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          Ranking Tottenham's 'Magnificent 7' signed after Bale's 2013 exit, as Lamela is last to leave club

          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerJul 26, 2021, 12:11 PM

          With Erik Lamela's transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Sevilla now complete, a grand eight-year era is about to draw to a close at the north London club.

          Lamela signing for Sevilla, as part of a reported £21.6 million deal that brings young winger Bryan Gil the other way, heralds the departure of the final member of the "Magnificent Seven" -- the seven players signed by Spurs in 2013 using the proceeds of Gareth Bale's then world-record £85m transfer to Real Madrid that same summer.

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          When Spurs found themselves flush with cash but with a Bale-sized hole to fill in coach Andres Villas-Boas' squad, they burned through £105m in just 55 days to plug the gap with seven new faces: Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Lamela.

          Lamela was the last remaining player of that spending spree, with most of the others proving to be far less magnificent for Spurs than first billed.

          This wasn't aided by the fact that Villas-Boas was sacked just four months into their first season and his replacement, Tim Sherwood, lasting just five months in the job before Mauricio Pochettino was hired in the summer of 2014.

          Here's a look at how Lamela and the rest the Bale-funded septuple fared at Spurs, with their contributions ranging from veritable excellence to virtual irrelevance. (All transfer fees taken from Transfermarkt).

          7. Vlad Chiriches (£8.5m from Steaua Bucharest)

          The Romania international centre-back lasted two years at White Hart Lane before leaving in July 2015 having made what might be politely described as "minimal impact." His £4.5m departure for Napoli formed part of a mass summer exodus as players were quickly cleared out to make room for Pochettino's desired targets.

          With the arrival of Toby Alderweireld knocking Chiriches further down the pecking order, the defender left to join Napoli having totalled just 27 Premier League appearances. In a rather fitting farewell, the defender was also sent off in his final game for Tottenham after seeing red in a 3-0 win over Stoke at the tail end of the 2014-15 season.

          Chiriches spent four years with Napoli though myriad injuries -- including a ruptured anterior cruciate sustained in September 2018 -- saw him spend multiple periods on the sidelines. He then joined Sassuolo on a season-long loan in 2019-20 -- a move which was made permanent the following summer. Still, credit where it's due: Chiriches only scored one goal for Spurs, but it was an outstanding long-range daisy cutter in a comeback win over Fulham in December of 2013.

          6. Etienne Capoue (£8.6m from Toulouse)

          Capoue was officially the first member of "Magnificent Seven" to leave Tottenham, having also lasted just two seasons at White Hart Lane. The one-time France international put in some good performances in the first few weeks of his Spurs career but then suffered a leg injury in his first north London derby against Arsenal. He never seemed to fully recover from that two-month absence and, after struggling to fulfil his early promise, departed with only 18 league starts to his name.

          The combative midfielder left in the summer of 2015, aged 26, to seek a new challenge with newly-promoted Watford in a £5.7m transfer. Capoue promptly became a staple of the Hornets' starting XI thanks to his tireless and uncompromising displays before finally moving onto pastures new. In January 2021 he signed for Villarreal and, just a few months later, started in the Europa League final victory over Manchester United.

          5. Paulinho (£17.75m from Corinthians)

          Paulinho was the first of the "Magnificent Seven" to pitch up at Tottenham in early July 2013, shortly after scoring twice for Brazil at the Confederations Cup where he was named the third-best player of the tournament. Real Madrid were also linked with the 24-year-old midfielder but it was Spurs who won the race to sign the promising Corinthians star.

          Paulinho's career never fully ignited at White Hart Lane and left after just two fairly uneventful seasons, playing 67 times and scoring 10 goals without ever nailing down a regular starting berth.

          Having been the first to arrive, the Brazilian was the second member of the Seven to leave, 23 days after Capoue did. Paulinho was allowed to join Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande in June 2015 in a transfer worth £9.9m. He then made a shock return to European football when Barcelona forked out €40m for his services in the summer of 2017, though he lasted just one season at Camp Nou before returning to Guangzhou -- first on loan, and then on a permanent basis.

          Now 32, Paulinho was released last month and recently signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli on a three-year contract.

