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Tottenham’s latest targets prove they’re struggling to get out of Arsenal’s shadow in the transfer market:

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Without wanting to incur the wrath of Tottenham fans, it must be a little saddening to see their club pursuing players that Arsenal have considered but ultimately passed up.

Take for instance, Jan Vertonghen. Back in March, he said:

“Arsenal are a magnificent club and I hear a lot of good things about English football. If a club of Arsenal’s calibre can reach agreement with Ajax, then I will gladly go over. I have instructed my agent carefully. He knows which clubs I want to join – and Arsenal are one of them.” (Source: ESPN)

Of course, he then went on to sign for Tottenham  in July, but not before using Arsenal’s interest to fire Spurs into action: “Arsenal want me too. They remain a possibility if my Spurs move falls through” (Source: Daily Mail). Just what Tottenham fans want to hear, I’m sure.

Vertonghen may go on to be a rather astute signing, but he’s one that Arsene Wenger passed up on, for one reason or another. Which brings me to a recent story in the Daily Mail which claims that Tottenham are pursuing two further Arsenal targets. Cue the Gunner’s claiming that Spurs will forever be in Arsenal’s shadow, even in regard to their actions in the transfer window.

The two players in question are Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila and Caen forward M’Baye Niang. Niang, the 17-year-old Frenchman had a trial at the Emirates earlier this summer, but Arsene Wenger hasn’t offered the £6m youngster a contract. As for Yann M’Vila, when asked whether he’d be making a move for the talented Frenchman, Wenger said earlier this summer: ;“>No. We wait for [Abou] Diaby and [Jack] Wilshere”.

Arsenal don’t seem to be interested in these players, so why should Tottenham? If Spurs want to overtake their North London rivals, they’ll need to make better signings and at the moment they’re lagging behind significantly.

Not only are these transfers unimaginative, they’re not that sensible. Tottenham need an experienced striker who can grab them 20-30 goals a season, not a 17-year-old who may come good in a few seasons time. As for the midfield, if Luka Modric leaves, they’ll need a creative type, not a defensive midfielder like M’Vila. After all, they’ve already got Scott Parker and Sandro to fulfil that role.

Tottenham fans will want to see their club showing some ambition and these transfer rumours won’t fill them with much good feeling. Let’s hope that Tottenham find their way and take a different path to their North London rivals.

What’s your take? Would these two Frenchman be a good addition for Tottenham, or should they seek to remove themselves from Arsenal’s shadow?

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0 comments

  • Peter4Spurs says:

    The press have said we have bid for them … then the press said Modric would leave last year then Jan then July then today ….. it’s all in the press and their little minds, nobody knows who Spurs/Arsenal have bid for etc. guessing games so they can then say ‘We told you first’ …. As for who we sign at Spurs, I will (for now) put my trust in AVB, after all we might not sign anybody, he has Harry Kane and Defoe up front with VDV to back them up, he is playing the long time game not must win it all today. I still predict a top 4 finish for Spurs with or without Modric and with or without any new players.

    • pani says:

      your deluded mate….vdv is injured parker is out for 2 mths…..one recognised striker in defoe harry kane dont make me laugh…..top for yeah top four from bottom……even newcastle have strength every were chelsea awsome team unt is unt man city well…and arsenal have just bought another team….vertonghen was an arsenal target ….!! so why we get him wen they said no…..we are a selling club and thats it berbatov……carrick….keane……exettra….and if ledly king wasnt injury prone he would have been sold yrs ago….!!! stop deluding your selfs…im spurs threw an threw…but we have no ambition we finnish 1st time in top for and we by one player vdv…give me a break we should of spent 200 mill and god know were we wouild of finnished in champions league…!

      • Peter4Spurs says:

        No your not Spurs your a PRAT … All clubs are selling clubs at the right time for the right price yes even MU … What stoped us was Harry and his OAP club, AVB now has to start again with the youngsters Harry ignored … and it ain’t coz they wern’t good enough it was Harry way (the wrong way) … as for top 4, course we can and with ease. Newcastle have 3 good players, Arsenal have bought players that are medocre at best … we still have Bale, lennon, VDV, Walker, Sandro, Hudd the list goes on, so go and support Luton u looser.

