Tottenham told strike immediately to avoid Antoine Semenyo hijack after Eberechi Eze nightmare
Tottenham have been warned to push through a deal to sign Antoine Semenyo urgently to avoid getting burnt like they did with Eberechi Eze.
Arsenal hijacked Tottenham’s move for Eze in the summer after a drawn out saga ended with the then-Crystal Palace star jumping at the option to head back to his boyhood club.
That came back to bite Spurs in a big way as he scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 4-1 North London derby victory on Sunday.
Ahead of the January transfer window Tottenham are eyeing a move for Bournemouth’s Semenyo in a bid to strengthen Thomas Frank’s faltering attacking options, but other clubs are again interested.
Tim Sherwood rages at Tottenham transfer failures
In the wake of the hammering at the Emirates former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood was visibly frustrated discussing the situation on Sky Sports News, slamming wasted money on a host of alternative attackers while missing out on the key one.
He then demanded the club don’t let the same thing happen with Semenyo, ranting: “Get the deal done! When you’ve got the opportunity to get the deal done! Look at the players who have come in that are supposedly operating in his position. The likes of [Mathys] Tel who wants to be a number 10, but he plays out wide. You’ve got Xavi Simons, who didn’t even [start] yesterday, you’ve got [Wilson] Odobert.
“They waste so much money who are £30-40-20 million, look at the money they’ve spent for them players, alright [Mohammed] Kudus [£55m] has done okay. What was Eze, £65m wasn’t he? You’d rather pay an extra £10m for a make-the-difference player. You know he’s gonna be a make-the-difference player.
“Just get the deal done as soon as you can. Don’t give the opportunity to other clubs who are higher than you in the league to come in and knick your player. That’s exactly what Arsenal have done…
“It happens time and time again. Save your money on average players that you keep buying. Let the academy boys be the stocking-fillers and fill up your squad, and [spend] make-the-difference money on make-the-difference players like him.
“Like Semenyo now, go and get him, Tottenham. Don’t wait for Man City, don’t wait for Liverpool, don’t wait for Man United or whoever it is, go and get him before everyone else comes to the party. It doesn’t give him a decision then. It’s frustrating!”
Xavi Simons flop remains a warning
Transfer hijacks work both ways and it isn’t always the club who are celebrating during the window that end up benefiting longer term.
Tottenham were delighted to hijack Chelsea on a deal to bring in Simons, but the Dutchman’s impact has been minimal and is a big part of the problem for Frank’s unit going forward.
That could give Spurs reason to hesitate instead of steaming ahead to meet Bournemouth’s asking price for Semenyo, then working out a contract with the Ghanian.
The key difference, however, is that both Semenyo and Eze are proven Premier League performers so the risk of them struggling to adapt is that much lower than it was with Simons who arrived from RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
At the same time, while the risk may be smaller it isn’t non-existent, otherwise Richarlison wouldn’t have struggled on arrival from Everton and still face criticism now.
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