Heurelho Gomes, Benjamin Stambouli, Giovani dos Santos… the Tottenham ‘flop XI’ who are now smashing it elsewhere
TOTTENHAM are often, rightly, lauded for their recruitment and promotion of homegrown players from their academy.
But this has not always been the case... in the not-too-distant past Spurs have been very wasteful.
The worst example was the infamous "Gareth Bale summer" of 2013 where they spent £109million replacing the Real Madrid-bound winger.
Several of the seven players who arrived at White Hart Lane that window are now thriving elsewhere.
And they aren’t the only one who have left the North London club and gone onto better things.
Our friends at Football Whispers have compiled a team of Tottenham flops now smashing it elsewhere.
Goalkeeper: Heurelho Gomes
The Brazilian was signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2008 to replace ex-England keeper Paul Robinson but dropped a few early clangers and struggled to recover.
Now at Watford, the 36-year-old is a key man for the Hornets and vice-captain at Vicarage Road.
Centre-back: Federico Fazio
Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t got much wrong during his time at Spurs but his judgement of centre-halves has not been the best.
Fazio arrived from Sevilla in 2014 with a good pedigree following seven years in Spain. But the Argentine never convinced and is now part of an impressive Roma side.
Centre-back: Benjamin Stambouli
The Frenchman arrived as a Ligue 1 title winner at Montpellier. But he was never able to command a regular place and moved to PSG after a single season.
But again he struggled for minutes and has now reinvented himself as a centre-back at Bundesliga surprise package Schalke who are flying in second.
Centre-back: Vlad Chiriches
Another defender Pochettino was burnt by, the Romanian international joined from Steaua Bucharest in 2013 but was haphazard at best in two years at the Lane.
In 2015 he left for Napoli and although he has been in and out of the side this term, the Partenopei are top of Serie A.
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Right wing: Iago Falque
A youngster at Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, there were high hopes for the winger when he joined Tottenham in 2012.
But he made just one sub appearance in the league – taking in three loan spells – and is now excelling at Torino where he has five goals in 13 league appearances this term.
Central midfield: John Bostock
Tipped as a future England star when he made his Crystal Palace debut at 15, Bostock joined Spurs for £700k but bounced around on loan.
Bostock finally left for good in 2015, joining Royal Antwerp. Now at Lens, the former England Under-19 cap has been a creative force for the Ligue 2 side.
Central midfield: Paulinho
The Brazilian international surprisingly moved to Barcelona from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande in the summer – a deal which was met with derision.
Paulinho had, after all, been a miserable signing in the summer of 2013.
But he rediscovered his best form in China and has been key to Barca’s table-topping start to the season.
Central midfield: Nabil Bentaleb
Brought into the Spurs side by Tim Sherwood, whom he had played under in the club’s academy, Bentaleb’s star briefly burned bright.
But he fell down the pecking order and did enough on loan at Schalke last term to earn a permanent move. He remains an integral player for the Gelsenkirchen club.
Left wing: Giovani Dos Santos
The signing of the diminutive Mexican forward from Barcelona in 2008 was seen as something of a coup.
But Dos Santos was a bench warmer at best and returned to Spain to establish himself with Mallorca and Villarreal before moving to LA Galaxy where he is a key player for the MLS side.
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Striker: Emmanuel Adebayor
After bagging 17 Premier League goals while on loan from Manchester City, the ex-Arsenal man phoned it for the remainder of his White Hart Lane stay.
But, after a spell without a club, the Togolese forward is back in business with Turkish side Basaksehir where he has seven goals in ten starts – including a hat-trick in the 5-1 demolition of Galatasaray.
Striker: Roman Pavlyuchenko
The Russian moved to Spurs for £13.7m from Spartak Moscow but never hit the heights expected, despite managing double figures in three of his four seasons.
He returned to Russia in 2011 and bounced around several before joining fourth-tier Ararat Moscow this summer.
He has nine in ten games in all competitions already.