Spurs flop who Ardiles thought was more skillful than Bale has seen his value crash to £4M
Tottenham Hotspur has grown into a team with the potential to have enormous success on the field under Ange Postecoglou’s leadership.
Two players who were brought in this summer and immediately clicked with the Australian coach are James Maddison and Micky van de Ven. Maddison, in particular, has scored three goals and provided eight assists in only eight games this season.
That hasn’t always been the case at Spurs, however, as several players have signed for high prices only to fall short of expectations.
Keeping that in mind, let’s examine a player who had a lot of potential in his early career but never lived up to it when playing for the Lilywhites.
The amount Spurs spent on Erik Lamela
Erik Lamela was one of Italy’s most promising players in the 2012–13 campaign, leading Roma to a stellar Serie A record of 15 goals and 5 assists in 33 games.
Spurs saw the Argentine as the ideal successor to legendary player Gareth Bale, who departed the team that summer for Real Madrid for a world record-breaking £85.2 million, after that amazing season.
In his last season at Tottenham, the Welsh great had contributed 40 goals over 44 games, and because Lamela had shown he could create as well as score, he was expected to replace Bale.
Lamela, the Roma jewel, actually paid £25.8 million to join the English club before Bale left, but he had a very difficult time adjusting to life in England.
The worth of Erik Lamela in 2024
Due to a back ailment that caused him to miss 26 games in his debut season in the Premier League, the Argentinean winger only started three times.
Regrettably, during his eight-year tenure at Tottenham, 11 different injuries plagued him, crippling his chances of getting a run of games and really developing as a player.
Seeing a youngster with such potential suffer because of uncontrollable setbacks is really tough, particularly in Lamela’s case—at the start of his Spurs career, former great Ossie Ardiles branded him the “new Messi.”
“Lamela is more skilled than Bale, but he is not as powerful,” he said. He has been dubbed the “new Messi,” and it’s accurate to say that this speaks to his skill.”
Even so, the 32-year-old made 257 appearances for the Lilywhites and contributed 84 goals before departing for free in 2021 as part of a swap deal involving Bryan Gil, who cost the team £21.6 million.
| Lamela vs Spurs’ Lowest Valued Players | |
|---|---|
| Player | Value |
| Ben Davies | £13m |
| Ryan Sessengon | £4m |
| Dane Scarlett | £4m |
| Fraser Forster | £4m |
| Jamie Donley | £4m |
| Erik Lamela | £4m |
| Via CIES’ Football Observatory | |
At under £4 million, Lamela is now the joint-lowest valued player in Postecoglou’s team. Though he has started four La Liga games this season and scored twice, the left-footed artist’s time in Spain has sadly also been marred by injury.
Journalist Sam Tighe called the 5 foot 11 winger “frustrating,” saying that his career at Spurs never really reached the heights it should have.
But who knows what his tenure in the Premier League may have looked like if it weren’t for his injuries?
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