Although last season may not have gone entirely according to plan, and this year hasn’t exactly started perfectly either, you cannot deny that Tottenham Hotspur are now one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the Premier League.
The arrival of Ange Postecoglou last summer has completely transformed the way the team approaches matches. Instead of boring their fans to tears like they did at times under their three previous managers, they now attack with gusto at every opportunity.
Now, does this sometimes result in the other side scoring a goal? Yes, often. However, it’s become crystal clear over the last year or so that the Australian will not be changing his ways just because a pundit who hasn’t played for 30 years thinks he’s being naive.
That said, for as talented as some of the Lilywhites’ attackers are, they can sometimes be rather wasteful in front of goal. Of the players at the club last season, all but Son Heung-min were outperformed by a youngster sold by Daniel Levy and Co, whose valuation has since soared 166%.
Spurs’ attackers in 23/24
So, let’s start with Son Heung-min, who was Spurs’ most effective attacker by quite some way last season.
Despite being constantly moved between the left-wing and centre-forward positions, the South Korean superstar still racked up a seriously impressive haul of 17 goals and ten assists in just 36 appearances, meaning he averaged a goal involvement once every 1.33 games.
Behind the captain, and by quite some way at that, we have Richarlison, who managed to somewhat make up for his dismal debut campaign with the club by scoring 12 goals – including a screamer against his old side – and providing four assists in 31 matches, equating to a goal involvement on average every 1.93 games.
Just behind the Brazilian, we have a summer signing in Brennan Johnson, who joined the Lilywhites from Nottingham Forest for a hefty fee of around £47.5m.
The Welshman started the season slowly and, as a result, caught some flak from pundits and fans alike. However, he eventually got to grips with Postecoglou’s system and ended the campaign with five goals and ten assists in 34 appearances, which equates to a reasonable average of a goal involvement every 2.26 games.
Now, while Johnson nor Richarlison were on a level comparable to Son, they both contributed to the North Londoners’ attack reasonably well and could be set to take another step forward this year, but a former Spurs youngster sold just a couple of years ago is now back in the top-flight, and he comfortably outperformed the pair of them in 23/24.
Jack Clarke’s 23/24
Yes, the player in question is Jack Clarke, who, after being signed by Tottenham for around £8.5m in 2019, spent the next few years on fairly mediocre loan spells with Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, and Stoke City before spending six months with Sunderland in the latter half of the 21/22 season, who then snapped him up in July 2022.
Now, there is some confusion as to how much the Black Cats paid for the York-born dynamo, but it seems that he was sold for just £750k. However, the North Londoners did insert a hefty sell-on clause that would have netted them a not insignificant amount of money when Ipswich Town splashed an initial £15m on Clarke this summer.
The fee paid by the Tractor Boys means that the Englishman’s value has shot up 1900% since Spurs sold him, and while that sounds like a lot, it’s quite justified.
For example, in just 42 appearances last season, the “unplayable” ace, as dubbed by pundit Alan Clarke, scored 15 goals and provided four assists, meaning that he averaged a goal involvement every 2.21 games from left midfield and left wing, which would have made him the second most productive player at Spurs.
Clarke vs Spurs’ most productive players in 23/24 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | ||||
Appearances | 42 | 36 | 31 | 34 |
Goals | 15 | 17 | 12 | 5 |
Assists | 4 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
Goal Involvements per Match | 0.45 | 0.75 | 0.51 | 0.44 |
All Stats via Transfermarkt | ||||
Now, the caveat here is that his level of opposition in the second tier is obviously inferior, but the difference isn’t as significant as it once was, and while he might not have been able to produce the same numbers in the Premier League, the thought of him playing under Postecoglou is an exciting one.
Ultimately, considering the money they received from his move to Ipswich and the difficulty he had breaking into the first team, Spurs may well have made the correct decision when they sold him two years ago, but should he kick on in Norfolk this season, Levy could have some explaining to do.
