Tottenham Hotspur Women’s best player is 21-year old Grace Clinton, a Manchester United loanee who played in the FA Women’s Championship last season. Clinton has exploded onto the scene in her first season playing regular top flight football, and has established herself as one of the best midfielders in the WSL this season.
Without question, Tottenham want to keep her and make her loan into a permanent signing. Clinton seems amenable to that as well, but it won’t be easy. According to the Evening Standard, Spurs head coach Robert Vilahamn said that the club plans to make a move to sign Clinton from Manchester United permanently, but it may not be a straightforward or easy deal.
And in the same interview, Vilahamn laid out the club’s transfer strategy for this coming summer — 4-5 new incoming players (including Clinton), and specifically targeting young players with high ceilings.
“We need a few players, and most of those should be in the category of Grace Clinton – young players who can develop to be better than the others. Grace was a Championship player who hadn’t played in the highest division, and now she’s basically the best midfielder in the league. We can do that again if we find the right players.
“Next time it won’t be loans; we’re going to make sure they’re our players. We don’t need expensive players. We’re scouting talented players that can take the next step with us. That’s what you can expect in the summer window.
“One key player in a position we need a bit of experience in could be worth it as well, but you will not see three of four players of a super level. You will see one, and then two or three with extremely high potential.”
These are interesting quotes from Vilahamn — refreshingly direct, especially considering how cagy most managers are in the men’s game when it comes to sussing out transfer window plans. And while at one level I do appreciate the impulse to build a team around a young core that can develop over time into outstanding players, Spurs are also not a cash-poor team as it demonstrated when it set a then-English transfer record with the purchase of Bethany England last January. In short — yes, absolutely, go after the young future stars of the game. But I hope that doesn’t come at the expense of signing players who can make Tottenham a better team immediately.
Spurs have made a magical run to the final of the FA Women’s Cup this season, where they’ll play Clinton’s home club. That means Grace won’t be able to play in the final, which will be a blow for a Tottenham side that will already be considered underdogs to United. That said, targeting Clinton for a permanent deal would be a fantastic move, assuming United have any intention of playing ball.
And they might not — Clinton’s emergence more or less came out of nowhere, and she’s a player who would do very well in United’s team, if she can establish herself in competition with or ahead of current England internationals Katie Zelem & Millie Turner and Norway international Lisa Naalsund. Clinton made her England debut recently, but she might prefer staying at a club (like Spurs!) where she’d be considered a star and play regularly.
Vilahamn is certainly hopeful.
“If you look at transfers, everything in the world is possible. I think that discussion will be after the season, to see all the parameters. It’s possible to get any player if they feel like Tottenham is the right place for them. I know that Grace is happy at Tottenham, so of course there’s a chance.”