Spurs must axe £165k-p/w flop who Ange said was a “really exciting” signing

It’s been just under a year and a half since Ange Postecoglou was named the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, and to say a lot has changed would be a massive understatement.

The Australian has brought back the entertaining and attacking football that Spurs used to be known for back in the day, and while success is yet to come, it feels like the club is moving in the right direction.

Moreover, the former Celtic boss has welcomed a plethora of talented new faces to the club who have already become core members of the first team.

That said, not all of his signings have been hits, and there is one player in particular, who he was excited about securing, who should be axed from the team.

Postecoglou’s best signings

Okay, before we get to the negative stuff, let’s look at a couple of Postecoglou’s best signings since taking the reins in North London last summer, starting with Micky van de Ven.

The Dutch defender joined Spurs from VfL Wolfsburg in a £43m deal last summer and has already become arguably the most important player in the team, in no small part thanks to his incredible pace.

The 23-year-old became the fastest player in Premier League history last season when he clocked an incredible sprint speed of 37.38km/h against Brentford.

This supreme gift, combined with his footballing intelligence, allows the manager to play a higher line than most, safe in the knowledge that the Wormer-born titan will get back in time to stop counter-attacks.

Moreover, his blistering pace has also helped the team in attack more than a few times, as even with the ball at his feet, the ten-capped international can outrun most opposition players and either get a shot off himself or play the perfect pass to his teammates.

Speaking of goals, though, another of the Australian’s best signings is Brennan Johnson, who, after a slow start to the season, has become an invaluable provider of them.

The Welshman has racked up an impressive tally of nine goals and one assist in 19 appearances, equating to a goal involvement on average every 1.9 games.

However, his effectiveness off the right highlights the ineffectiveness of another Postecoglou signing on the other flank.

The Ange signing who must be axed

So, with the signing primarily playing off the left, it should come as no surprise that it is German winger Timo Werner.

The former Chelsea ace first joined the Lilywhites on a six-month loan deal from RB Leipzig in January, and while fans were understandably unsure at the time, the manager wasn’t, telling the press after the attacker’s debut for the club that he had the potential to be “really exciting for us once he get to understand our game.”

Unfortunately for all involved, that did not end up happening last season, and by the end of the campaign, he had scored two goals and provided three assists in 14 appearances, which wasn’t abysmal, but it was pretty far from “exciting.”

That said, the club opted to bring the 28-year-old back to N17 on a season-long loan this year in a deal that includes an option to buy for around £8.5m, and while that’s not a lot of money, the club should not exercise that option.

We say that because in 15 games so far, the Stuttgart-born flop has scored one goal and provided two assists, which just is not good enough, not for a back-up winger and certainly not for someone who could start an increasing number of games as Son Heung-min continues to age.

Moreover, once the incredibly exciting Mikey Moore has recovered from the virus that has seen him sidelined this month, Postecoglou should axe the £165k-per-week flop from the team altogether, as using the academy graduate as the go-to back-up for Son would be far more beneficial to the club, both now and in the future.

Ultimately, while Werner has shown glimpses of real quality in a Spurs shirt, they have been just that, glimpses, and have been vastly overshadowed by countless frustrating displays in which he’s lacked any real attacking threat.

Therefore, Postecoglou must not exercise the option to buy in the summer and must minimise his game time for the rest of the season.