Buried in the press conference ahead of today’s match between Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford was a short reply from head coach Ange Postecoglou about the rest of the January transfer window that somehow I missed when reading over it. In short — if you’re a Spurs fan expecting fireworks on deadline day tomorrow, you might be disappointed.
Postecoglou admitted that, at least as far as incoming transfers are concerned, Tottenham’s business is very likely done.
“Look, unlikely I’d say. I don’t see any incomings. Outgoings a little bit different because I’m not totally engaged with that, other people are doing the work around that. I’d say unlikely on both fronts without ruling anything out.”
It’s not entirely surprising news. Spurs got their incomings done quickly — Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin — because Big Ange wanted extra time to help them acclimate when Spurs were expected to have multiple players out through injury and international duty. That left a lot of time for “targets of opportunity.” Considering hardly anyone is buying (or selling) this month and the Antonio Nusa deal is apparently scuppered, I’d be surprised if Spurs would bring anyone in today or on deadline day tomorrow.
I find Big Ange’s reply about the outgoings a little amusing, only because it seems to imply that he’s not fully involved on who leaves the club. That’s probably doing him a slight disservice — no question he’d have the final say or significant input if a first-team player were to leave either on loan or permanently. And we might see some departures: while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has already said he’s staying put, there are rumors about a possible loan of Bryan Gil to Brighton, and some U21 players might head out for developmental loans before the window slams shut.
But in terms of fireworks, barring a Rafa van der Vaart style bonus buy, I think it’s very likely Spurs will stand pat. A quiet transfer deadline day. At Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Under Daniel Levy. Is that ALLOWED?