Davies will be a much more important player for Spurs than Bale and here is WHY

Don’t write this Josh, don’t write this. You’ll jinx it – you know you will. Why write this – he hasn’t even signed yet!

A few sentences that convey my thoughts on writing a piece before a player has been; signed sealed and delivered directly to Hotspur Way.

But alas my fellow Spurs fans, I cannot contain my excitement!

For I happen to be more than a little bit fond of a young Welshman named Ben Davies. This fondness has evolved into a concrete belief that, if signed, Davies has the potential to be one of the best signings in our modern era.

Now, with the Telegraph reporting that we are set to pip Liverpool to the signing of the Welsh full-back, I am tinged with an excitement that has been un-matched since the signing of another Welsh left-back, with that occurrence being back in May 2007.

Of course, the “left-back” that was signed back in May 2007 has now evolved into one of the greatest players on the planet, and although Davies may not achieve what Gareth Bale will in terms of accomplishments and accolades, I believe that Davies will be a much more important player for Spurs than Bale ever was!

And here is why…

Swansea-Starlet is Spurs’ Problem Solver
Since supporting the club from the late 1990’s, glory days have been few and far between one another. Players have come and gone, some good, some bad and some truly woeful! In recent years we’ve had: keepers who are international number ones, defenders who’d take a bullet for the club, midfielders who could pass the ball through the eye of a needle, as well as strikers who oozed class.

Yet, despite the greats who have pulled on the lily-white colours of our beloved club in recent years, there is one position that has been crying out to be filled. And that is the position of left-back!

Since supporting the club myself, left-backs have come in the form of: Mauricio Taricco, Christian Ziege,Timothee Atouba, Lee Young-Pyo, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and last, as well as most probably least, Danny Rose.

Now, in this list there are most-likely 3 decent left-backs we could argue. Ziege was a talented footballer whose time in North London was blighted by serious injuries. Taricco was a tough tackler, as well as versatile, but as the team grew around the Argentine, his lack of footballing ability was eventually exposed. And to Benny, Benny could put in some strong performances at times, but his lack of consistency on the pitch and his desire to tweet more than play football was, and will always be a hindrance!

What seems strange more than anything, is that, despite the overload in quality of strikers and midfielders that we’ve had during different time periods at the club, no manager has really addressed the issue of defence, and in particular – that of left-back.

With no incoming transfer activity completed by Mauricio Pochetinno since his appointment last month, it’s clear for all to see that left-back, and specifically Ben Davies, is our top priority this summer. And for me, that is very pleasing to see.

The L Word
So where does Ben Davies rank amongst top left-backs?

It seems that these days, left-sided fullbacks who are consistent in both attack and defence are a rarity in top-flight football. Left-backs “are more like left-wingers now-a-days” you’d catch many pundits saying, but if there’s one thing left-wingers are not renowned for – it’s defending!

“Leighton Baines is the best left-back in England” they had echoed back in May 2014. Fast-forward two months later, after the WC in Brazil, many England fans were questioning Hodgsons’ decision to omit Ashley Cole from the squad completely, unimpressed by the Everton skippers performances in South America.

And so onto the next one…

“Marcelo is the best left-back in the World” many cried after Real Madrid attained their utopic “La Decima”. Once again, fast-forward two months; people were lamenting Marcelo’s form in a Brazilian shirt, as opposition wingers proved that the defender could not in fact defend!

So to move on from Baines and Marcelo, we find ourselves analysing Luke Shaw. Just as left-backs all around the world are having their weaknesses exposed, Manchester United fork out a whopping £33 million for the former Southampton teenager!

So where does this leave Davies, only two younger than that of Shaw, in relation to other left-sided fullbacks?

Not given the attention like Shaw, due to the fact that he was born on the wrong side of the England/Wales border, Davies has established himself as a consistent PL left-back, albeit within an 18month period.

After a nasty injury to Neil Taylor, Davies was thrust into first team action by Michael Laudrup, and hasn’t looked back since. His form and consistency in his role has prompted the belief that Taylor, a good left-back himself, may be looking at a move away from the Liberty Stadium due to the lack of first team opportunities.

If this alone is anything to go by – Danny Rose may need to start packing his bags right this minute.

The Welshman in Lilywhite – A Second Coming
So, if £10 million, the price quoted, is enough to snap up a player who is not only PL established at 21, but is also able to address a problem at our club that has been ongoing for an age – we’d be suckers not to seal the deal.

I remember the very day when Gareth Bale signed for our club 7 years ago; with my mate turning around to me and saying –“he’s gonna be top class. You’ve beaten United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea to his signature. He’s gotta be good?!” To which I could only muster – “we’ll wait and see”.

The difference between us signing these two Welshmen; is that we know that Ben Davies is top class. After proving his consistent ability for over a year and a half, in a position that seems to be a dying art these days, Davies’ rise to success has been given little attention or airtime simply because of the media furore that has surrounded Luke Shaw.

