There are a multitude of reasons why West Ham United finished ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League last season.
The superb management of David Moyes, for one, coupled with a hard-working, tight-knit squad performing at the very top of their game. Not to mention the career-best performances of Declan Rice, Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and co.
But the respective recruitment of the two London giants – the varying success of their wheeling and dealing – may have been the biggest factor of all.
While West Ham spent a combined £25 million on Czech duo Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal while bringing in Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson on loan, can any of Tottenham’s recent signings be classed an unqualified success?
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg probably, but it’s difficult to dispel the notion that Ryan Sessegnon, Tanguy Ndombele, Steven Bergwijn and Matt Doherty fell well short of expectations – not to mention their hefty price tags.
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Will Tottenham lose Takehiro Tomiyasu to West Ham?
If Spurs fans hoped to see a couple of new faces arrive during the transfer window to slot straight into Nuno Espirito Santo’s starting XI, the club’s dithering in pursuit of Jose Mourinho’s replacement doesn’t bode well.
Tottenham opened talks to sign £17 million-rated Japan international Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna at the weekend, according to Sky Sports.
But with West Ham now making a move of their own for the versatile centre-back, as reported by Gazzetta dello Sport, fears are growing in N17 that Tottenham will be pipped to the post by a club that can at least claim to have its affairs in order.
Here’s what some Tottenham fans on Twitter had to say about the Takehiro Tomiyasu situation:
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