Should Spurs Take A Punt On Arsenal’s Cocky Misfit?

If arrogance and self-confidence was all you needed to be a great striker, Nicklas Bendtner would be the second best striker in the world (after Zlatan Ibrahimovic of course).  That he isn’t is because as confident and arrogant as he may be, he’s just never performed to the level he believes he is capable of.

When he was on loan at Birmingham City as a teenager, he scored 11 goals as Birmingham won promotion to the Premier League, and in the 2007/08 season, he broke into the Arsenal first team.  He scored 20 league goals in his first three seasons in the Arsenal squad, but he failed to fully establish himself, and scored just 9 goals during an injury hit 2010/11 campaign.  He spent most of last season on loan at Sunderland, scoring 8 league goals in a turbulent year for the club.

After joining Sunderland on loan, he made it clear that he didn’t want to play for Arsenal again, and with Arsene Wenger signing Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski this summer, he appears to be (at best) fifth choice at Arsenal, and unlikely to feature even if Robin Van Persie leaves before the start of the season.  While his club form wasn’t necessarily great last season, his international form was, and he scored eight goals for Denmark, including two in an impressive performance against Portugal during the group stages of Euro 2012.

He infamously hit the headlines for the wrong reasons during that game, copping a ridiculous 100,000 euro fine, as well as a one match ban (an absurd punishment when you consider UEFA fined him more than some countries whose supporters who racially abused players), but Portugal were one of the better teams in the competition, and centreback Pepe one of the outstanding players, but the Portuguese defence couldn’t cope with Bendtner’s presence.

So where will Bendtner go next?  Perhaps he could take a short trip down the road to White Hart Lane (he’s been linked there before, last year), and join Tottenham Hotspur’s new era under Andre Villas-Boas.  Now if you’re a Spurs fan, it’s very possible that you’re laughing hysterically at this idea, have just passed out from shock, or have soiled yourself in a fit of sheer rage and such an idea, but hear me out.

A quick look at the Spurs squad list will show you that Villas-Boas currently only has Jermain Defoe available to him as an established, experienced striker. Louis Saha has been released, and Roman Pavyluchenko left in January.  Spurs have an abundance of talent in midfield, and have strengthened their defence with the signing of Jan Vertonghen, but they are painfully short of options up front.

It’s not immediately clear how much money Villas-Boas may have to spend, but Harry Redknapp was forced to move on many fringe players last summer before he could bring new faces in.  Spurs may soon cash in on Luka Modric to fund other moves, and Bendtner would come to Spurs with a point to prove.

Still only 24, Bendtner has never been short of confidence, and when he’s focused and playing well, he can cause defences problems.  He’s strong in the air and decent with his feet, and as Emmanuel Adebayor proved last season, with players like Gareth Bale, Kyle Walker, Aaron Lennon and Rafael van der Vaart around to supply chances, a good striker can definitely help himself in the Spurs starting XI.  In a team designed to create and score goals, Bendtner could match Adebayor’s goal tally, and is younger and would probably have lower wage demands too.

But more importantly Bendtner seems to be the type of player that would love nothing more than proving Arsene Wenger wrong.  Whichever club he joins next, he’ll be out to show Wenger that he should have had more faith in him, so where better to do that than White Hart Lane?  Scoring goals in the North London derby in a white strip, and helping Spurs finish ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League would be huge motivation for Bendtner, and Spurs could benefit enormously from a player with that attitude.

He might occasionally be controversial and often arrogant, but a motivated Nicklas Bendtner could be a great signing for Spurs.

For more blogs, follow me on Twitter @DavidWDougan and @TheGlassCase

Please follow @ThePerfectPass for more football related action!

Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:

ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.