If we sign Ben Davies, with his ability and the position that he plays in, there’s no reason why he can’t be one our most valuable players from not only this season alone, but also long in to the future.

And if a club like Real Madrid did ever fancy signing another Welshman from us in 5 or 6 years’ time, I’m sure we’d be kind enough to sell for at least £100 million this time around.

COYS

 

Spurs are NOT Madrids feeder club so will be looking to build a team to challenge for the c/l and p/l, stuff everyone else!

 

Best signing for Spurs would be a coach who is given time to implement his ideas over time with the full backing of the chairman and board. Fed up with all this search for a star mentality. Last time I checked football was a team sport, and we've got a lot of good players at WHL. Davis may well be class but please don't look to him to being our saviour. That kind of pressure on a single player is not fair to either player or team mates. So let's get behind the Poch and hope he can bring a footballing prophecy to this great club. COYS!

 

Excellent article and well written.
As you pointed out, it has amazed me over my many years of supporting our wonderful club, how we have been so consistently poor in our defence.
We have often played free flowing, crowd pleasing football but have always ultimately fallen down because of a leaky defence.
Even last season, had we not capitulated against, City Liverpool and the Spammers AVB would probably still be here!
Our full backs were woeful, Rose is awful, Naughton tries but not good enough, Walker is better going forward than defending, Dawson (we love him) but slow and cumbersome, Chiriches looked good in places but makes awful mistakes and too many, Kaboul should have been our main stay but injuries have cost his form, which leaves.... Well who does it leave?
Any top team needs a solid defence and whilst we love a flair player at Tottenham, we really need to address the defence first, if the defence was sorted we probably even have enough going forward ( though an addition or two wouldn't go amiss)
Ben Davies has been terrific for Swansea as first and foremost... A defender... A great start, (if we manage to secure his signature) to addressing our problem......now on to centre half's.

 

What a waste of time to read or write bale Davies I guess you think lamela will live up to his price tag come on

 

Ben davies plays more like a winger and is very suspect defensively, he is not the answer imo and being from swansea id bet iv seen allot more of him than any of you

 

Apparently the deal is close would love to see it followed up with the signing of konopklapya for his reported 12,m trigger clause. Although very overpriced and Liverpool dithering I would pay the reported 25m for lovren as the centre half position needs sorting with the imminent sale of Daws. There is a genuine lack of quality proven prem Cbks so I would bite the bullet and pay the price since he
Is only 24 with a resale value. Also griezmann and Remy/lukaku be nice.

Gk. Friedel lloris.
Rb. Walker Fredericks.
Lb Davies fryers.
Cb. Kaboul chiri verts lovren
Cm. Dembele Sandro capoue paulinho
RM. Lamela Townsend
LM konopklaya Griezmann
CF adebayor soldado Remy/lukaku

Offset the signings lovren 25m Remy 8m griezmann 20m Davies 8m konopkplaya 12m

With
Rose 4m naughton 4m holtby 4m Dawson 3m Kane 3m sygi 8m lennon 6m with the usual 20-30m budget

 

Lovren > Liverpool - forget it !
Remy > Liverpool - only wants CL and 8m fee ONLY for top 4 sides.
Lukaku > Everton another year at least or permanent
Konopkplaya > W Ham (I think)
Griezmann >Possibly Liverpool and Chelsea - forget it!

That leaves us with the squad we have now !! Be realistic will ya when 'selecting' players we WANT and will GET. There's a big difference. Ben Davies is a start tho. Seems we will get him after all !!

 

Disagree about BAE the guys a clown and I hope to see him and Sandro leave like you said more interested in twitter both liabilities and give away silly silly fouls but I really hope we pull off Davies cheaper then Shaw which I like and more experience too COYS

 

Ben Davies would be a good and is a likely acquisition but despite that is still not a Spurs player. So compiling a Spurs squad/first team list that includes Remy, Lukaku, Louvren, Griezmann and Konyplanka, as well as Davies — what is the point of that?

 

So many words but only 1 substantiation for why Davies will be a much more important player than Bale. Which is this signing addresses immediately our weakness.

However, the reason was Bale was bought for the future and not to address immediately any position within the spurs set up then.

Bale in his last season had more match winners (savers) than Davies ever will in his entire career with Spurs.

Quite an overhyped pointless article really. Spurs need more intelligent posters and players honestly.

 

To be fair Josh you left yourself wide open by comparing Davies with Bale but i like the enthusiasm, and this signing looks close so fingers crossed. It certainly is a postion screaming out to be filled, im not so sure he will be more important to Spurs than GB but its a nice thought. Lets hope we get him in before Real Madrid swoop for him.

 

The point being this is a site where people USED to be able to post their opinions hopes and aspirations for their beloved.