Tottenham were linked with signing Cisse before he signed for Newcastle United. Spurs should rue it as an opportunity missed.
To succeed in football it takes ambition. Newcastle showed ambition in January, Tottenham did not, and look at them now.
The signings of Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen made by Spurs were ones which would befit a team attempting to fight off relegation, not Champions League contenders.
Newcastle on the other hand, went to double their Demba’s, adding Papiss Cisse who shares the same middle name with prolific striker Ba.
And it is paying off, The Magpies sit above them in fourth place, and hold the initiative going into the final stretch of the season, and it is well-deserved.
Redknapp clearly didn’t want to upset the applecart, but extra players was exactly what he did need.
The reason we throw Cisse into this discussion is because Tottenham were one of the clubs keen on signing him.
On December 31 last year, the Daily Mirror ran an article linking Spurs with a move. Here are a couple of key lines.
“Tottenham are keeping close tabs on Freiburg hitman Papiss Cisse with a view to a potential January transfer window bid.
The 26 year-old Senegalese international has been in rich form this season, bagging nine goals from 15 Bundesliga appearances.
“Newcastle and Sunderland were interested in signing Cisse last summer but balked at his £14million price tag.
“However, with Tottenham sitting third in the Premier League and mounting a serious title challenge, Harry Redknapp could be tempted to splash the cash.”
It’s fair to say they got this one pretty wrong, with Cisse signing for Newcastle 17 days later for £10 million.
If Spurs had shown the ambition which was expected of them, they would most likely be sitting in third right now.
Cisse has been unstoppable since arriving at Newcastle, scoring 11 goals in nine starts.
With Spurs having only loan troublemaker Emmanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe and Louis Saha as options, it’s fair to say Cisse would have been an improvement on each of those three.
Would Spurs have failed to score against QPR with Cisse in the side? Would they have drawn 1-1 at home to Stoke with Cisse up front? We doubt it.
Spurs may get back on track in the remaining games, they may recover and finish ahead of Newcastle, but by and large the damage to their season has already been done. They were supposed to be shoe-ins for third.
Tottenham’s collapse should act as a warning to clubs that if they fail to show ambition mid-way through the season, it can all fall apart.
Newcastle’s resurgence should show the opposite, and all Spurs fans will rue a missed opportunity, and both Levy and Redknapp should take responsibility for that.
images: © strange lands travel blog, © akuppa
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