Is Levy really such a wizard of the window?

THERE are some narratives in football that are just accepted, regardless of the circumstances. One of them is that Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenham, is the wizard of the window, the don of deadline day. What Daniel wants, Daniel gets, runs the story — and at the best price, too. So it was this year — despite a start to the season that saw Tottenham drop five points in three matches, and take one point from six at home. One imagines Levy (below) didn’t want that — and maybe wouldn’t have got it, had Tottenham strengthened their squad earlier, but this was conveniently ignored in the rush to acclaim the Premier League’s prime mover. So what business did Levy do? He bought a short-tempered right back, a veteran reserve striker, a third-choice goalkeeper, a teenage centre back for the future — and the most expensive player in the club’s history, who might not start. For such a great negotiator, £36m rising to £42m for Davinson Sanchez of Ajax is hardly a bargain. Nor were the previous record signings Sanchez has usurped: Moussa Sissoko (£31.5m), Roberto Soldado (£27m) and Erik Lamela (£27m). Not one of them has made a grand success of his time at White Hart Lane. Yes, Serge Aurier is considerably cheaper and three years younger than Kyle Walker, but he never had the right-back role at Paris SaintGermain to himself — 57 league appearances in three seasons — and his fee was depressed by issues with discipline, including an assault that previously affected his visa status. Fernando Llorente is a good alternate to Harry Kane, but had Tottenham moved earlier it might not have been such a difficult August. Juan Foyth and Paulo Gazzaniga are reserves for now, and no more. So it was a decent window, in the end, but hardly a work of greatness. The club who got it right were Manchester United. They went early, they bought class, and have reaped the benefit in their start to the season. They even persuaded Paul Pogba to join them a year earlier when they could only offer Europa League football — apparently the deal breaker for Thomas Lemar and Arsenal. Yet the narrative demands that United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is a transfer-window klutz and Levy the genius; so that is the way it stays.