Do Spurs Need Another Brazilian?

Okay all jokes aside with the Brazilian line there, you can't help but think of "Special1TV" when mentioning that, Spurs are now being linked with another Brazilian player. Granted we will probably be linked with just about every player over the next couple of months, papers have to churn copy don't they, but this one might have some legs.

The player that is rumored to be a target of not just Tottenham, but of Chlesea, Manchester City and Newcastle as well is 25 year old winger Michel Bastos. He has been at Lille for three seasons, and is supposed to have a dynamite left foot and is a true left-winger. He has also netted 11 goals for his club this season, pretty impressive for a winger, or a midfielder in general.

He has good pace, can take a few goals and is young and still growing into his frame, so he sounds great right? I'm not so sure. Look at our record with Brazilian players in the last couple of years. First off, Gilberto. I think the less said the better on that one, don't you? Next up is Gomes, who has played better, but is still far from being the shot-stopper we all thought we were getting in the summer.

Brazilians aren't all flops in the English game, but at Spurs they have certainly had trouble adjusting. It seems that a lot of the Brazilian players have trouble adapting to the English style of the game for whatever reason, and not just at Spurs, whether it is the physical style of play or the weather, or some other factor. In the past couple of years Brazilians have been taking England by storm, and now you have players like Rafeal at United and Robinho at City who are going to be great players in the League.

Our two Brazilians have certainly taken their time to settle, with Gomes even complaining on several occasions of the lack of fouls called for goalkeepers in the League. Gilberto has never settled, and will be moving again in the summer, at least I hope.

Would Spurs do well signing Bastos? He has been in the French League, not known for it's physical play either, and he may have trouble adjusting to the style of the English game. I don't want to sound like someone who only wants to sign British players, but the Premier League is a different style of play and it can take some time for foreigners to settle. Given the short leash that has been exhibited at times by Harry, this could be disasterous, but if he is buying the player he will certainly give him some more time.

Bastos' name will be one that will be linked with Spurs throughout the summer, and though I don't know if he'd be the answer to our long-standing left-wing problem, I still think he'd be a better buy than Stuart Downing. But that may not be saying too much. We'll just have to wait and see how Harry plays things throughout the summer.