What’s in a name…

Football is a curious beast. Back in the winter of 2016, Spurs decided that one Mousa Dembélé just wasn’t enough and resolved to sign a promising young Fulham striker of the same name. Eventually, as you may remember, the West Londoners and Dembélé grew tired of Daniel Levy’s mulish brinkmanship and the deal fell through. He moved to Celtic in the summer instead.

During this transfer window, after waving goodbye to Kyle Walker for a sum too good to turn down, Spurs fans were intrigued to find out that another Kyle Walker (Kyle Walker-Peters) was waiting in the development squad just ready to take his place. As if our academy was literal player factory, churning out new models each year. Walker-Peters also plays right-back and on early evidence he looks a real talent.

And now, some 25 years after the original Geordie genius made his final appearance in a Lilywhite shirt, in the 1991 FA Cup final, Spurs have another Gazza on their books. Or at least, it’s Paul Gascoigne, if you put his name through Google Translate and set the dials to Buenos Aires.

Welcome, Paulo Gazzaniga.

The young Argentine goalkeeper packed his bags and headed to North London on Wednesday, for an undisclosed fee from Southampton. The former Valencia youth product arrives from the south coast a relative unknown for most casual fans. Indeed, the majority of his game time on these shores has been in League Two; Gazzaniga played over 20 games for Gillingham in the 2011/12 season.

What’s he been up to recently, I hear you ask?

Oh nothing.

Davinson completes Ajax backline

It’s not just certain names that Tottenham appear to grow attached to. Colombian defender Davinson Sanchez joined from Ajax this week and became the fourth player to be signed from the Dutch giants since 2012.

With the potential of a Vertonghen-Sanchez-Alderweireld super group forming in a three-man defence this season, with Christian Eriksen running tings further upfield, you soon discover our Dutch cousins have been awfully good to us over the years.

READ MORE: Tottenham Fan View: Time for Daniel Levy to show real ambition in the transfer market

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Meanwhile in Paris

If only all player recruitment could be so harmonious. Serge Aurier looks to be on his way to Spurs but it’s not as simple a task as agreeing fees and passing medicals. While the £23m Tottenham have offered appears to be enough for PSG, there’s the small detail of whether the controversial defender will be allowed in the country after he was arrested for thumping a copper in the neck last year.

There’s also been some understandable resistance within Spurs’ fanbase to the pursuit of Aurier, after the Frenchman was filmed directing homophobic slurs toward Laurent Blanc and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

There’s a fine LGBT community that attend Tottenham games and there’s a worry it would send the wrong message if Spurs were to sign the right-back without at least challenging his remarks. Let’s hope the club don’t just try and sweep the whole mess under the carpet as an easy option. My guess is they’ll ask him to sport a pair of rainbow coloured boot laces for an afternoon and that’ll be the end of it. We shall see.