Scott Parker: To Buy Or Not To Buy?

This post comes from Paul, one of our new regular writers. Paul has had some technical problems on his end, so I'm posting this for him.

Once again, Tottenham Hotspur find themselves ‘linked’ with one Scott Parker. This after Harry Redknapp has again publicly declared his interest in the aforementioned player in a way only Harry Redknapp can. I can’t say I’m excited by the prospect of Scott Parker at White Hart Lane, but he’s clearly a player that Harry Redknapp wants and that must be respected. Wilson Palacios is slowly showing us the kind of form that we all saw when he first joined and Sandro has been promising in the appearances he’s had (his performance at the Reebok Stadium apart). For those reasons, I don’t feel a pressing need for Scott Parker, especially for a vastly inflated fee of £15m. Remember, if a player is English, his fee increases by 50%. David Bentley anyone?  We’ve overpaid in the past and I don’t want us doing it again. Scott Parker isn’t worth £15m and Daniel Levy wouldn’t sanction such a signing at such a price.

Scott Parker is also approaching the wrong side of 30 and I don’t think his skill set is something that Tottenham’s squad is exactly crying for. Jermaine Jenas is a box to box midfielder as is Luka Modric. Although I concede, Scott Parker is more aggressive and tenacious in his play and I think that’s something Harry Redknapp wants more of in the team never mind the squad as a whole.

Furthermore, Scott Parker signed a new 5 year contract earlier this season, this after Harry Redknapp publicly declared an interest in him first time round. This told me that, Scott Parker is happy at West Ham United and signed a new contract to prove it. Why would a ‘want away’ player sign a new deal especially if a bigger club is in for him? It doesn’t make sense. If Scott Parker wanted to join us, he’d of ignored the new contract, put in a transfer request and a deal would’ve been done.

For me, I don’t think Scott Parker is a player that we need to buy. I understand that our central midfield is in a constant state of flux and Scott Parker would provide a short term solution. But we should be thinking in the long term, hence Daniel Levy’s policy of signing players with a sell on value (William Gallas apart). Ultimately, it’s Harry Redknapp and more importantly Daniel Levy, who’ll make the decision of whether we sign Scott Parker or not. Time will tell.