Tottenham Hotspur are a club that has been starved of much enjoyment in recent memory, with their desperate attempts for a trophy failing on every occasion. As such, the wait goes on for such an achievement, with the last cup raised coming over a decade ago.
The Lilywhites have been crying out for heroes to step up and propel them to success, but even with world-class talent like Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son and Mousa Dembele, there is seemingly a mentality crisis in N17, which Ange Postecoglou will be desperate to fix.
Daniel Levy detailed his failed attempts, with the appointments of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte ones he regrets: "I had gone through a period where we'd almost won. With Mauricio we went through some very good times. We didn't quite get there but we came very close and we had a change in strategy. The strategy was 'let's bring in a trophy manager'.
"We did it twice and look you have to learn from your mistakes. They're great managers but maybe not for this club."
There is clearly an identity which the chairman wants to adhere to, with his latest appointment certainly along the same lines as Mauricio Pochettino. However, even the successful managers are not devoid of blunders, with some questionable transfers that still draw criticism to this day.
Who is Spurs' worst-ever signing?
Even now few can see the reasoning behind unloading a club-record £63m fee to tempt Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon, as whilst he had impressed in his homeland, had done little to merit such a ludicrous fee.
However, such was Levy's desperation, he sanctioned the deal.
This arguably marked the true shift in his mindset, as he began throwing more money at his problems after years of frugality. After all, just the season prior had seen them become the first side to not make a single signing in the entire 2018 summer transfer window.
A truly embarrassing notch to add to the ever-growing list, it could still be debated whether that was better than some of the clueless buys made over the years. Roberto Soldado marked a huge failure for the fee invested, as did both Erik Lamela and Paulinho, all of whom were purchased with the funds gathered from Gareth Bale's sale.
Even more recently, and duds like Richarlison and Giovani Lo Celso still have a long way to go before they can safely say they justified their price tags.
However, one man who perhaps goes under the radar for his underperformance across five years in north London is Lucas Moura, who actually amassed quite the figure despite never truly performing with any consistency.
After all, the 31-year-old would only hit double figures in one Premier League campaign, his second, with his closest tally following that being a miserable four. As such, despite mustering 229 appearances for Spurs, the former Paris Saint-Germain whiz would score just 46 and assist 48, figures since dwarfed by the likes of Heung-min Son despite the speedster featuring in his position, just on the opposite flank.
For reference, the South Korean has 231 goal contributions in 381 games and counting.
As such, Moura has come under some intense scrutiny at times, with journalist Kieron Bryan writing back in 2020: "Dele gets shouted at for trying too much, perhaps that's fair, but I don't see Lucas Moura getting shouted at for consistently terrible touches and worse decision making."
Despite that, and the notable downfall that the winger oversaw across his period with the club, his tenure will forever be remembered for one moment, as he made himself one of the heroes that Levy had been crying out for.
Finding themselves 3-0 down on aggregate away to Ajax, having lost the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at home, it seemed an unassailable mountain for Pochettino's men to climb. However, a quickfire double from the winger reignited their chances, and he would complete his 'Miracle in Amsterdam' deep into added time, sparking remarkable full-time scenes from the travelling fans and players.
Although his is a career very much unfulfilled, given the excitement that once surrounded him as a youngster, at the very least he will have that fond memory to enjoy, as will the fans.
How much did Spurs pay for Lucas Moura?
However, one game cannot account for the huge fees Moura would amass, starting with the initial transfer sum.
Although the £25m paid does not represent a ridiculous amount on its own, when combined with the wages that are to follow, it truly did mark a terrible transfer venture, of which Pochettino seemingly made many.
For all the brilliant tactical decisions of the Argentine, leading them to that Champions League final whilst managing their steady growth as a club, it seems his movements in the market left much to be desired.
How much did Lucas Moura earn at Spurs?
Bringing the trickster in from a big, free-spending club like Paris Saint-Germain made it more difficult to offer Moura a more appropriate wage, and so they were forced to perhaps pay over the odds to ensure they were the ones who secured his services.
2023
€6m (£5.2m)
60% decrease
2022
€15m (£13m)
32% decrease
2021
€22m (£19.1m)
13% decrease
2020
€25m (£21.8m)
37% decrease
2019
€40m (£34.9m)
43% increase
2018
€28m (£24.4m)
N/A
Fortunately, after his struggling debut campaign in which he failed to find the net in the league, his salary would reduce from £90k-per-week to £80k-per-week, via Spotrac.
That marked a nominal fee though, as across those five years in England he would accumulate a further £19.1m from his salary alone.
Did Lucas Moura deserve to earn £80k-per-week?
It would be fair to say that Moura was far from good value for his lucrative contract, which combined with his transfer fee saw him amass a total fee of £44.1m.
To outline just how poor this piece of business was, the club effectively spent £958k for every goal the winger would score, and a further £918k for every assist.
In fact, journalist Richard Jolly would even seek to use him as an example to outline the decline of Spurs as a club, writing for The Independent: "He will leave in the summer and this season has been a sad coda to his Tottenham career. There were 15 goals in 2018/19, none now. Four years on, a team has fallen apart: there are tales of decline, some due to ageing, some fast-tracked."
However, with Postecoglou now at the helm, Moura's is a career the club will now be glad to have in the past.
