You wonder how many seasons Spurs can possibly begin without a left midfielder. There were flirtations with naturally left-sided players like Timothe Atouba and Reto Ziegler but they simply didn’t make the grade. We’ve seen Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Luka Modric play there without much impact and even Robbie Keane made the odd appearance despite lacking key skills such as pace and crossing ability.

The rumour mill is suggesting that ‘Arry is considering a move for Chelsea’s Joe Cole, a player who has made a reasonable fist of playing in that position for club and country. With a move for Ashley Cole looking unlikely and Stewart Downing joining Cole at Aston Villa, the fear is that once again Tottenham will lack the shape and balance that could undermine their season.

The signing of Peter Crouch and Jermaine Defoe has given Spurs an intriguing front line and a more clearly defined striking pair than last seasons ill-fitting pairing of Ramon Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent.

A move for Cole would be appealing in that he could fill a free role that would also satisfy the requirement for a central playmaker that I don’t think can be filled by the lightweight Modric. As to whether or not Cole would want to leave a Champions League club is another thing altogether. But with Lampard, Ballack, Essien and Malouda ahead of him in the pecking order he may feel that first team football is unlikely at Stamford Bridge.

A lot is made of Spurs spending but they certainly manage to squeeze every last cent out of a deal. After getting £8m for the willing but limited Didier Zokora, they now look set to pocket about £15m from Sunderland for Darren Bent. Bent is a conundrum in that despite not starting regularly last season or ever fitting in to the Spurs tyle of play, he still ended up as top scorer. I like him and think he’ll do very well at the Stadium of Light if the move goes through.

Rumours suggest that Steve Bruce would also like to bring the unmitigated transfer disaster that is David Bentley to Sunderland too. Despite spending somewhere in the region of £17m on Bentley the indications are that they wil struggle to net £10m for him if he moves on. I don’t think Bruce will have the patience for another long drawn-out transfer drama so perhaps a successful loan deal will revive Bentley’s career and increase his market value in time for next summer.