        • gunslinger says:

          Peter!! Get real u fool, always in our shadow you hater . Your team isn’t better than ours fella, our New signings are mediocre??? Ha ha ha, jealousy I guess?
          Without some of our unwanted targets /former players. Where would u be!!??? Ha!
          i bet u talk about seven years in your sleep!!! you won a crap cup a few yrs back and think you’ve suddenly arrived!! #fools
          All spurs fans have deep rooted inferiority complexes, with very short memories! 8).
          How many times you beaten us in the last twenty years?? Once, twice? Fact is, bales a one trick pony, but your best player, but I don’t rate anyone else in spuds. Keep looking up you wannabe big club Muppet. oh to be a gooner!!! ROTFL

      • CoYs says:

        You’re a fool pani! There is no way Spurs can pull £200 mil out of thin air to spend!!! Don’t you think they would have done that long ago if they had the money!?!

  • dave @ spurs says:

    i seem to remember wenger passing up on luka modric saying he was too small for epl,we got 4 great years from him as for vertonghen and m vila the truth is the gooners board wont pay the going rate or wages, thats why you are going to loose song,walcott as well as rvp,wise up gooner your best signing was david dein since the gooners lost him wenger has had no support from the board you aint passing up players, truth is the board wont buy them

  • kay says:

    Wenger also passed on modric because he was to small and choose walcott over bale yes he is very shrewd.

    • alan says:

      Wenger passed on Modric because they jacked the price mate, he wont be pӣ!d around, on price especially. He wanted Bale as well but he just did not come. Did not need 3 left backs (primary possition at the time)

  • Daniel says:

    You obviously believe too much of what you read in the tabloids. And Wenger has just been soooo successful with all the cups he’s won the past seven years. Especially taking into account that his arsenal side has won a whopping zero league titles. Tottenham is capitalizing on his mistakes. Mertesacker or Verthongen? Obviously Wenger has done a great job evaluating talent. Just look at all the success he’s had recently.

  • Iver Biggen says:

    So if Spurs really wanted they couldnt have signed Giroud or Podolksy is that what you say? Arsenal passed on MVila not because he was not good enough (if he was not then Wenger wouldnt be interested in the first place)because when he looked his priorities, he probably thought he has already got plenty of midfielders to chose from and with RVP leaving his priorities to sign goal scorers.Verthongen if you ask any Ajax fan or a Dutch footbal journalists is actually higher ranked and regarded than Vermaelen by the way. Every team has a budget to work on, naturally even Wenger must give up on some targets to accomodate others. or even not to unbalance his squad. Therefore i think you are talking utter crapp my friend.If Spurs go and sign two top names next week would you still say what you said?

  • Chris says:

    Sounds like an article from an Arsenal Fan – Claiming we follow in arsenals footsteps – Remember Walcott etc etc – What a load off bull this is –

  • Will says:

    Well naturally as we don’t have some oil rich sugar daddy splashing the cash out in all directions like some others that I wont mention and of course, we have the two Spanish and the three Italian clubs who have bad the backing of billionaires for decades.

    But there is TWO other honest clubs who spend only as much as they earn and they are NU & Arsenal. So before you continue the sneer how about you make it an even playing field even though both have larger stadiums.

    Every fooptball fan in the world knows that the infinite money cheat ALWAYS wins: ask Real Madrid or anyone who plays Championship Manager

  • Matt says:

    Really? What are you, 7? Such an immature way of looking at it. Spurs don’t want these players just because arsenal do. They are good players who are young and available, which is why everton also want niang, as do man city. Every club spends thousands on scouting, not just arsenal. Vertonghan wanted to move to England, and knew arsenal and spurs both wanted him. Wenger just decided he’d rather spend his money filling the massive void left by van persie. If you open your eyes you will see spurs get linked with every Tom dick and Harry. moutinho, cissoko, lloris, kaka, llorente, Ramirez, cesar, damiao, shall I go on? These are all in the last week, did arsenal see them all first? Without rvp last season arse would have finished 7th. Now he’s gone…

    • gunslinger says:

      YGTwo nil,…… And u f*#@ked it up, cream always comes to the top, u blew your best ever chance to finish above the mighty Arsenal u bottom feeding shadow dweller!! Ha!
      Fact is, last campaign, we suffered our worst start for years whilst losing. Fabregas and na$ri, meanwhile, you had your best ever season!! And still finished below us!!!!! Think again my stupid boy, Defoe should bail out..as he’s wasted there. Your club is ten years behind ours, get over it u stupid other word for CAT. Ha ha ha Boomshakalaka… X suck on that u Muppet !!

