When Tottenham signed Gedson Fernandes on an 18-month loan, with an option to buy for £43 million, many fans outside of Portugal had never heard of the 21-year-old - who had impressed in the 2018-19 season at Benfica. The signing was met with a shrug from most - largely due to a lack of knowledge about the player, but also because he wasn’t a striker to replace the recently injured Harry Kane.
Just six months earlier, Spurs had also signed Giovani Lo Celso on a 12 month loan with an obligation to make the transfer permanent. This move seemed like a way to get around FFP challenges after already spending £62 million on Tanguy Ndombele and approximately £20 million on Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon - and having sold nobody of note.
Lo Celso has gone on to thoroughly impress the North London faithful and his signing was made permanent in January, six months before Daniel Levy had to exercise the clause to do so.
This came as no surprise to Spurs’ fans, and was naturally met with jubilation. While many critics may point to the fact he’s yet to register a Premier League goal, he’s scored important cup goals and has also helped Spurs progress from midfield in the long term absences of Tanguy Ndombele, Moussa Sissoko and Eric Dier - just before the departure of Christian Eriksen, and even more so since.
However, less was expected of Gedson - and many felt it was a signing to appease Jorge Mendes - a good friend and long-time colleague of Jose Mourinho - with a view to attract more of his talent to Tottenham in the coming years.
Since his debut at Watford in a dull 0-0 in January, Gedson has raised some eyebrows with some solid performances; notably in cup games against Southampton, where he came off the bench, and even in Spurs’ 1-0 loss to RB Leipzig at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - where he was deployed out of position for parts of the game. His attitude looked much better than many of his teammates who had been around a lot longer, and his decision making seems to have improved.
Still, if you asked a Spurs fan what they have thought of his time at the club so far, you’d probably be met with a response somewhere between ‘okay’ and ‘good’. But is his signing the sign of similar deals to come as Spurs aim to navigate their way to the top tier while being held back by stadium costs?
At the least, Spurs likely need five signings this summer to even begin competing again for a Champions League spot. Without selling a superstar - Kane, Dele Alli or Heung-min Son for example - they will likely be reliant on generating income from fringe players and thus, have much less money to spend than their rivals.
Could the solution to their need for players be to reduce their immediate spending by bringing in two to three players on long-term loans? This would help ease the burden on their own spending, and allowing the club to spend big on the key positions in which they need strengthening.
If Spurs are looking to add a quality right back, defensive midfielder, left back, creative player and striker - they may need to be creative themselves in the way they fund such a rebuild. Long term loads such as Gedson’s may just be the answer.