          4. Roberto Soldado (£26m from Valencia)

          While never shy of putting in the hard work for his team, Soldado's stark failure to convert graft into goals saw the once-prolific Spaniard become something of a running punchline at Tottenham. Having cost £26m to sign, Soldado scored on his Spurs debut against Crystal Palace before going on to score three goals in his next two games. However, he only mustered a further five league goals over the course of the next two seasons before -- like Capoue, Paulinho and Chiriches -- moving on in the summer of 2015, returning to his native Spain with Villarreal in a deal worth £7m.

          Things then got off to a similarly slapstick start at El Madrigal, as the hapless striker attempted to kick footballs into the crowd at his presentation and somehow conspired to miss the target once again. Since then, Soldado has spent time in Turkey with Fenerbahce before returning to La Liga with newly promoted Granada in the summer of 2019.

          The 36-year-old veteran has since joined Levante after signing a two-year contract last month.

          3. Nacer Chadli (£7m from Twente)

          After three good seasons in the Eredivisie, Chadli made the move to Tottenham in July 2013 as a 23-year-old and became Villas-Boas' second major signing of the summer. The Belgium international first made Spurs take notice of him when he scored against the club twice, home and away, during the 2010-11 Champions League campaign.

          While his debut season in England was little more than mediocre (five goals, only one of which came in the league), Chadli came flying out of the blocks in 2014-15 when the arrival of new manager Pochettino sparked some fine goal-scoring form. The attacking midfielder scored 13 times that season, including the fifth goal in a memorable 5-3 win over Chelsea, as Tottenham began to evolve under their new Argentine coach.

          However, Chadli began to slip out of favour as the 2015-16 campaign rolled on and he left for West Brom in the summer of 2016 in a deal worth £13m, a decent return for Spurs. He has since endured fairly unremarkable club stints with Monaco, Anderlecht and Istanbul Basaksehir while remaining a staple of Belgium's national squad, having been selected for both the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020.

          2. Erik Lamela (£25.7m from Roma)

          Despite never regularly delivering on his early potential, Lamela departs Tottenham having cultivated a strong "cult hero" following for himself among the fans. For all the inconsistency and frustration, the nimble midfielder produced quite a highlight reel including not one but two Rabona goals: the first, against Asteras in 2015, was scored from the edge of the box; the second, against Arsenal, and was voted 2020-21 Premier League Goal of the Season.

          However, as if to encapsulate the very essence of Lamela, he also managed to get sent off in that very same London derby before winding up on the losing side.

          For all of his flashes of fancy footwork and the dedication to winding up opposing players and supporters, the 29-year-old spent much of his nine seasons at Spurs on the bench and the treatment table. He made 177 Premier League appearances for the club, averaging just 19 games per season and scoring 17 goals in that time. But two of those strikes were pure gold.

          1. Christian Eriksen (£11.5m from Ajax)

          Undoubtedly the best transfer that Villas-Boas and Daniel Levy managed to eke out of the Bale windfall, Eriksen's signing was excellent. The Denmark international quickly picked up the slack in terms creative quality, proving himself an important attacking midfield catalyst for Spurs over many years to come -- scoring 51 goals and chipping in with 62 assists in 226 league appearances.

          Eriksen became only the second player after David Beckham to provide more than 10 assists in four successive Premier League seasons when he reached double figures once again in April 2019. But he was so much more than a playmaker, as his tireless workrate played a pivotal role in Spurs' progress under Pochettino, breaking into the top four and pushing on into the latter stages of the Champions League, even reaching the final in 2018-19 before losing to Liverpool.

          However, things began to change as Pochettino's reign drew to a close as Eriksen, still without a trophy to show for his years at Spurs, talked up a potential move to Real Madrid following that Champions League final loss. New manager Jose Mourinho was brought in and the wantaway midfielder suddenly found himself reduced to a squad member, before being allowed to join Inter Milan for £17m in January 2020 as his Spurs contract came within six months of expiring. After a slow start in Italy, Eriksen played a role in the Nerazzurri winning their first Serie A title in 11 years last season.

          This summer, the football world was united in its support for Eriksen following his collapse on the field after suffering a cardiac arrest in the first half of Denmark's opening Euro 2020 game against Finland on June 12. He was taken to hospital and later discharged after an operation to implant a heart starter device. The 29-year-old is yet to make any statement over his intention to continue playing, but an Italian FA official has said that he will not be able to play for Inter again until he is well enough to have the implant removed.