The Spurs star who was ‘more skilful than Bale’ is now fighting in Greece

They may not have been the most successful team of the last 15 years, however Tottenham Hotspur they have been blessed with some ridiculously talented footballers.

For example, before his move to Bayern Munich, Harry Kane was arguably the best striker at the club Premier League and formed one of the best attacking partnerships ever alongside Son Heung-min.

However, years before these two became the superstars they are, another Spurs striker was the envy of the football world – Gareth Bale.

The Welsh legend was a force of nature for the Lilywhites and eventually got it team a world record £85 millionwho infamously spent on seven somewhat underwhelming signings, including a player who was supposedly more skilled than the Champions League winner, but now fighting in the Greek Super League.

Spurs’ seven is not that magnificent

Yes, with the money raised from the sale of Bale, Daniel Levy and company opted to splash the cash on seven new signings that summerand while some of them turned out well, most did not.

For example, while Roberto Soldado and Paulinho arrived with a lot of hype, the former because of his incredible balance of goals in Spain and the latter because of comparisons with Frank Lampardneither achieved much at the club.

Similarly, while none of them were terrible, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue and Vlad Chiriches all left the north Londoners within three years, leaving little or no mark on the club.

However, while five of the seven arrivals were undoubtedly failures, there were two that arguably had a more positive impact.

The first is Christan Eriksen, who was arguably the most successful of the seven and made 305 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring 69 goals and 88 assists before leaving to join Inter Milan in January 2020.

The last member of the not-so-magnificent seven wasn’t as successful as the Dane, but he stayed longer in north London and certainly made his mark, although comparisons with Bale in the early days seem even more ridiculous now that he is struggling. in the Greek Superleague.

Former Spurs star struggling in Greece

So, with six of the seven players already covered, it should come as no surprise that the player we’re talking about is Erik Lamela.

The Argentine ace joined the North Londoners for around £25.8m at the end of August 2013and while he wasn’t as game-changing as Eriksen, he was far more impactful than the other five players who signed that summer.

Indeed, to his credit, the Carapachay-born dynamo was the last man standing of the Magnificent Seven and ended up making 257 appearances with the club before joining Sevilla as part of a exchange agreement in July 2021.

In those appearances, the 32-year-old scored 37 goals, provided 44 assists and occasionally showed real quality strikes, such as his winner off Puskas in the North London Derby.

While these moments helped justify the money invested in him, he was never able to live up to the expectations people had of him when he first arrived in the N17, especially after the legend of club Ossie Squirrels. he proclaimed that he was “more skilled than Bale”.

These comments seem even more outrageous today, as after three average seasons in Seville, the 25-game international joined Greek side AEK Athensand while it hasn’t been pitiful, it hasn’t been great either.

In 13 appearances in all competitionsthe former Spurs star has failed to score a single goal and has just three assists to his name, which isn’t the sort of output you’d expect from someone of his caliber.

Ultimately, despite being a decent servant to the club, Lamela was never able to live up to the expectations people had of him at Spurs, and it looks like that may happen to him again, only this time at Greece

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