[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the transfer window in full swing, every club across Europe hopes to start the 2015-16 season stronger than it finished last term.
Tottenham’s off-season has began with a number of new faces arriving at White Hart Lane, with Kevin Wimmer and Kieran Trippier set to bolster Mauricio Pochettino’s defensive options.
Spurs fans are more emotionally attached to transfer windows than most supporter groups, mainly due to the North London club being linked to more players than the majority of other teams.
As such, over recent years the churn of players coming to and leaving White Hart Lane has been significant.
Of the faces to depart, the likes of Gareth Bale and Luka Modrić have moved on to bigger things, with Spurs relatively powerless to avert their defection.
However, the rest of the players that have been moved on have generally been deemed as ‘failures’, having not established themselves as worthy of the task of firing the club towards the top four.
Here in-lies the main error of Tottenham’s ways in the modern era and something that Pochettino must fix.
Although patience and modern day football rarely mix, Spurs have been all too quick to look to the transfer market for the next quick-fix or messiah to assist in ascertaining the Champions League promised land.
This has resulted in the Spurs team looking drastically different from season-to-season, with a cyclical effect for countless players; signed as a star of great potential, not given adequate opportunity, departure as a failure. Repeat.
The latest batch of players that have or are set to leave White Hart Lane this summer include Paulinho, Lewis Holtby,Étienne Capoue and Benjamin Stambouli.
Paulinho certainly did not live up to his billing as a star of the Brazil national team, but he was only given the chance to start three Premier League games last season.
Holtby, a fully fledged Germany international, was snapped up from Schalke and his capture was regarded as something of a coup.
Largely due to the presence of Christian Eriksen and a lack of trust by Pochettino, the dynamic playmaker leaves North London with only ten Premier League starts to his name.
Capoue looked like the enforcer Spurs have been missing upon his arrival in England, with the all-action France international impressive in the first few games of the 2013-14 season.
The former Toulouse star was unluckily injured in the North London derby against Arsenal and in the 18 months since has not been given a chance to play consistently.
Capoue, along with compatriot Stambouli, are being heavily linked with a switch to newly promoted Watford; just whether or not this materialises remains to be seen, but it is apparent that the French pair’s future is away from North London.
Stambouli, prized away from Montpellier last summer, was only given four Premier League starts last season.
In a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at the turn of the year in Alan Pardew’s first game in charge at Selhurst Park, the 24-year-old showed a slight of foot and work-rate that suggested he could be influential for Tottenham.
One of Spurs’ best performers that day amongst a bad bunch, Stambouli was selected to start the following week against Sunderland on January 17 but then not again for the remainder of the campaign.
Just how the Marseille-born midfielder can be deemed as a player to boost Spurs’ squad, only to be discarded 12 months later after only four Premier League starts, beggars belief.
The current players being allowed to look for a new home follow in a distinct line of big-money acquisitions to fail to make the grade at Spurs.
Others to be shown the door in similar fashion after relatively short periods at the club include Sandro, Clint Dempsey, Steven Pienaar and Niko Kranjčar.
Arguably the most pertinent example is Gylfi Sigurðsson, who performed relatively consistently over two seasons at Spurs without hitting full stride and was allowed to return to Swansea.
Before, and since, he has proven himself as a top performer. A gifted and versatile midfielder with goals in him that can play in a number of positions. Exactly what Spurs need on the right-hand side of their midfield currently.
Although not every player that arrives is destined to be a pegged-on success, few are given ample time to prove themselves.
This feeling of frustration will continue as long as the merry-go-round keeps turning, with every chance that Wimmer, Trippier and any new arrivals this summer could be packing their bags in a year or two’s time.
Look at North London rivals Arsenal, who have consistently finished above and outperformed Spurs over the last generation; very rarely does a player leave the Emirates Stadium in the same afore-mentioned short time frame.
Pochettino needs to compile a group and stick to it; major revamps every 12 months clearly are not reaping rewards.
