Sold by Conte: £25m Spurs flop who left in 2022 had a higher G/A than Son last season
Sold by Conte: £25m Spurs flop who left in 2022 had a higher G/A than Son last season – opinion
After Mauricio Pochettino was fired, Tottenham Hotspur’s lack of preparation was brutally exposed in their quest to return to the pinnacle of English football.
After making steady progress under the former Southampton manager, who gradually built a team that was truly capable of competing for elite honors once more, a difficult Premier League debut in 2018–19 prompted Daniel Levy to act swiftly and make the hasty decision to oust the Argentine, who had done so much to rekindle a club that had been dormant for so long.
In a recent fan forum, the chairman recognized his errors with the hirings of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte: “I had gone through a time where we’d almost won.
We experienced some wonderful experiences with Mauricio. Though we fell short, we came extremely close and changed our approach. Let’s hire a trophy manager, was the plan.
“Look, we did it twice; you must learn from your errors. They are excellent managers, but perhaps not for this team. We want to play a specific style because that’s how we want to win, so if it takes a little longer to win, maybe that’s the best move for us. That is why, in my opinion, choosing to include Ange was the proper move.
It must be acknowledged that Ange Postecoglou has already made significant progress toward accomplishing such a goal. He is now poised to usher in another promising administration that will hopefully go even further than Pochettino did.
Those who may have failed in the past have found success under the charming Australian, and the Lilywhites are soaring. Even Heung-min Son, who had a difficult year by his standards but is now poised to serve as the team’s new captain and guide them into this more promising future, appears to be back to his dazzling best.
How did Heung-min Son perform last season?
It is incredible to imagine that the South Korean is nearly halfway to equal his goal total from last season after kicking off the new campaign in scorching manner with six goals in only eight league games.
Though they began the season in the Champions League, it was a difficult year for pretty much everyone at the club as they struggled through each game week. In the end, their performance prevented them from making the European football playoffs.
Although it seemed like he was suffering more than most, the former Bayer Leverkusen player would later admit back in June: “I hesitate in revealing this (publicly), but I genuinely struggled tremendously during the season. I played for eight to nine months through the discomfort, but now I have to get surgery.
This was evident in his poor play, which included scoring just ten league goals for the season and only once in his first 15 games, although a hat-trick. It represented such a drastic decline from a player who won the Golden Boot in 2021/22 and seemed unstoppable throughout the entire season.
Despite this, he has spoken out about the positive leadership change that is helping everyone, not just him: “I am very pleased that I am working with him. As a player and a person, I have gained so much knowledge. Although the voyage has been amazing thus far, I believe our future collaboration will be even more enjoyable.
Because he is providing us with so much useful information as a manager and a human, I will comply with all he requests. We are incredibly pleased to be working with him.
There would have been reason to criticise Conte’s choice to trade Steven Bergwijn, who was starring in his native country as utter devastation occurred in N17, even if it now seems foolish considering how crucial Son is to his team once again.
Why did Spurs sell Steven Bergwijn?
The signing of the Dutch winger, who played for Mourinho, was thrilling since he had only played in 16 Eredivisie games prior to January but had already scored five goals and provided ten assists while commanding a mouthwatering £25 million transfer fee.
It would turn out to be a bad trade, though, as the cunning player couldn’t keep up with the roughness of English football despite scoring a unique debut goal to beat Manchester City.
In his year and a half in north London, the 26-year-old could only mange 83 appearances, scoring a pitiful eight goals and setting up another ten before slinking back to his native country in the return he had been hoping for:
This is something I’ve been anticipating for a year and a half. I’m relieved that everything is over and the uncertainty is gone. Regarding his move to Ajax, he told Dutch publication De Telegraaf, “Now I have serenity in my thoughts.
“I had previously discussed my contract with Ajax, but the clubs still needed to come to an agreement. It was all up to me. While on vacation, you anticipate what might occur. Even though I was away, I couldn’t fully unwind.
It was clear that things were not in place for him to succeed at Spurs during his tenure, but things might have been different under Postecoglou.
How has Steven Bergwijn performed since leaving Spurs?
The wide man has excelled since joining Ajax despite the instability surrounding the Amsterdam team.
Bergwijn actually managed to contribute to more goals last season while Son was struggling, with his 16 goals and 6 assists across all competitions just outpacing the £190k-per-week star’s 20 goals.
Spurs XI for Steven Bergwijn debut (2-0 W vs Man City, 2nd Feb 2020) | |
---|---|
GK | Hugo Lloris |
LB | Japhet Tanganga |
CB | Toby Alderweireld |
CB | Davinson Sanchez |
RB | Serge Aurier |
CM | Harry Winks |
CM | Giovani Lo Celso |
LW | Heung-min Son |
CAM | Dele Alli |
RW | Steven Bergwijn |
ST | Lucas Moura |
The former PSV Eindhoven star appears to be on track for another successful season, but one that he could have had in north London, with two more goals to start the new league campaign after only four games.
They had to give Conte his full support because he was given the helm in an audacious effort to win them a trophy. It must be acknowledged, though, that they struck it lucky with Postecoglou.
With his outbursts and loud condemnation of players and staff, the Italian could have caused years’ worth of damage to Spurs, upsetting those in the background.
However, perhaps their biggest error was allowing him to sanction the exits of once-promising talents, as Bergwijn might have actually stood a chance were he to be taken under the wing of the former Celtic man who can do no wrong at the moment.