Pleat wanted £75m England star at Spurs, they signed Njie & Sissoko instead
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It was an interesting summer of transfer business for Tottenham Hotspur this year.
Daniel Levy and Co splashed £65m to secure the services of Premier League proven striker and once-capped England international Dominic Solanke, but most of their business looked markedly different in approach.
Instead of bringing in another two or three older players who had the experience of consistently playing in the top flight, the Lilywhites opted to sign several young up-and-coming talents in players like Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Yang Min-Hyeok.
Signings like these might not get the fans off their seats at the moment, but they are all highly rated and have the potential to develop into something special.
Moreover, by focusing on younger players, the club can ensure they don’t miss out on the next big thing, as they did in the mid-2010s when, instead of listening to David Pleat about a future England star, players like Clinton N’Jie and Moussa Sissoko came through the door.
N’jie & Sissoko’s Spurs careers
Okay, so let’s start with Sissoko first, as while he had his detractors early on, he did end up spending five mostly successful years in North London.
In fact, while many in the media dubbed him a £30m flop following his underwhelming debut campaign in N17, he quickly improved and soon became a genuinely useful player for Mauricio Pochettino during a period in which he had the club fighting for major honours.
The former Newcastle United midfielder played 202 games for the Lilywhites, scoring five goals and providing 16 assists, mostly from central and right midfield.
On the other hand, N’jie was an unmitigated flop. While he wasn’t egregiously expensive, his £12m fee was still reasonably sizeable for a young forward in 2015.
There wasn’t an enormous amount of pressure on the then-22-year-old at the time, as his job was to occasionally play off the left and be the backup for a then-still-young Harry Kane, but even then, he failed to deliver.
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In 14 appearances across his one and only season with the club, he failed to score and provided just a single assist before he was sent on loan to Marseille for the following season. A year later, he eventually joined the French team permanently.
Overall, while Sissoko was eventually a successful signing, N’jie certainly wasn’t, and around the time the club signed the pair, Pleat was telling them to sign an encouraging talent from the lower divisions who could play all over the pitch.
Spurs missed out on Ollie Watkins
Yes, the youngster that Spurs missed out on signing is indeed England international Ollie Watkins.
According to an article from the Athletic, Pleat recommended a number of talented youngsters to Spurs in the mid-2010s, from James Maddison to Dele Alli and a certain ‘box-to-box midfielder’ from Exeter City.
Yes, before he was terrifying defenders up top, the Newton Abbot-raised marksman was, in his own words, a “utility man” who was happy to play anywhere, including but not limited to “left-wing back, centre midfield, right wing, striker.”
However, while he was at one point more familiar with the role Sissoko played, he soon developed into a seriously deadly attacker, and after wowing fans at Exeter’s St James’ Park, he earned a move to then-Championship side Brentford, where yet more impressive form finally earned him a massive £28m move to Premier League side Aston Villa.
Since his move to Birmingham, the dynamic goalscorer has gone from strength to strength and moved from the wing to the centre-forward position, and, so far, he’s racked up 70 goals and 27 assists in 172 games, which explains why the club value him at a whopping £75m.
However, he took another step up last season, as in 53 appearances, he scored 27 goals and provided 13 assists, which helped the Villans qualify for the Champions League and booked him a place at Euro 2024, where he scored England’s winner in the semi-final.
Ultimately, while clubs cannot sign every player recommended by their scouts, on this occasion, Spurs would have been better off listening to Pleat and bringing in Watkins alongside Sissoko instead of N’jie.
