A Final Plea To Mr. Levy: Hijack The QPR Talks, Sign Joey Barton

At the time of going to press with this article, Joey Barton is currently entering talks with QPR regarding a possible move. Since there has been no word of Barton's transfer status changing over the past few days, we can assume that said move will take place for free. QPR, recently sold to Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, will presumably be able to tie up a deal fairly rapidly with a considerable wage offer.

I will say this just one final time: there is absolutely NO reason why Spurs should not sign Joey Barton during this transfer window. Over and over in recent years, he has stated and restated his desire to prove himself in the national team playing for England; I have absolutely no doubt that Barton would view a move to club as big as Spurs, who have a recent history of top-tier European football, as his springboard to achieving this goal.

Barton would go absolutely all out to play well, impress, hold a first team place, turn around his reputation as a troublemaker and silence his critics should we give him the opportunity. The tired arguments about his history of bad behaviour are thus totally redundant and a childish reason to avoid signing him in what would be a tremendous bit of business, nay a coup, on a free.

In addition to these points, it is also impossible to deny that Barton is innately class. Anyone who has watched him come into his own playing football in the last two seasons, rather than simply reading about him in the tabloids, should know this. He is exceedingly tenacious, his passing range is excellent, and he can serve as a true box-to-box midfielder. All this considered, it would be absolute madness to allow a player of his caliber to just slip away to mid-table mediocrity this window when we could have him with us merely with a say-so. I REALLY don't hope I'm left saying I told you when he has his best season ever this time out.