      • Matt says:

        Joker! Spurs and arsenal both had bad patches last season. Fair enough. The ONLY reason u finished above us was because a certain Martin fulop was in the opposition goal vs arsenal in the last game Of the season, he literally gave u all 3 goals u scored that day, as he was bitter about being kicked outta spurs earlier this year without getting a game. Lucky. Arsenal are and always will be a feeder club. U were a one man team last year and now he’s gone, lack of ambition apparently, ha! Suck on that you pigeon licking monkey plucking goat herder. Bet you’ve never even been to London! Jog on ya melt

        • gunslinger says:

          Clutching at straws my man, feeder club? You can’t be serious? You’ve sold your best players for years #Sol Campbell. Ha!
          Until last season, rvp, (great player that he is) started on average, 16 games a season. He won’t get better, injuries will increase, and £24,000,000 for an injury- prone player who could walk in ten months is a smart move. Due to our magnificent world class stadium, we have been a little off the pace player purchase wise, but we “make” stars, we don’t break the bank to “buy.” them. Classy. 😉
          Top players will always overlook your lot to play for ours. Wenger has a degree in it all!! Economics, the lot so he knows what he’s doing. Our financial constraints seem to be decreasing, and the Emirates build costs are nearly paid,sort of…and the waiting is nearly over, I speak with logic and reason, you miss the big picture, you probably read the daily star? 😉
          Born in London, @ St Mary’s. Paddington. Been going football since my north bank lower tierays, go whenever I’m not working.
          You couldn’t be further out of your depth son! I’ll gun you all day long. One man team? No “I” in team. Without our other players he useless. Lucky? We never get any luck and if we do its usually made by ourselves!!! Game,set and match if you can’t conjure up something remotely interesting! if u do come back , you’d better bring a torch because that shadow is about to get a lot darker!!!! Boom boom boom, selection! “Goooooners!!!!! Pfft!! Ha! 😉

  • Patrick Davis says:

    so, basically, whats being said here is if anyone signs anyone its because they werent good enough for the ‘first’ club that was interested in them? is that correct.. really? no. of course that isnt correct. If Tottenham for instance tried to sign a certain player, or where ‘rumoured’ to be interested, any club that did successfully sign them after would be in the shadow of the first club.. which is nonsense!

  • Noah says:

    So the captain has deserted the ship, a bit like the Costa Concordia, so lets have another go at Spurs, ( who we only beat by a point last season)
    All the quotes that you give are only from the press, with no facts to back them up.

    The shadow that we are in, is one created by the press, we have always played our own style and to the best of our ability.

    The shadow seems to be, one of Man City/Man Utd. That you are in. Also very worried about what Spurs will do next season.

  • Ray says:

    I have always thought that you generally wrote a load of regurgitated bollocks, no research whats so ever,just jump straight in writing half truth’s at best. For how many weeks did Jan Vertonghen say that Spurs are the only club he wanted to join? He did say that Arsenal was also a great club but insisted that he wanted to join Spurs and instructed his agent accordingly.
    You are entitlred to write what you want as has everyone else but perhaps you might consider thinking before writing. You might be taken a little more seriously because you write some serious crap.

  • shane slater says:

    Was this crap written by an Arsenal supporter? We only go for people that are Arsenal rejects? There are certain players that all teams would go for and results in challenging to get his signature. For you to say we only go for players that Assenal want is really f&%$£^g stupid mate. We didnt go for Podolski cause he is shit, we did not go for Chamack cause he is even worse and then there is Bendtner, what a winner he turned out to be yet you went for Arshavin when we were after him for over a year. It never surpises me that it is always the Assenal fans that feel the need to open their big mouths about us. Just understand that we are not bothered with you, your team or your transfer tactics as we have been too busy closing the gap and now that you have just lost RVP, GAP CLOSED.

