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It had to be in the dying moments of the transfer window, but it was a foregone conclusion that Gareth Frank Bale would flaunt with the same white colored home jersey but with the highly esteemed crest of the Los Blancos on it. On August 24th, Marca, a Spanish sports daily reported that the Welsh star had already arrived in Andalusia before any kind of official statement from both clubs.
The deal was made right on the deadline day, 1st September for a record transfer fee of a grand £86,500,000. A grand reception was waiting for Bale at the Santiago Bernabeu on the 3rd of September, when he was unveiled in front of a boisterous capacity crowd. Exactly like how the Messi-Neymar combination was doubted, even the Ronaldo-Bale combination came under question. But all those doubts have been partially brushed aside with Bale opening his account in his debut against Villareal.
This is the Real Madrid side of the story. Let us go out of this box to drop into another one, the Tottenham Hotspurs’ one.
With the departure of their highly coveted winger, and with only Lewis Holtby in the bag, it would’ve sent shivers down Andre Villas Boas’s spine if not for the presence of a genius in their chairman/owner, Daniel Levy.
With a purely businessman state of mind, he managed things to utmost perfection. His masterstroke that thudded on the White Hart Lane opened the mouths of football pundits from all over the globe, in awe. But was his way of managing the Bale departure going to be good enough for fortunes to fall on Spurs in their near future endeavors?
July 06 – Paulinho – Corinthians (Brazil) – £17,358,000
July 21 – Nacer Chadli – FC Twente (The Netherlands) – £7,172,000
August 01 – Roberto Soldado – Valencia CF (Spain) – £26,400,000
August 15 – Étienne Capoue – Toulouse FC (France) – £9,680,000
August 24 – Vlad Chiriche? – Steaua Bukarest (Romania) – £8,360,000
August 30 – Erik Lamela – AS Roma (Italy) – £26,400,000
August 30 – Christian Eriksen – AFC Ajax (The Netherlands) – £11,880,000
The above data is the list of the players signed by Levy for Spurs. Levy made sure that the Bale transfer saga was all hyped up before he could wave the green flag to Florentino Perez and Bale himself. In the meanwhile, he signed these seven players. The arithmetic shows that Levy splashed a whole £107,250,000 for all these acquisitions.
Though it was a huge gamble played by him, it was definitely a calculated risk taken bearing in mind the desperation shown by Real Madrid on Bale. With Neymar rejecting them for Barcelona, the capital city club had to look for alternatives and there was one and only one man, Bale, who could replace Neymar on their roster.
It was deadline day and Bale was offloaded for a record £86,500,000. With seven new signings, Levy had to get rid of some more players on the squad. So in addition to Bale, he also managed to get rid of Scott Parker, Massimo Luongo, Tom Huddlestone, Clint Dempsey and Stever Caulker for good amounts.
Transfer expenditures = £107,250,000
Transfer income = £111,513,600
Net profit = Transfer income – Transfer expenditures
Net profit = £111,513,600 – £107,250,000
Net profit = +£4,263,600
Incoming players (loans excluded): Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Étienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriche?, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen.
Outgoing players (loans excluded): Gareth Bale, Massimo Luongo, Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone, Clint Dempsey, Steven Caulker, John Bostock, Nathan Byrne, William Gallas, Jack Munns, Dean Parrett, Jack Barthram, Jake Nicholson, David Bentley.
Bale out, seven in!
In addition of a monetary profit, they have also made a profit on the average age. The outgoing players have an average age of 24 years whereas 23 years 4 months is the average age of the incoming seven players, which is surely a valid plus point.
The two most important qualms now for Tottenham are team chemistry and success. Their current squad is fiercely potent but will they adapt within themselves? Will their team chemistry take a kicking? Will Andre Villas Boas manage to keep up a certain momentum which will earn them a Champions League spot, this season?
All these questions need to be pondered upon. In the Premier League it is always difficult to adapt because of the tenacity and the level of competition it offers. With seven players from entirely different league backgrounds, it will be an absolute delight to see how they cope up with England and its accomplices.
The success and momentum factor also plays a vital role in this team building process for Villas Boas. Bale was a proven goal scorer, a winger who took his chances and often came inside the ‘D’ box. Nacer Chadli is a purely crossing winger like Aaron Lennon while Lamela and Eriksen are purely attacking midfielders. So essentially, Bale was doing the job of Chadli and Eriksen/Lamela.
Villas Boas will have to work on his formations too. All these factors will be of high reference in their race to glory. They can keep the momentum going only if they manage to get a string of vital victories in the league. With this highly potent squad, they are also expected to concentrate and do well in the Europa League after a disappointing campaign last time around.
To sum up, whether or not Daniel Levy’s calculated risk was right, will come to light only as time passes. They look like a solid team with nothing to worry about. In the first four rounds, they sit atop the league table in third position, just below their North London rivals Arsenal and Merseysiders, Liverpool.
Sans Bale, the practice balls at the White Hart Lane now get kicked by a hugely talented set of seven new youngsters.
How will that pan out for Spurs? Wait and watch.
