So we missed out on Willian.
Annoying... yes!
Good player.. yes!
Essential... No!
You see, we all want signings as that's what fans want but for me, he is the kind of player that makes a difference for a team who are already the finished article.
A perfect fit for a Man U or a Chelsea/Citeh.
Now some of us like stats and others don't put much credence in them but for me I look at one thing is stats and that is assists and goals.
Now we are a growing team. A team on the rise after a massive fall. We need players (apart) from our strikers who can get goals. We all know how Manure won these titles. Particularly in the mid 90's - mid 00's.
They had good strikers who always banged in a set amount and they had AT LEAST 2-3 midfielders who would bang in 10 a season no sweat.
So when they played crap and the strikers had an off day, one of those said midfielders would chip in with a routine goal and they take the points.
Now as good a player as Willian is, his output ain't nothing that special for the cost. Doesn't score that often but chips in an adequate amount of assists.
Now when we bought Downing I was fuming cos there was an overpriced player who never scored that often (something like a 1 in 10 ratio) but did assist adequately.
In that same summer, we could have had Mata for a few million more. A man that provides assists on a frequent basis and has a career average of 1 in 4.
Now if we are spending 30m, we need a midfielder that is gonna smash in a goal every 4-5 games and provide a high level of assists. To accompany the goal threat of Sturridge/Suarez.
So fear not people. There are a ton of players out there that can be sought out and bought for that kind of money.
I'd take a punt on Eriksen at 16-20m, now before its too late. Fine player who gets a decent amount of goals and assists (more than Willian by the way) in a slightly or similar (ability wise) league.
Spurs look great now with Bale with them. Take him and his 20 Prem goals a season out of the squad and I don't see anything that can't be surmounted (won't be easy but hardly Mission Impossible!).
It just takes good management. As after all, in my opinion if you drew up a best 11 of current Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal first 11's, I think Arsenal players would feature the least!
And they are the team that always finishes above us and Spurs so it goes to show what management can effect on the team.
