If Giovani Dos Santos ever puts on a Tottenham shirt again then I will be absolutely amazed, given his recent loan move to Galatasaray. Although it is yet to be confirmed as to whether the Turkish giants have first refusal on a permanent deal in the summer the decision to allow him to move to Turkey and not a move to another Premier League club like Portsmouth seems to suggest to me that perhaps that Redknapp and Tottenham are washing their hands of the player, hence not wanting him to get any notable experience here in England.

I think it is a crying shame and unfortunately something we have become accustomed to over the years as the club fails to give young players a chance to settle and a run of games in the team to prove their worth. The amount of money the club has wasted is ridiculous and while I can understand looking to move on the likes of Pavlyuchenko, given the repeated outbursts of the player, I have a great amount of sympathy with Dos Santos who in the most part has generally kept his head down despite the frustration. At the end of the day he only joined Tottenham to play regular first team football, therefore he could have stayed on the bench at the Nou Camp as they didn’t want to get rid of him, highlighted by the massive sell on clause they insisted on as part of the deal.

What frustrates me and I am sure other supporters’ is that we haven’t had the opportunity to judge him and make our own assessment. Seasoned pros need time to settle at the club, let alone a youngster trying to adapt to a new style of football in a different country. We only saw flashes from him here and there as he was never afforded the opportunity to play four or five games back to back to see how he could perform. Look at how much Gareth Bale has come on in recent weeks after a run of games, who knows what the Mexican could have produced.

I guess we will never know and I am sure that if the loan deal does become a permanent one, then Dos Santos will be one of the players that comes back to haunt us in years to come. It is a shame, but in many ways not surprising given Tottenham’s history of disposing of players that fail to hit the ground running from day one.

Written By Matt Wright