side in the space of a few short months, Tripper had done little to suggest he could make such a steep step during his one season in Premier League football. A decent crosser of the ball and an OK defender, the right-back is mid-table at best.
Despite impressing on occasions, particularly around winter time last season, Spurs severely lack the pace and incision of Kyle Walker when his understudy steps up to the breach.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
