Tottenham: Bale to Madrid but Levy ensures life is bright after he’s gone

Tottenham – a force to reckon with even in the absence of Bale

In the absence of Bale, Chadli and Aaron Lennon will be relied upon to provide service from the wings with Moussa Dembele and Paulinho supporting centrally. But Villas-Boas will be cautious as to whether will that will be enough to replace Bale’s brand of explosive pace and energetic strength that won Spurs so many games last season.

It is of no surprise then to learn then that the stories of Bale’s departure have been accompanied by reports of interest in Roma’s Erik Lamela and the highly-coveted winger Wllian of Anzhi Makhachkala. It will be a powerful reinvestment of what will almost inevitably Bale’s sale fee as a summer’s spending spree surpassing £100 million will not fall into line with UEFA’s rules on financial fair play given Spurs’ failure to make the Champions League.

Levy, even faced with losing his club’s most dangerous and important asset, has managed to ensure his manager has remained equipped with a squad able to genuinely challenge the upper echelons of the Premier League.

It is believed slightly less than £30 million is what will be required to bring Lamela and his frightening pace to the Premier League on the back of a record that reads 21 goals from 66 games at Roma from a position on the right of an attacking three.

A fantastic athlete, the 21 year old Argentine is a technically gifted dribbler and a potent creative force as he assisted 12 goals during his time at the Stadio Olimpico. Tottenham’s new director of football, Franco Baldini will be fully aware of what Lamela can bring to the party after overseeing his development during his time as a director at the Giallorossi.

Willian meanwhile is more at home on the left-flank despite his natural right-footed use and partnered with Lamela’s habit of cutting inside on his natural left, suggests Villas-Boas will be looking to implement a 4-3-3 that relies on inverted wingers either side of Soldado with flying full-backs in support of the in-moving wide men. Hence the interest in Coentrao, for instance.

The Brazilian however will cost in excess of Lamela, regardless of Anzhi’s financial crisis they will hold out for a fee in the region of £30 million that has since priced Liverpool out of their original interest. For that price Spurs will be getting a player who scored 8 times over 35 games last season and assisted 15.

His trickery and quick-feet saw him involved in a goal in every 75 minutes of Champions League football playing for Shakhtar last season, it is his dynamism and dangerous movement that make him an obvious candidate to fill the void vacated by Bale.

From the moment the curtain fell on Spurs’ season in May, the year that their winger Gareth Bale came of age and showed that he could produce imperious quality on a regular basis, it has become almost wide-spread expectation that he would leave White Hart Lane for the lucrative setting of Madrid.

As that expectation edges ever closer to reality, it seems like Tottenham have formed an excellent plan to carry on without him.