Is Tottenham’s Sale Of Kevin Wimmer The Best Sale Of The Season?

Much as Spur’s chairman Daniel Levy tends to split opinion, only his harshest critics would deny that he’s a proven expert in moving on unwanted players at inflated prices. So far it appears that the sale of Austrian international center-back Kevin Wimmer is shaping up to be another great bit of business. Signed for a reported £4.3m in the summer of 2015, just two years later Stoke boss Mark Hughes was persuaded to hand over a staggering £18m to lure Wimmer to the bet 365 Stadium. So far this season Wimmer has struggled to come anywhere close to justifying such an inflated fee, with a series of mistakes in high profile matches suggesting he could be out of his depth.

Kevin Wimmer – A Background

Just like those famous Red Flush slot machines, there’s no such thing as a certainty when playing the football transfer markets. When Wimmer joined Spurs he arrived with a solid pedigree. He played a key role in FC Köln’s record-breaking defense over the 2013-2014 season when the unfashionable club conceded just 20 goals over the league season. This encouraging for continued into the following season when influential German Football magazine Kicker rated him the seventh best defender in the BundesLiga.

All things considered, Spurs managed to purchase Wimmer at a great price. He was (and still is) a player of enormous potential, yet over the next two seasons, he was never able to properly cement a regular first-team berth. During his first season, he performed adequately when called upon but was otherwise largely kept out by the more experienced partnership of Vertonghen and Alderweireld. This clearly had a damaging effect on his development as during his second season he appeared to have regressed in quality due to the lack of minutes on the pitch.

So How Did Wimmer More Than Quadruple In Value?

With just 15 league appearances over two seasons and becoming the fourth choice CB after the arrival of club record signing Davinson Sanchez, it was clear Wimmer had to move on for the benefit of his career prospects. Levy’s first key decision was to tie Wimmer down to a 5-year contract – meaning that when Stoke first expressed interest in the player they had to expect to pay full market value.

Even more important was the timing. Stoke made their staggering bid just as the latest bumper payments from new broadcasting deals arrived. All of a sudden any young player with potential – and at just 24 Wimmer still has plenty of that – seemed to pretty much double in value. In some cases, this has proved to be justifiable, in others the amount of money exchanged has been boarding on ludicrous. But a 400% appreciation in value for a player who never looked likely to ‘make it’ at Spurs still serves to raise the eyebrows more than most.

Can Kevin Wimmer Turn It Around?

Sure there’s still a lot of football to be played this season and after last season there was always the likelihood that the Austrian international would need some time to shake off the cobwebs. Yet even though Mark Hughes has been quick to support the player and defend the transfer fee, even the most patient manager will be starting to get worried. Remember that Wimmer is only a few hundred thousand short of being Stokes record signing (behind the Giannelli Imbula signed February 2016 for £18.3m).

At the time of writing, he has made only four appearances so far after being slated by the supporters for a series of terrible errors – most notably against Man City. For him to improve he’ll simply need to play more first-team games, but with the club only just ahead of the relegation places would he be too much of a liability if restored back to the heart of an already shaky defense? This is a decision which Mark Hughes will need to be judged upon because at the moment the club cannot afford to have such an expensive signing regarded as ‘one for the future’. Wimmer needs to step up and take any chances which come his way.

With all this being said there’s no doubt at all that Spurs managing to generate such an incredible profit has been a majestic piece of transfer dealing – and on current form one that looks unlikely to come back to haunt them anytime soon.