Fixtures affected by African Cup of Nations, striker needed?

Supporters are a funny breed, everything for a vast of them is black and white and they twist whatever to fit their own opinion. The striker situation is a prime example.

Important Spurs fixtures affected by African Cup of Nations


Tottenham have been needing a high quality goalscorer for years and Daniel Levy has tried to sign numerous players that supporters then moan are unrealistic targets. Naturally the club view is why should we settle for second best when second best isn't where we want to be and hasn't worked.

If we are to buy it is for a player who will improve the club. That is a fine sentiment and in my view the correct one, you don't buy for the sake of buying. To buy a player the deal has to be right for all parties and Tottenham have to be buying a player who is worth the money we pay for him. What you don't do is simply over pay for a player just because you need someone in that position, that's business suicide, it will mess you up for future transfer windows because Tottenham is not a bottomless pit of money, as some fans seem to see it.

The fact Joe Lewis has money is irrelevant, it's his money, not Tottenham's and if he chooses not to invest it then that is up to him. The club have been dragged up to a sound financial footing and in the new financial climate the club are nicely placed.

Eventually Daniel Levy agreed a deal to bring Roberto Soldado, a prolific proven goalscorer, who has failed to score goals. Now fans want him sold at a massive loss and the cash splashed again. Some fans are under the misapprehension we only paid £13 million for Soldado with everything else as add-ons, that is not the case. Valencia refused add-ons and wanted cash, ideally in one lump sum, they were in financial difficulty and needed money. Tottenham bought Soldado with instalment payments.

The £26 million was spread and a chunk is paid each year, he has been here over a year now so we will have paid the second instalment during the summer. Selling him under £26 million constitutes a loss, if we sell we still have to pay the amount agreed to buy. That makes it very difficult to sell him as the offers are around the £11 million mark, transfermarkt give a guide price if £15.84 million and they usually undervalue players.

A deal to sell Soldado is going to be very difficult to find, we need him scoring goals. The other problem is vice-captain Emmanuel Adebayor.

Followers of the site will know we have been keeping a close eye of the African Cup of Nations qualifying situation. Togo had a poor start but during the last international break beat Uganda 1-0 home and away to bring themselves back into contention in a four team group.

Group E

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Ghana422085+38
 Togo42025506
 Uganda41123304
 Guinea411247−34

During the next international break in November Togo play Guinea at home and then Ghana away so nothing is cut and dried yet but it's looking healthier for them than it was.

GhanaGuineaTogoUganda
Ghana 3–119 Nov1–1
Guinea 1–12–119 Nov
Togo 2–315 Nov1–0
Uganda 15 Nov2–00–1

Emmanuel Adebayor having looked unlikely to be missing in January for the tournament is now looking likely to be making the trip. I fail to understand why fans and managers have a problem with it. It's an important tournament for African football and if you don't want to lose a player for a month every two years don't sign African players likely to play in it, simple. The know the score before you sign them so stop whinging when you have.

If Adebayor is missing for January that leaves us with Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane. Go and sign a striker but to do that we have to offload a non-home grown player first. Looking through the squad that would mean Vlad Chiriches, who now must be top of everyone's get shot of list, or Paulinho, a £17 million flop.

You sell whichever one you can get the best deal for but it is going to be extremely difficult to make a profit on either one, they weren't worth what we paid for them. They, plus Soldado and Lamela, are fine examples of why you don't just a pay a fee a club asks for but you pay a fee that you think the player is worth. Pay too much and you have tremendous difficulty getting your money back on a sale if they fail, and as we have seen regularly, players do fail when they come to the Premier League.

The 2015 African Cup of Nations is being held between January 17 and February 8, where is unknown with host nation Morocco reportedly unable to host the tournament because of the ebola crisis (over 4,000 lives lost). Morocco however, say they still want to host the tournament but they want it postponed.

The Confederation of African Football insist it isn't moved. Over 1 million people are expected to attend. Assuming the dates remain the same what Tottenham Hotspur fixtures does it effect.

Tottenham Fixtures in January 2015

Saturday January 17 - Sunderland at White Hart Lane
w/c January 19 - League Cup Semi-Final First Leg
Saturday January 24 - FA Cup Fourth Round Proper
w/c January 26 - Semi-Final Second Leg
Saturday January 31 - WBA at The Hawthorns
Saturday February 7 - Arsenal at White Hart Lane
Tuesday February 10 - Liverpool at Anfield
Premier League games in bold

Barring injures Harry Kane will get much more of a look in in January depending upon whether we are still in the League Cup at the semi-final stage, if we are then there are 3 Cup games to play, 1 FA Cup and 2 League Cup.

There are only 4 Premier League games but a potential 7 games in total. Roberto Soldado for the Premier League, Harry Kane for the Cups is quite feasible but any injury and Tottenham are in trouble.

Panic buying for a short-term fix is of no use to us at all, any potential purchase has to add to the quality so a striker can be offloaded in the summer. Nobody is going to buy Adebayor early in January, he could get injured at the African Cup of Nations, assuming he makes it, so nobody will buy him until the end of the month.

Looking at the number of fixtures though the problem of a missing striker for a month isn't huge assuming no injuries, there is no need to but unless the right striker becomes available at the right price and we can offload a non-home grown player.