What does the future hold for Lamela?

Fiorentina are the latest Italian club looking to sign Erik Lamela on the cheap.

What does the future hold for Lamela?


It is doubtful that any club wants to pay any more than £20 million for him, if that. Italian football is not awash with money.

Lamela obviously had a very successful time at Roma before his £30 million move to Tottenham but as with any transfer story it has to be looked at from Tottenham's angle and not the players angle.

What is best for Tottenham?

First we must understand that the policy is to buy young and increase in value. You can then either keep the player if he is happy or cash in if he wishes to leave, either way you win, a quality player or a profit. Part of this is to identify players who have the potential to become superstars. Liverpool also use this approach and Luis Suarez is an example of this approach in practice.

Tottenham is a business that uses a statistical approach to business decisions and statistical analysis forms part of the equation when determining transfer purchases and no doubt sales. I'm running a mini-series on this so you may want to look out for those to understand the concept better. It's a relatively new approach in football.

Argentine Erik Lamela I believe was identified by Spurs as a player who could turn into a superstar, given his talent and age, he was 21 at the time. There are suggestions that Franco Baldini is touting Lamela around Italy for £25 million and that a host of clubs would like him on loan.

A loan has little benefit for Spurs although there is a little more leeway than we have with Spaniard Roberto Soldado, given that Lamela has a contract until 2018. He could spent the first half of the season regaining confidence in Italy but that does nothing for preparing him for the Premier League, the styles are totally different and Italian football is in decline. Germany would make more sense as it's a more physical league than Serie A.

A year loan would simply waste 2 years of our investment, one year gone plus next season. We would simply be starting again as if we had just signed him but on a short contract so his value would reduce. A loan move is therefore virtually out of the question.

Tottenham are left with two options, sell or develop.

The overriding factor that will determine which route is chosen is his mental ability.

If, as has been suggested and as it looks to me, he is mentally weak then he won't develop into a superstar in the Premier League. That scenario would result in attempting an immediate sale this summer, recouping as much of the original investment as possible. Sky Italia reported the figure being given to clubs as £25 million. We purchased at £30 million remember, or did we?

If Lamela was sold Tottenam would not have to pay the add-ons, which come to in access of £4 million. Thus a £25 million sale is either a break even figure or at worst, an £800,000 loss depending upon the actual add-on figure.

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There is no doubt a talented player lurks within him and he will I expect become a superstar somewhere. If the club have determined, and they will know by now, that he is mentally strong enough to succeed in the Premier League then they will persevere with him and develop him as a player.

At the moment he is undergoing training with River Plate where he has been sent to continue his recovery from injury and see his family. He was born in Carapachay in Buenos Aires and River Plate is a club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

Our new manager/Head Coach is Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino wos born in Murphy, Sante Fe and has returned to his homeland for a rest although he will also take in some World Cup games. Murphy is 147 miles from Carapachay so I would have thought that, without a doubt, the two will meet.

Daniel Levy and Franco Baldini in their meeting with Pochettino will have given him the clubs view of the Lamela. Pochettino will have his own chance to chat with the player and see him train with the River Plate first team squad.

Pochettino will then make his own decision on Lamela and inform the club. That will happen in the next 2 weeks I suspect at which point we will know if the club are going to stick or twist, keep or sell.