Tottenham... When Can We Finally Dare to Dream?

The polarizing chairman, Daniel Levy, is closing in on his 25th year with the club. Image via Sky Sports

This past week was crushing for Spurs fans following the collapse of the Eberechi Eze deal. Eze would have been a statement signing, instantly elevating Tottenham’s squad and plugging the glaring absence of a playmaker in the starting XI after long-term injuries to James Madison (ACL) and Dejan Kulusevski (Patella). As a homegrown player, Eze also wouldn’t occupy any of

Tottenham’s 17 international Champions League squad spots.

For two weeks, it appeared that the Lilywhites were the only team in for Eze with Fabrizio Romano or the “Shams of Soccer” having countless updates of the number 10 “edging closer” or “making progress” or “inching towards a deal”. On Tuesday, August 19th, many fans thought the deal was as good as done with Spurs Insider, Paul O’Keefe, tweeting that Tottenham reached a “verbal agreement” with Palace for the player.

But in true “Spursy” fashion, Daniel Levy, the club’s chairman and the head of football operations, scrounged over details long enough for Arsenal to jump into the fold and steal the deal for the former reject of their very own academy.

Or so it seemed… The truth is that Arsenal had already been in contact with Eze since the beginning of June as reported by The Athletic. But their interest seemed to have gone awry as the season got closer and reports circulated that Spurs would have a free run at the man. Fans all over X (FKA as Twitter because we have to say that) were over the moon when it looked as though The North Londoners would win the Crystal Palace ace.

But this flipped on a dime last Wednesday with Arsenal quickly poaching the player after an injury to Kai Havertz. David Ornstein broke the bomba on X, with “Arsenal closing in on the player” within a couple of hours after Spurs fighting over fine details for weeks.

At the dawn of this news, a buddy of mine in our “Spursy” group chat cried out, “Guys I’m going to lose my mind... I just got the worst notification of my life." Spurs twitter (I’m back to calling it that) proceeded on a meltdown featuring countless users labeling Daniel Levy a “parasite”, numerous calls to oust Technical Director Johan Lange, and immediate plans to protest the next home match against Bournemouth which reflects the pain we have all felt as Spurs fans with our club ownership holding us back in the transfer window.

The one thing that made Spurs fans feel a little better about losing out on the player was that Eze himself instigated the collapse of the deal. As confirmed by Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Eze himself called both Arteta and his England teammates to see if there was any way to get a deal done with Arsenal. Of course, with the player salivating over the Gooners and Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish having a much better relationship with Arsenal than Tottenham (because Daniel Levy), the deal went through within 24 hours of Arsenal reemerging. Once again, Levy was left to accept another deal he let fall through, adding to the growing list of near misses like Paulo Dybala, Willian, Eden Hazard, and countless others.

However, the truth regarding the Eze Transfer is, as James McNichols of The Athletic wonderfully put it, “It was nearly Spurs but it was always Arsenal.”  

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank said himself on Friday when asked about the player, “I don’t want players who don’t want to come to the club. If they don’t want to come here and wear this fantastic badge, we don’t want them here.”

Fair enough, but after our fanbase lost out to yet another exciting player in the transfer window, let alone to our greatest rivals from Woolwich, we were all still rightfully inflamed. With Man City looming at the weekend, I think most of us were prepared for the worst. But some had a strange optimism that only makes sense if you’ve followed this club extensively. X user xAlexTHFC (no this is not my burner account) put it best saying “It would honestly be so Tottenham to go and win away at City on Saturday after all this shit”.

And win the lads did! With a 2-0 victory at The Etihad and a brilliant performance in their exquisite black away kits, the players and Thomas Frank effectively flipped the vibes of the fan base from downtrodden to encouraged. It brought back the emerging feeling that Tottenham is the boogeyman of the greatest coach of all time, Pep Guardiola. The last 6 Tottenham managers, even Nuno Espirito Santo, have all gotten a win over Pep. But this performance felt different.

It wasn’t the case of the City players missing chances left and right because of greater forces from the footballing gods at play, like the 2021 home opener win from Nuno’s horrendous Spurs squad. Rather, Tottenham genuinely were the better team with 12 shots to Man City’s 10 and 50 final third entries to Citeh’s 47. Despite 62% of possession, City were outworked by Spurs, and Thomas Frank executed a tactical masterclass. Furthermore, he has already avenged the perceived skeletons in his closet from the UEFA Supercup loss to PSG where his side gave up a 2-0 lead in the last 10 minutes to lose in a Penalty shootout.

João Palhinha celebrates his goal to put Spurs 2-0 up. Image via Spurs on X (@SpursOfficial)

With one of the worst weeks in recent Spurs memory ending in a positive display, Frank and the first team squad have effectively won over the majority of the fan base.

Problems from the top of the club still linger. Daniel Levy came out himself and said after the triumphant 2025 Europa League win and the subsequent sacking of Ange Postecoglu, “We need to win the Premier League. We want to win the Champion’s League”.

Yet, this summer has had 2 high-profile misses in the transfer market with the Spurs chairman diddling about deals with both Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White. Additionally, the day after the victory against City, Tottenham placed a pointless €70 million bid on Como attacking midfielder, Nico Paz, who has a €10 million pound buy-back clause to Real Madrid and will inevitably rejoin Los Blancos next summer.

Fans would be forgiven for thinking this summer has been a PR stunt from the Spurs hierarchy. It’s the whole “Oh we tried” mentality that grinds our gears. According to Forbes, the club is the 9th most valuable club in the world (higher than big spenders and rivals, Chelsea) and has annual revenues of $666 million. More importantly, as estimated by The Athletic, Tottenham have an allowable income loss of up to £277 million this year—the 4th highest allowable loss under current PSR restrictions for the Premier League.

Needless to say, Tottenham have money to spend. Investment into the first team from ENIC back in June made the rounds. “Spending Spree” was the phrase touted that made Spurs fans cautiously optimistic.

And now, with only one week left in the summer transfer window, Tottenham are lacking a playmaker, a left winger, and a left-sided center back to cover for the brilliant yet injury-prone Micky Van de Van.

If Daniel Levy’s penny-pinching bald head is worth anything, we need signings now. We find ourselves in yet another window where we have likely left ourselves short-handed. Call me cynical, but I do not believe we will get the three signings we need before the end of this window.

We can be linked with burgeoning superstars like Savinho, a rock at the back in Piero Hincapié, and the rejuvenated number 10 Lucas Paqueta. Hell, maybe we will sign one of these players. But regardless, it feels like unless an absolute miracle is pulled out of ENIC’s arse, we will once again be at least 2 players short of challenging for top trophies like the Premier League and Champion’s League.

Yet, a miracle is needed. Otherwise, the overwhelming majority of fans will be calling for Daniel Levy and ENIC’s heads.

The latin phrase, “Audere est Facere” or “To Dare is To Do” in English is the club motto of Tottenham. Right now, we are not daring and we are not doing.

A hard-on for profits and making life a living hell for any outlet the club does transfer business with over a few million quid is not going to push Tottenham to glory.

Profit over glory… it’s the history of Tottenham. Until a new owner comes in who is ready to spend on the first team. So let me tell you in no uncertain terms… Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy, if you don’t pull a miracle out of your arses to rectify this golden opportunity to push on for major trophies, then get out of my club.