Tottenham Hotspur did not sign anyone this summer but their January signing from Paris Saint-Germain has started looking like a star.
It has taken quite some time for Lucas Moura to find his feet at Tottenham Hotspur but, now that he has, it looks like inspired business.
The Brazilian had very little impact over the second half of last season, having joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain in January.
He lacked fitness and he needed bedding into the Premier League – two things that would rightly take him off the radar of the rest of the far less-patient top six.
But Tottenham took the risk and they are now reaping the rewards nearly eight months later. And, if waiting that long was all it took to get a player of great quality and use, their patience has proved invaluable.
Lucas’s brilliant goal against Fulham certainly opened some eyes to what he was capable of but it was his performance at Old Trafford that has shown him to be a truly dangerous player.
He tore Manchester United apart with his runs and dribbling, scoring twice and asserting Spurs’ dominance on the scoreline.
But he has only been able to play like this because of a brilliant decision to sign him last January. If Lucas had joined this summer instead, he would still be adapting to life and he would still be an unknown quantity.
It would be too much to say that Lucas is ‘like a new signing’ as it is more than that; he is an example of Tottenham’s brilliant planning in the transfer market.
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