Re: Official - Lamela
I think the sad truth is that we, as a club, are going to prefer players like Andros Townsend over him.
That is in absolutely no way a slight on Andros who is progressing very nicely indeed, but we're not a team who seems able to incorporate technically talented players into our make up. Harry came closest when he deployed VdV off Crouch - but even then half the time VdV would end up on the left of a 4 man midfield and get criticised for not tracking back properly.
It seems the worringly ever increasing liklehood with Lamela is we're never going to play him, and he'll probably leave the club. What we are trying to avoid admitting to ourselves (i think) is that Lamela would fit in at Arsenal, to name one example, and I believe be a roaring success. The reality is we'll probably end up playing Townsend, say, on a regular basis (eventually) and knowing Spurs and how our players who don't move on tend to plateau, who will at best be a 5 goals, 5 assists man a season - whilst Lamela will end up fulfilling his potential and becoming world class.
The little bits i have seen of him in a Spurs shirt he looks intelligent, full of craft, extremely skilful, and a genuine touch of class ie not a very 'Spurs' type player: the type of player we allude to wanting, but then fail horribly to integrate into what are at times archaic and baffling tactics. That is why I was behind the Harry sacking and the AVB appointment: I though we were going to have an ingrained system and squad of players who fit that system and are thus interchangeable- much like ****. For whatever reason, that didn't happen and is now gone.
Spurs, for whatever reason, will always prefer (or will only be ever able to utilise) an Andros Townsend and never an Erik Lamela. I don't know why, but it seems to be more and more, and ever so depressingly, the case.
I hope I'm proved wrong, but I fear I won't be. When Harry Kane, Nacer Chadli and Bentaleb are preffered over Soldado, Capoue and Lamela the evidence unfortunately points one way.