Season Preview: Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham travel to Newcastle this Saturday for their season opener at St James’ Park, as they embark on a new era under recently appointed head coach Andre Villas-Boas although major question marks still hang over key positions in the side.

It’s been a summer of upheaval at White Hart Lane with a change in management, the loss of a captain and a host of drawn out transfer sagas. After making the decision to sack Harry Redknapp in June, Spurs Chairman, Daniel Levy recruited the former FC Porto and Chelsea boss in the hope of taking the next big step towards a title push.

The situation has not been ideal for Villas-Boas since arriving in North London, having to deal with the constant demands of the want-away Luka Modric while looking to fill the void left by Emmanuel Adebayor who left the club at the end of the season when his loan spell ended.

Modric has been much desired by many top teams around Europe this summer and has repeatedly expressed his wishes to move to Real Madrid. Negotiations between Tottenham and the Spanish giants have been slow however meaning the move has been dragged out and therefore finding a replacement has too.

Signings

Another issue for Tottenham has been finding a striker to add to Jermain Defoe who is currently the only recognised striker at the club. Youngster Harry Kane has been playing a lot in pre-season after representing the club in the Europa League and impressing on loan at Millwall last season but it is thought that Villas-Boas is still keen to add at least one more top striker. Negotiations over a permanent move for Adebayor have been ongoing but the Manchester City forward’s wage demands are a stumbling block in the deal.

The club have added players to their ranks, signing classy Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen from Ajax as well as Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim after an impressive loan spell at Swansea last season. Gareth Bale also added a boost by signing a new four year contract showing his intentions of staying in North London.

Expectations

AVB will also come with doubters of his own after an unsuccessful spell at Chelsea last season that saw him sacked after only nine months in charge. The Portuguese tactician has shown his intentions in pre-season playing his preferred 4-3-3 style and will hope to emulate the success he had at Porto before his original move to England.

Tottenham’s season is currently very difficult to predict with positives and negatives coming out of the summer break, one thing for sure is that it is likely to be another lively and exciting season for the North London Club.

Arash Kowkabzadeh, football correspondent