In a blog earlier this week I bigged up Tottenham’s chances of netting Niko Kranjcar and Martin Petrov while nervously hoping that we’d avoid an ‘Arry brain-fart and sign David James.  Two from three ain’t bad.

Kranjcar was signed for a curiously small £2.5m while David James remained at Portsmouth as he was apparently not the subject of an “official” approach which is football talk for “‘Arry gave us a shout but we told ‘im to sling ‘is ‘ook”.

The talk of a move for Martin Petrov gathered pace all week but – depending on what you read – he either failed a medical, could not agree (70k per week) terms or the transfer was kyboshed by Chairman Daniel Levy.  The common view is that Petrov would have been a waste of money given the signing of Kranjcar but I’d argue that Tottenham are long-overdue a natural left-sided player for the left hand side of the pitch.  Having said that, if it was a straight choice between Kranjcar and Petrov, then the former represents the best value.

Perhaps most disappointing was the failure to get rid of David Bentley and, to a lesser extent, Jermaine Jenas.  In Bentley’s case I see no reason for him to still be at the club.

A year ago I wrote: “I have never got the David Bentley thing and was quite horrified when we spent a ludicrous amount of money on a player who can’t deliver a corner kick past the first defender.  He seems more obsessed with his tan and haircut than anything else and unlike Michael Carrick, we won’t be making a profit on this guy.”

In Jermaine Jenas’ case we probably need him to make up the numbers but my list of disparaging comments over the years probably shows that I’ve remained consistent about the guy: (“Jermaine Jenas is not the right man for that job (and some might say any job)”, “Playing Jermaine Jenas there ranks, at best, as outright optimsm from Ramos/Poyet”, “…with Jermaine Jenas having yet another mediocre season”, “At Tottenham he seems particularly ordinary in just about every respect. He has no presence, can’t tackle, loses the ball too frequently and when he isn’t scoring there is not much else to his game”).  You get the point.

It’ll be a disappointment if Jenas comes back in to the team to play with Wilson Palacios when fit.  I’m not overly-convinced that Tom Huddlestone is dynamic enough for the top level but I’d still prefer him in the side to the serially disappointing JJ.

Overall it was a pity not to see a central playmaker come in alongside Kranjcar – unless he himself becomes that player when Luka Modric returns to fitness.