Michu obviously.....(no one predicted how good he would be in fairness)
Berbatov would have been a good choice but there are any number of strikers they could have gone in for.....
even if they had outbid Liverpool for Daniel Sturridge in January I think his goals would have made the difference
going into the season with Defoe - decent but one dimensional and Adebayor - ineffectual and lazy 75% of the time was silly
for the last few transfer windows they have messed up flirting with buying players at the last minute to try and save a few quid and ultimately failing
they did it with Moutinho last summer
for the last couple of windows they have done it with Leandro Damião
if they actually did their business early and got things in place I think they would have achieved a top 4 place
Almost no one had heard of Michu. Laudrup had. Laudrup had also been a manager in Spain for some years and thus has connections and scouts that Tottenham don't.
You've got no idea what kind of dealings they've had with Damiao. Their dealings with Moutinho and Negredo are different. Those players are partly owned by a 3rd party. It's illegal for PL clubs to buy them. Chelsea and City have circumvented that but it's very expensive to so.
Berbatov has scored more than 15 goals once in his PL career. Same as Defoe and one times less than Adebayor. He's also 32 and not the right direction to go.
Buying a quality striker isn't easy. Look at Chelsea and City. They're struggling with filling their wanted quota. Tevez would be long gone had there been a replacement available. Balotelli has left and Dzeko wants to leave. City will need to spend big to replace them.
Chelsea should be fine with Ba or Lukaku but they don't seem to feel fine about it. They're right to not feel fine since those two aren't in the same caliber as RvP or Aguero but the pickens are slim.
The lack of striker purchase isn't what cost Tottenham. They're in the exact same position as Arsenal in that regard. Giroud wouldn't be a superior striker in the Tottenham squad.
The way the market is now Hernandez is worth 30m. Teams would love to get him. But hopefully he isn't for sale. Higuain is though and he'll cost a pretty penny for whomever that claims his signature.