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Fantasy Hotspur

7 min read
by ARLombardi
Over the past few years who have been the players that have captured your imagination and wanted the club to sign? I am not talking about CR7, Messi, Damiao or Zizou, but those players you have coveted in secret and from afar. Who would make your Fantasy Hotspur?

The candle flickered in a gentle breath of air casting shadows across the room that made the whole experience even more interesting and exciting. I tried to move but I struggled against the silk scarf tied around my wrists. A noise came from the bathroom, the tap was being turned off, my moment of joy was on its way. My heart thumped in my chest, sweat formed upon my brow and as it trickled down the side of my face, the sensation forced me to catch my breath. This was going to be good.

[​IMG]The door swung upon, the light forced my eyes closed and made me turn away but the desperation to see the person audibly edging  closer made me turn towards them. My eye sight though was covered in spots from the sudden influx of light. Squinting towards the diminutive figure all I could make out was long brown luxurious hair but not much else.

Ciao bello.” Came the voice.

My heart sunk. What was this? Where was Natalie Portman or even my girlfriend?

Cazzo  Pirlo? What are you doing? Why are you wearing a Spurs top?

I am here to make your dreams come true!

Noooooooooooooooo!!!

A blow across my face made me sit upright and I was transported back to my bedroom sans candles, silk scarves and Pirlo.

Idiot!! Not only were you snoring this time, but you were screaming!

I am sorry, I was errr having a nightmare?

The rest of the day I couldn’t remove the smell of that dream. The thought of Pirlo and fantasies followed me around and made me think long and hard about my greatest football fantasies.

Who were the players that I had longed for? Players that we could have signed, players that were perhaps within our reach but for one reason or another never made it to Spurs. I started to ponder who could have been part of my Fantasy Hotspur?

I refrained from the normal run of the mill fantasies such as Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, and instead opted for those players that had captured my imagination, but never came. They aren’t necessarily the greatest players, but simply ones who have had an affect on me.

Guti

Real Madrid have always been a team obsessed with the Galatico. The player that sells shirts, fronts computer games and is a bit asexual. I feel rather dirty saying it, but Real have been my Spanish team for quite a while, long before commercial partnerships existed, their white shirt, the stadium and their history enthralled me, but it was one player who sealed my secret infatuation.

Guti was the anti-Galatico. A local boy who progressed from the C team to the stellar team. Countless times during his career the hierarchy tried their best to replace him, but the midfielder kept his place, even recreating himself as the false nine in 99-00, nearly ten years before Craig Burley invented the 4-6-0 formation when Scotland played the Czech Republic.

However it wasn’t his goal scoring that had me dreaming of him playing at Spurs, it was his eye for a pass (see 2.10-2.20 in the clip below). He saw the game differently, he relied on his subtlety to make things work. He wasn’t the quickest, strongest or most skilful, but he had a pass like a laser guided scalpel in he hand of a surgical genius.

Guti was a gifted yet flawed player who had a bit of a temper (sent off 8 times at Real). He was eventually sold by Real Madrid, in part, after he told current Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini to stick it. He had a bit of everything and to cap it all off he was  under appreciated at international level.

What wasn’t there to like?

Laurent Robert

I paid very little attention to his £9.5 million move to Newcastle in 2001 from pre Sheikh PSG but over the course of his first season he started to grab my attention. Left footed, dashing, a scorer of great goals but not a great goal scorer and prone to strops, he ticked every box in the Spurs side of my brain. He was a player we should have signed.

Whilst we finished a disappointing 9th and lost the Worthington Cup to Blackburn Rovers that season, whilst the Geordies  finished in fourth and marched to land that was pure fantasy for us in those days, the Champions League. At Spurs we suffered through the next few years with very little to celebrate. Everyone remembers the late 90s as a bad time, but in truth the early 00s weren’t much better. We drifted through seasons, signing veterans and unknown foreigners and  it wasn’t until Martin Jol arrived did we show some signs of improvement.

Although the Frenchman never truly set the Premier League alight, he had moments of sheer class that made me wish he was on out left instead of the luminaries such as Rohan Ricketts and Andy Reid.

