Is Daniel Levy’s hardball stance on transfers counterproducti

By Alan Robins


Saturday 09 July 2011








In the transfer market any club’s aim is to maximize the fee on the
sale of a player, and minimize the fee on a purchase, understandable
considering the amounts of money involved. Tottenham Hotspur Chairman
Daniel Levy has a well-deserved reputation for playing hardball in the
transfer market. Perhaps not many could have obtained Rafael van der
Vaart for a lowly £8million or negotiated £30.75million for Dimitar
Berbatov.
The tough negotiations resulted in the Bulgarian being sold in the last
minutes of the transfer window. The timing meant Spurs were left with
no opportunity to sign the quality replacement needed, especially with
Robbie Keane having been sold earlier that summer. Spurs started that
season by taking two points out of a possible 18, leading to the sack
for manager Juande Ramos. As Manchester United, Sunderland and Norwich
City have shown this summer, clubs prefer transfer activity completed
before the start of the season, pre-season if possible, so new players
can settle in. Most seasons under Levy there have been transfers in
August and September. In 10 years, Spurs have gained 88 out of a
possible 207 points in those same months.
Playing hardball may leave a club unable to sign replacements due to
uncertainty whether a player will be sold. When they are, it may be too
late to buy quality replacements. Consequently, a club can end up paying
over the odds for mediocre players as clubs take advantage of the
buyer’s desperation. For example, Freddie Kanoute was sold on August 17
2005. His replacement, Gregor Rasiak was signed on the final day of the
transfer window and managed only eight Tottenham appearances, without
scoring, before moving on.
The completion of transfers may depend on good relationships with other
clubs - arguably, Spurs need improvement in this area. In their failed
bid for winger Diego Capel, the Sevilla President stated “I must
admit that if it had been any other team [than Spurs] the price I'd have
quoted to sign Capel would have been lower. In fact there is no point
in telling a lie the price would have been considerably lower.” Levy
has also left Tottenham open to charges of hypocrisy, having gone
public and vociferously denouncing bidding clubs behaviour - including
Manchester United and Chelsea. However, Harry Redknapp has gone public
with admiration for potential targets - Giuseppe Rossi being the latest.

Levy adopts an equally tough stance on the purchase of players. There is
a balance though between this and offering a fee that is perceived to
be unrealistic - the bids for Phil Neville were described by David Moyes
as “insulting and disrespectful.” In the January transfer window
Spurs reportedly had bids for eight strikers rejected for being too
low. Debatably, the cost by not increasing one bid has been far
outweighed by the cost of non-qualification for the Champions League.
The Chairman has made some quality signings but maybe too often his
stance has been counterproductive, with too much paid for mediocrity and
quality targets missed. Perhaps Levy needs to be more selective about
when to play hardball.