    • gunslinger says:

      Kettle, black, pathetic!! Ha! Podolski shit? Ha, u know you’re stuff don’t u mate!? ;). I feel your jealousy , gap still there, not that it matters as you’re beneath us shadow boy!!!@ ha!!

  • Alicat says:

    Here we are again, arsenal fans unable to get a grip of their own ego’s, still thinking that they are the only team that scout players. We were linked were with Vertonghen in January, before that statement, so your point is? No one here knows what the clubs interests really are, they get linked to the same players all the time in the media, it’s just to sell the story. Listen if it gives the arsenal fans comfort to think that we only go for their rejects or whatever, so be it. We know we have improved over the last six years, but can they say the same? They should be way ahead of us with the amount of revenue they generate compared to Spurs. They should be looking ahead not behind, but the reality is at this moment in time both clubs are essentially on the same level. The only difference now is we are now starting to refuse being a feeder club to our rivals, whereas arsenal are happy to keep manchester ahead of the game!

  • jacob says:

    Dont write about something you know nothing about. We got jan from arsenal and they really wanted him along van da vaart. Ur like an american thats trying to follow football. I havent read any of your stuff but thats the last artical i will because the yid army is better then arsenal.

    • gunslinger says:

      We wanted vdv ??!!! Ha, yeah about four yrs ago! He was actually waiting for our interest, didn’t materialize, so he choose spuds. Him , gallas and
      Adebayor were all rejects for one reason or another. bottom feeder, serious lack of intelligence. 8)

  • Johnny C says:

    Is this a joke article? Clearly trying to get a reaction, there have been loads of players linked with both Spurs and Arsenal over the last couple of years, most have them have joined neither. I can’t see this article as anything other than attempt to ruffle feathers because frankly, Wenger has been questionable with his defensive signings recently….Squillaci, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Santos etc.

  • KP says:

    Does this guy post directly from the Emmirates.

  • Hard boiled AFC says:

    Ha ha ha ha, I still remember you spud fans singing Harry’s praises as I remember Harry saying ”
    1. We can win the league !!
    Then it was
    2. 2nd is great for us!!
    Then it was
    3. We are happy with 3rd
    It all culminated with ” 4th is great for us!!”
    And look how it ended lololololol
    Afc has more class in its toilets then your whole clubs history has!!
    Just remember arsene created the UNBEATABLES !!! You are and always will be the beaten!!!
    Regards as always
    Arsenal FC

    • gunslinger says:

      Hard boiled egg, I agree with you my man, spot on. I remember all the tosh harry and spud fans chatted last yr, always knew we’d top em anyway, but how sweet it was, and all the little shadow dwellers suddenly lost their voices which made it all the better!!! Ha!! Can’t wait for the derby, bring it!!@@@ up the gunners

  • Hard boiled AFC says:

    Oh and 23 million for a 29 year old that has glass ankles played 1.5 great seasons, has no loyalty and doesn’t want to play for us is great business and all you spuds would say exactly the same if it was your beloved diving monkey boy bale saying it!!!!
    Santi has come to town!!!!!!!
    Such talent and he wanted only us !!!!!

  • ANAN says:

    GAP CLOSED….do me a favour! The 12 point gap Arsenal closed after a sh!t start or the Gap between your ears?? What a load of rubbish! All this shite about we mess up passing modric up…simple really, we had fab….NO CONTEST!! Podolski is crap, you for real? Keep trying to chase us and sign our rejects! What a pleb you are, you give all spurs fans a bad name!

    • ANAN says:

      Comment Aimed at Alicat!!

      • Alicat says:

        What you banging on about?! Do you pay attention do anything, i never mentioned a 12 point gap or Podolski or anything about passing Modric up? You sum up this article perfectly, nonsense! Remove your head from your arse, and stop clutching at straws. Good for arsenal their biggest achievement these days is catching us in the league, congratulations.

        • ANAN says:

          You are correct…My mistake was aimed at Shane! It becomes an achievement/bragging rights when all you hear all season is shit about “we are better, mind the gap blah blah” I think you will find we achieved more than spurs!

  • gunslinger says:

    Spud fans never cease to amaze me, really!! Must be difficult. Obvious so absolutely no reason to explain. Pmsl . “Mind the Gap” ha!!!!

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