Redknapp may have loved Levy Time, but what of Andre Villas-Boas?
Friday, February 1, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Ben McAleer in ARTICLES, Andre Villas-Boas, Daniel Levy, Tottenham Hotspur

As always, Tottenham Hotspur fans had their hopes raised on the last day of the Transfer Window, previous encounters of Leandro Damiao, Joao Moutinho, Ryan Nelson and Rafael van der Vaart in Levy Time had supporters excited, the former a kick in the teeth for Levy, Andre Villas-Boas, and most importantly the fans, the latter being the most exciting - but that was when we had Champions League football to look forward to.

Harry Redknapp was a massive advocate of Daniel Levy's Deadline Day Bonanza, they both seemed to share the love and buzz of “Levy Time” - but what of Andre Villas-Boas?

Looking back at his Chelsea signings the majority of arrivals were completed at the beginning of the Transfer Window, he found the gem he wanted in Juan Mata before the season started, Romelu Lukaku in mid-August, the only time when Andre Villas-Boas took part in Levy Day was the transfer of Raul Meireles from Liverpool to Chelsea was signed off at the last minute, largely due to Daniel Levy's stance over Luka Modric joining the west London club, and even then, Andre Villas-Boas had known about the Portugal international after his time at FC Porto.

If Daniel Levy wants to go to the Continental style of a football club, introducing a Director of Football would have been a good signing this transfer window. Someone of the ilk of Damien Comolli, whatever fans may think of the Frenchman, he had his hands in some of the best deals our club has seen in the last ten years, bringing in Younes Kaboul, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Note, all players under the age of 25 when brought in by Levy and Commoli, and now all players are an integral part of the Tottenham Hotspur team, bar Luka Modric.

The importance of Barcelona's recent feats in La Liga and the Champions League, their former director of football Txiki Begiristain shows that the continental style isn't one to avoid, and this has been implemented at Manchester City taking on the former Barcelona director of football on the books in October 2012.

If Levy scouts around for the perfect Director of Football to fit the continental mould that he wants the club to pursue, Roma's Franco Baldini, Porto's Antero Henrique, Napoli's Maurizio Micheli or Lazio's Roberto Sesena may be the personnel to move for, or even revert back to the old mould and ask Damien Comolli to fill the role.

I can't imagine Andre Villas-Boas buzzing his t*ts off in his office yesterday waiting to see what Daniel Levy may or may not have bought him. The Spurs head coach is an intense researcher, and he would have pitched his transfer targets to Levy as soon as he was asked to, in both the summer and winter transfer windows.

One transfer that has cheered some Spurs fans up, who was crying out for a real playmaker, was the early acquisition of Germany U21 captain Lewis Holtby. Many were unsure if he could fit in with the club straight away, but the German had kept his eye on the Premier League, and was very much interested in how Tottenham were performing and most importantly; he joined partly due to Andre Villas-Boas.

If Levy wants the successful Tottenham the fans want, and I'm not being critical of our chairman, he has taken us to the next level since his takeover in 2001, he needs to stop the nonsensical idea that Transfer Deadline day is good for our club. It's not.

I don't want to come across as some spoilt Spurs fan, but if Levy has the money, as it was shown yesterday - why not sort out transfers earlier on in the window?

If Andre Villas-Boas actually does the unthinkable in what Spurs fans expected at the start of the season and we gain entry to the Champions League, Levy will have to get Villas-Boas'transfer targets in early, rather than wait for 'Levy Time'.

Article originally appeared on To the Lane and Back (http://www.tothelaneandback.com/).
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