Re: Official - Lamela
Sigh. What a missed opportunity. We could have done so much with this lad this season, his injury/adaptation troubles notwithstanding. All of us, actually: the fans, the coaching staff, and even the chairman. As fans, we could have sung his name every game, like we did with Soldado. We could have tried to establish a Sandro-style rapport with the lad - he's got a twitter like after all, via his brother. We could have tried to make him feel more at home than he evidently feels at the moment (why else would he go to bloody Rome in spring?) The coaching staff could have eased him in more, instead of first erratically playing him exclusively in Europe and then throwing him into the pit against City (A V ****ing B), or ignoring him completely because of his supposed 'injury' (same injury Sandro had all this time?) and then mocking his struggle with English in press conferences (our Tim). The chairman cold have signed someone to keep the lad company (he was a 30 million asset, signing some dude he knows for a few million should have been easy enough to do).
We could have done so much to help him settle in. And the reason we should have done all this is because he genuinely seems like the kind of lad who's capable of forming a deep emotional connection with the club he plays for: look at his reaction to being sold by Roma, for example. I get the feeling he needs that sort of connection to perform, to feel appreciated by the people he plays for. He needs support to reach his potential, to come out of his shell, and despite all the hand-wringing we as fans have done over his fate this season, I doubt we, the staff or the board have given him the support he needs to feel at home at Tottenham Hotspur.
Now, this season is likely to go down as the worst of his career, one way or another. Sure, he may end up coming good at the club, and all this will be in the past. But I sincerely doubt we'll have made a good impression on him, regardless of what happens next. And when he eventually leaves, I doubt he'll feel too bad about it. He certainly won't shed tears over his departure, as he apparently did when told that Roma had accepted a bid for him. And for some reason, that cuts the deepest for me amidst this train-wreck of a season we've gone through.
Sigh. What a campaign.
