Ange Postecoglou Names 4 Players He Wanted to Sign at Tottenham But Was Denied
Ange Postecoglou Names 4 Players He Wanted to Sign at Tottenham But Was Denied.
Ange Postecoglou has hit out at the Tottenham Hotspur owners in the wake of Thomas Frank being sacked in N17.
Frank was relieved of his duties at Spurs on Wednesday, just eight months after replacing Postecoglou as head coach.
In a strange twist of fate, the Australian was booked to appear on the Stick To Football podcast on the same day that Frank was given his marching orders and Postecoglou spoke openly and honestly about his time at Tottenham and why the club is not set up to succeed, saying Spurs are “not a big club”.
Ange Postecoglou Gave Tottenham Fans What They Wanted
Postecoglou finished fifth in the Premier League in his first season in north London, bringing an all-out attack brand of football to the club that the supporters had been craving after the likes of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Nuno Espirito Santo.
Things quickly went south in his second season, however, with myriad injuries hampering the side as they finished 17th. Postecoglou did do what he promised to do though in winning a trophy – ending Spurs’ 17-year wait for major silverware by lifting the UEFA Europa League title in Bilbao.
Tottenham Recruitment Is Not Good Enough To Win Titles
“They’ve built and unbelievable stadium, unbelievable training facilities, but when you look at the expenditure, particularly the wage structure, they’re not a big club,” Postecoglou said. “I saw that because when you’re trying to sign players, we weren’t in the market for those players.”
Postecoglou blamed the recruitment at Spurs, naming four players he wanted the club to sign for him in order to take Spurs from fifth to challenging for the title.
He added: “At the end of my first year, when we finished fifth, you go ‘how do you go from fifth to really challenging?’ We had to sign Premier League ready players, but finishing fifth that year didn’t get us Champions League, we didn’t have the money, we ended up signing Dom Solanke I was really keen on, I really like him and three teenagers.
“I was looking at Pedro Neto and [Bryan] Mbeumo, and [Antoine] Semenyo at the time, Marc Guehi, because I said we need, if we’re going to go from fifth to there, that’s what the other big clubs would do in that moment.
“Those three teenagers are outstanding young players, brilliant, and I think they’ll be great players for Tottenham, but they’re not going to get you from fifth to fourth and third.
“Yet what was coming out from the club was that ‘no, we’re a club that can compete on all fronts’.”
Daniel Levy’s Reasons For Sacking Postecoglou Have Not Bore Fruit
Neto moved to Chelsea in 2024, when Postecoglou had been looking at him. Mbeumo stayed at Brentford for another year, before moving to Manchester United last summer, while Guehi and Semenyo made the move to Manchester City in the January transfer window. All four players Postecoglou wanted at Spurs eventually making the step up to other big six clubs instead.
Postecoglou was sacked after prioritising – and winning the Europa League – at the expense of the league form. Then chairman Daniel Levy made a point of saying that “we need to compete in all competitions and we felt we needed a change”.
Spurs are out of the FA Cup and out of the Carabao Cup and sitting 16th in the table after making that change. The Champions League is all they really have left to play for – that and staving off relegation as they look for another new manager.
