da mrbet： Signed from then UEFA Cup winners Porto in a £6.25m deal back in the summer of 2003, Helder Postiga certainly arrived in north London with a burgeoning reputation in European football.
da jogodeouro： The Portuguese marksman was only 20 at the time, and had just come off the back of a campaign that had seen him score 19 goals across all competitions, and helped fire his team to European glory.
Speaking after the confirmation of his signing, then Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle waxed lyrical about his latest recruit. He said: “He is a player who will add definite striking quality to our squad and is a young player of proven ability. I’m sure our supporters will enjoy watching him over the coming seasons.”
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Even Daniel Levy got in on the act of talking up what it meant to the club, and backed Postiga to deliver for the Lilywhites over the coming seasons. He added: “This exciting signing demonstrates our commitment to increasing the strength and quality of our playing squad and will hopefully assist us in our quest for success next season and beyond.”
But in the end, Postiga’s signing quickly turned into a nightmare for Levy and co. He made just 23 appearances in total for the north Londoners, scoring a measly two goals – only one of them even came in the Premier League.
In fact, just over a year later, Spurs had seemingly had enough, and decided to simply cut their losses on the striker, and send him packing. His former side Porto came back in for him for just £5m, meaning the north London side took a loss on him.
Following the decision to sell him, Spurs sporting director Frank Arnesen admitted that perhaps the club had made a mistake in bringing him to English football in the first place. He said: “There is no doubting Helder’s ability but maybe he came to the Premiership too soon. He was keen to return home and, although we rate him highly here, we did not like to see him unhappy.”
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After no doubt thinking they had signed a young striker who could lead their line for the years to come, Spurs were left to tuck their tail in between their legs and wave goodbye to one of their biggest flops in recent memory.
Meanwhile, Alasdair Gold offers a Spurs transfer update.