Last night’s win over Shamrock Rovers was probably the most encouraging performance so far from young Gio. He seemed to fully believe in his superiority over the opposition from the start, something that a few others should have done, embarking on jinking runs and testing the goalkeeper regularly. His decision-making was not always perfect, but a goal and an assist marks a pretty good nights work and once again raises the question: does Gio have a role to play at Spurs?
Signed in 2008 as a 19-year old from Barcelona, he was tipped for greatness and heralded as a massive coup for Spurs. Perhaps alarm bells should have rung that Barcelona were prepared to sell a 19-year old who had scored a hat-trick on his final Barcelona appearance for just £4 million, but we were too excited to have bought a player who was named ‘Most exciting talent’ in World Soccer Magazine that Summer. After an impressive pre-season, his involvement in the infamous ‘2 points from 8 games’ start to the season under Juande Ramos didn’t help him settle in life at Spurs, while rumours that Gio enjoyed a Shandy more than most began to surface. Having slipped off the first team radar, a picture emerged of a well-lubricated dos Santos being carried out of the Spurs Xmas party in a way that would’ve made Ledley King proud. A few false dawns at Spurs were interspersed by loan spells at Ipswich, Galatasaray and Racing Santander, where reviews were distinctly mixed. Commitment and lifestyle seem to have been the issue with dos Santos, with Harry stating he wished Gio could pass a nightclub as well as he could pass a ball. Gio was apparently frequently late for training on Mondays, often having spent the weekends partying in Barcelona while the rest of the squad prepared for the weekend’s game. Despite interest from Udinese and Sevilla this summer, Gio, to the surprise of most, remains a Spurs player and seems to be getting a final chance to perform.
So where does Gio fit in? Does he fit in? His performance last night was good but Shamrock Rovers were a poor outfit. In his other performances this season he has been frustrating, running straight into people, picking the wrong pass and huffing and puffing in frustration rather than tracking back when losing the ball. Like Van der Vaart, he doesn’t seem to naturally fit into an orthodox system, wandering and not tracking back enough to play on the wing and too much of a luxury to play in the hole behind the strikers. Van der Vaart, despite criticisms over his fitness and pace, has the knack of being in the right place at the right time to score goals and provide crucial links in play. As much as I’d like to say he does, I don’t think Gio has this natural gift. He needs the team to be built to suit him, like Van der Vaart, but unlike Van der Vaart, is neither good nor effective enough to be given this luxury. In a squad where Tom Carroll looks to be developing into a good deep lying playmaker and Andros Townsend impressed with his skilful, quick dribbling and crossing, I’m not sure where Giovani fits into the Tottenham system. He may be thrown on as an impact sub from time to time in the league and will get starts in the Europa League, but I can’t see him becoming a regular starter. This won’t be enough for a player who has made no secret of his desire to return to Spain.
Like Adel Taarabt, he needs to go somewhere where they will build a team around him, where he will be the big fish. I expect him to be moved on, either in January or the Summer. He may become a big success somewhere else, probably back in Spain, but sometimes, even with the best will in the world, certain clubs and players are just a wrong fit. I’d love to be proved wrong and see Giovani become the player we all want him to be, but I just can’t see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment