The wheels may be coming off ever so slightly for Tottenham Hotspur at the moment, with four defeats on the bounce, but the overall feeling around the club is far more positive than it was just a year ago, thanks to Ange Postecoglou’s progressive management.
The Australian manager has harkened back to the aesthetically pleasing style of football played under Mauricio Pochettino in N17 but pushed his players to be even more forward-thinking on the pitch.
The results haven’t necessarily come, but considering how negative the team were under Antonio Conte just last season, it’s impressive to see how much the 58-year-old has already changed them.
That said, the transition to a more dynamic style of football was made easier thanks to the club finally getting rid of several players, such as Davinson Sanchez, who had clearly been around too long.
Davinson Sánchez’s time at Spurs
Sanchez joined Pochettino’s Lilywhites in the summer of 2017 after an impressive year playing for Dutch giants Ajax, where he made 47 appearances, scored seven goals, provided two assists and made it to the Europa League final.
Upon arriving in the capital, there was an understandable level of excitement considering his previous displays in Amsterdam, so he made his full debut for the club in just the fourth Premier League game of the season – a 3-0 away win against Everton.
In his first year at the club, the Caloto-born centre-back would make 41 appearances across all competitions, but unlike his time in the Netherlands, he failed to score a goal or provide an assist.
Unfortunately for all involved, the following five seasons would get progressively worse for the 58-capped international as the club would go from genuinely challenging for major honours to languishing in midtable and conceding a whopping 63 goals in his final campaign.
While it certainly wasn’t all Sanchez’s fault, he received a lot of criticism for his less-than-stellar performances. At the start of last season, pundit and former professional Jamie O’Hara labelled him “one of the worst players I’ve ever seen”, and by the end of the campaign, he was describing him as “deadwood” – tell us how you really feel, Jamie.
Overall, it was a move that failed on all accounts, and after making 207 appearances for the club, in which he scored five goals and provided one assist, he was finally sold to Galatasaray last summer after draining Spurs of millions of pounds.
The finances of Sanchez’s Tottenham career
Due to his impressive displays for Ajax and the hype building around him at the time, Tottenham paid a staggering £42m to bring him to North London in 2017, making him the club’s new record signing. To make matters worse, the then-21-year-old was handed a rather sizable wage of £65k-per-week.
What makes it all the more remarkable is the fact that recent centre-back signing Micky van de Ven, who has been winning plaudits all over thanks to his breakneck speed and defensive acumen, is currently earning £50k-per-week, or £15k less than the Colombian did, despite clearly being the better defender.
So, when adding his wages and transfer fee together, Sanchez ended up costing Spurs a whopping £62.4m, which breaks down to around £301k-per-appaearance, £12.4m-per-goal, or £62.4m-per-assist.
The finances of Davinson Sánchez’s Tottenham Deal |
|
---|---|
Transfer Fee |
£42m |
Wages (Total) |
£65k (£20.4m) |
Appearances |
207 |
Cost per Appearance |
£301k |
Goals |
5 |
Cost per Goal |
£12.4m |
Assists |
1 |
Cost per Assist |
£62.4m |
Goal Involvements |
6 |
Cost per Goal Involvement |
£10.4m |
All Stats via Transfermarkt & All Wages via Capology |
At the end of the day, while he isn’t the worst player to have played for Tottenham in recent years, Sanchez has to be considered among some of the worst transfers in the club’s history due to the sheer amount of money that went to waste.
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