Jamie O’Hara told Sky Sports News (26/07/21 at 2:35 pm) that he is ‘not sad’ to see Erik Lamela leave Tottenham.
The TV and Radio pundit thinks Lamela is an ‘exceptional’ footballer but he thinks the departed Spurs playmaker just wasn’t consistent enough in North London.
On Monday, Spurs secured the signature of Sevilla’s expert ball-carrier, Bryan Gil, with Lamela heading towards the other direction.
O’Hara didn’t pull any punches when talking about Lamela’s time at Tottenham and how that Gareth Bale money in 2013 was ‘wasted’.
“No, I am not sad to see him go,” said O’Hara. “I think it was time for him to move on.
“He came in after that Gareth Bale money. We spent a few quid on a few players. He had his moments and scored some great goals, I will give him that.
“An exceptionally talented footballer. But he just didn’t do it enough on a consistent basis. That’s my issue with Spurs and some of the signings we have brought in. They just haven’t been consistent enough over the years.
“When that Bale money was spent, everyone expected us to kick on and we kind of wasted it. He was one that we needed to see the back of and move on.”
Lamela was a scorer of great goals in North London, but not someone who could light up the whole season.
Or like Heung-Min Son put in strong performances over several, several months.
In truth, Lamela arrived at Spurs to replace Gareth Bale upon his departure to Real Madrid.
But when the half-cooked Bale returned to Spurs last season, Lamela struggled at times to push ahead of that player in the team.
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