My fantasy turned into a nightmare though in the 2003/04 season when Robert took us apart at St James Park.

Davide Santon

Italian players and Spurs don’t really seem to mix. When we do finally sign an Italian they are either good looking but over-the-hill or just terrible.

In 2009 Davide Santon rose through the ranks at Inter and looked destined to fill the berth at full back that Gianluca Zambrotta had filled manfully since legend Paolo Maldini retired. He was a star in the making fast and strong but possessing in litres the one quality that sets the very best defenders apart from the rest, grace, he moved like a hymn sung by the Pope’s choir.

Santon was a player I longed for, as a part Italian the fantasy of signing a player who was “destined for the stars” was incredible, it was next level fantasy. I followed his early career with interest and the rapid progress he made under José Mourinho was startling. In the space of a few years he had gone from Primavera prospect, to fully fledged Italy international who was on the plane for the 2009 Confederations Cup.

However something happened to Santon, some blame his off-field association with Mario Balotelli’s ex-girlfriend and his crew of hangers on, others his mental strength, or bad luck in collecting injuries. Either way this fantasy full back, adept on either side ended up out of favour and a career destined for glory ended up at Newcastle.

Occasionally on Match of the Day or in the flesh I catch a glimpse of the old Santon, the Santon that I thought would be a mainstay in the Italian defence, but no, it’s fleeting at it disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Today he reminds me of that hot girl you knew at 16, then years later you bump into at Tescos. She still has it in the eyes, but the rest has spread and sagged.

Andres D’Alessandro

Football Manager is my curse. The game that cost be a few extra grades at school and thanks to my Dortmund team in 99-00 made me a recluse for my first few weeks as a fresher. Fpr the most part its scouting is good, but occasionally it gets it wrong, very wrong.

Justin Gorcelin, Tommy Svindal Larsson, Ibrahim Bakayoko, Cherno Samba and Mark Kerr are living examples, incredible virtually players but well below par human players. Therefore when D’Alessandro appeared in FM, i was dubious, but the scouts had got this one right. He was incredible. I had a semi obsession.

Rising through the ranks at River Plate he came to people’s attention in real life as well as in game. Alongside Javier Saviola ( another semi fantasy) he swept all aside and won the  FIFA Under 20 World Cup with Argentina, and stardom beckoned.

As with most young Southa American supertsars, Europe came calling, but ssuprisingly he ended up at Wolfsburg. Why such a promising youngster went there is strange, but nevertheless he made it to our continent. It was surely only a mater of time before he signed for an even bigger club. However that never happened, and in 2006 he found himself with Harry Redknapp on the south coast trying to save Portsmouth.

After helping save Portsmouth from relegation, and scoring a wonder goal against Charlton in the process, his star had rose again and he was tantalisingly linked to Spurs, but once again he made a strange decision and went to Real Zaragoza.

At this point his career stuttered again but he has shown some fortitude by rebuilding his career at Internacional, Sandro’s former club. It was heart warming to read the speculation that he was close to going to Brazil 2014, but unfortunately he remains a case of what could have been.

Perhaps if the El Cabezon and his ferocious left foot had come to Spurs in 2006, things may have been different for the both of us?

Reality

As you can see fantasies are often better left unfulfilled. Your own imagination will always play things out better than real life. Natalie Portman in real life is probably self centred and whiny, Robert would have been a disaster and Santon would have been Tramezzani MKII, yet we can still imagine and think of what could have been. However it does prove one thing.

Never stop fantasising. Never stop dreaming.  Never stop supporting.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

ARLombardi

I read, I write, I edit for The Fighting Cock

3 Comments

  1. Garry Rogers
    25/07/2014 @ 9:22 am

    Don’t despair, there are probably lots of footballers who would be happy to wake up in a bed alongside you.

    • Olly
      25/07/2014 @ 10:05 am

      You’re forgetting about Kabba Samura, Kennedy Bakircioglu, Muslimovic, and Andri Sigporson. CM 99/00 is the reason I’m now homeless and dining from the bins behind Tescos…..

  2. kwitie
    30/07/2014 @ 10:32 pm

    Craig Levein not Burley.

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