9 players who did next to nothing at Tottenham… but shone after leaving

Tottenham were once renowned for having one of the highest turnovers of players in the Premier League, so it’s only natural that some of their signings only hit their peak after leaving the club.

That isn’t to say Spurs were wrong to get rid of them, of course, and there is an argument that some of those who’ve enjoyed their best spells after leaving still wouldn’t have been good enough for the Lilywhites.

Nevertheless, the north Londoners have had a fair few players who were simply the wrong player at the wrong time for the club, including the nine below.

Bent didn’t have the worst time of it at White Hart Lane by most people’s standards, but his time there will forever be associated with one miss.

That chance, late on in a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth, prompted Harry Redknapp’s infamous claim that his wife could have scored it.

Bent netted twice in the next game, but the damage had been done. He left at the end of the 2008-09 season with a not-terrible 12 league goals. The next season, though, he scored double that for Sunderland.

READ: The rise and fall of Darren Bent at Spurs: ‘The hardest two years of my life’

Boateng was seen as one of European football’s next big stars when he chose Tottenham in 2007, but he only managed 14 league games for the club.

Since then, the German-born Ghana international has played at three World Cups and represented some of the world’s biggest clubs, even winning Serie A with AC Milan.

We have to admit, though, that his loan stint at Barcelona doesn’t really count as a highlight.

Another player who found his feet in Serie A after struggling in north London, Falque played just one league game in his Spurs spell after joining from Juventus as a 20-year-old.

The Spaniard wasted no time hitting