Distin laughing loudest

Written just before Tottenham travelled to Portsmouth on December 15 2007

Sylvain Distin will appreciate the irony when his Portsmouth side entertain Tottenham this weekend. Portsmouth sit fifth in the table, level with big spending Liverpool, are unbeaten in five games and have won their last six away from home. Their opponents, despite a slight upturn under new manager Juande Ramos and the controversial recent home win over Manchester City, are 13th, 15 points adrift and within touching distance of the relegation zone. Both sides have scored a healthy 28 goals, a total topped only by Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton, but Spurs have conceded a whopping 29 goals to Portsmouth's 14. The reason for the disparity in league position is clear.

It could be so different for Spurs and Distin. It was well known in the summer that Martin Jol was keen on signing the 29-year-old Frenchman, a free-agent after reaching the end of his contract at Manchester City, where he was captain. Distin would undoubtedly have been keen on the move to a London club in European competition, but the Spurs board quickly pulled the plug on any deal because of the his age and wage demands . Harry Redknapp had no such quibbles, needing no second invitation to add Distin to an experienced and streetwise defence that already contained former England keeper David James and title winners Sol Campbell and Lauren.

Instead of Distin, the Spurs board preferred to continue their policy of investing heavily in promising youth with the alluring potential of future profit. Their choice was Younes Kaboul, the France u21 captain signed from Auxerre for nigh on £8m. It is a decision that has blown up spectacularly, as Kaboul has made several high profile blunders in recent weeks to cost his side vital Premiership points. Surely, given the chronic nature of Ledley King's injury problems in recent years, signing a young, foreign, ball-playing central defender as his principle cover smacks of gross irresponsibility from up high? Kaboul's current trials are unfortunate, as he has all the attributes to be an exceptional defender given the time that there is little chance he will be shown by a Tottenham support that currently resemble a pack of wounded lions. How they crave the solidity Distin would have provided. Elano and Martin Petrov, two other players vetoed by the Spurs board for reasons similar to Distin have proved the catalysts to Manchester City’s bright first half of the season.

Kaboul's case serves to highlight the endemic flaws in Spurs' transfer policy, and the naivety of their board to expect Champions League qualification on the back of four signings of whom Darren Bent was, at 23, the oldest and the only one possessing any Premier League experience. With their poor start to this season Spurs have paid the price for a failure to acknowledge that youthul promise can only take a side so far. Even the famous Manchester United kids of 94/5 were supplemented by Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin and Cantona. The only player Spurs purchased in the summer who has improved their team in the immediate term is Gareth Bale, and such is the hand of fate that injury has now deprived them of his services until March.

Bent himself has endured a torrid beginning to his Spurs career, a few recent goals failing to mask the low esteem in which the White Hart Lane crowd have held him since he missed a golden chance to level his first North London derby at 2-2, a game that Spurs would lose 3-1. The truth is that Bent, an honest labourer with a touch to match, has never for a second looked a Spurs player to a crowd spoilt by the talents of Hoddle, Ginola and now Berbatov. The problem is, he knows it. For all the upbeat soundbites, Bent's face bears the look of one that is painfully aware it doesn't fit.

David Nugent can sympathise. A goalscorer for England last season, it looks like the £6m signing from Preston and perennial benchwarmer's only achievement this term will be providing proof that Harry Redknapp is not flawless in the transfer market. While he has been afforded little opportunity by the form of Benjani and Kanu, another of Redknapp's shrewdest moves, he has looked worryingly off the pace when called upon. Spurs too bought young from the Championship, but such is the freakish scale of Gareth Bale's talent and maturity that the two hardly bear comparison. After his hat-trick at the weekend, Everton will be happy that they coughed up the extra £4m for Yakubu's proven goal-scoring.

Nugent will almost certainly depart in January, with Portsmouth reclaiming most of their outlay, and Redknapp will return to his policy of buying players who he knows exactly what he can get from them, regardless of their age. One wonders whether he would have been encouraged to alter this strategy had he accepted the job at White Hart Lane that his friend Paul Kemsley is rumoured to have persuaded Daniel Levy to offer him. That hearsay never materialised, but Levy now faces an uncomfortable Christmas bearing the responsibility for the fact that Dimitar Berbatov, the one player on his books capable of taking the club to the financial playground Levy so covets, is likely to leave in the ensuing transfer-window. If he does go, it will send a silent tsunami smashing through Spurs' hopes of joining the elite.

Who knows what the future holds for Portsmouth? James and Campbell will need to be replaced sooner rather than later, and their squad may well not possess the depth to keep going until May. At present, however, they are doing a passable imitation of a side capable of presenting a real challenge for a Champions league spot. Perhaps their success may even jog the thinking of whoever is in control of Spurs' transfer dealings. For the moment though, Distin is the one laughing loudest.