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That is not a literal question, obviously. We all know Aaron is alive, fit and well somewhere in North London. If it was a literal question we would probably change the subject matter to Lord Lucan. Or David Bentley.
No, this is more of a rhetorical question really. Given the recent tabloid blather about a potential £7million move to English giants QPR, Sunderland or even the former rugby team, Stoke, the question needs to be asked, what has become of Azza Blud?
Our 5’5” friend first crashed onto the scene as a 16 year old at Leeds playing his first game against his future employers. He was fast, he was direct and he excited the fans. When Spurs signed him for a remarkably nominal £1million in 2005 and once all Spurs fans came to realise that Wayne Routledge was never going to amount to the next Darren Anderton except for spending a comparative amount of time on the treatment table the fans began to look forward to that diagonal ball played in behind the defense which had the opposition left-back scrambling back and Lennon burning the grass brown with his hot-heeled runs. He was going to be our next idol and surely, being so good already, he was going to get better and better with age, right?...
Azza was going to be one of the giants of the game (again not literally) and that we still see him to this day in the Lilywhite shirt is surely a coup that we managed to keep him?
It all started so well: Wayne broke his foot and Lennon made the spot his own. Three nominations for PFA Young Player of the Year. A call up to the 2006 England World Cup squad. Aaron was going to spell the end of David Beckham’s international career. His star was rising nearly as quickly as he could run.
But then there was Juande Ramos. And David Bentley. Nobody was sure what might happen next for the young Yorkshireman. Teams like Liverpool and Newcastle were being touted. Azza wouldn’t fit in with the Ramos regime; after all, David Bentley’s star was now rising even higher than Lennon’s and apparently he was now going to spell the end of David Beckham’s international career. But fate can play some funny hands and Juande, who was destined to make Spurs champions by removing tomato ketchup from the players’ diets, was given his marching orders having apparently only amassed two points from eight games. Our next manager, ‘Arry, reminded us of this regularly. But he also reminded us all just how good Aaron Lennon was. In 2008-2009 and still only 21 years old Lennon was back to his old self, finishing his season with his highest tally of goals scored.
At this point you might expect the list of accolades, trophies won, international honours, maybe a huge multi-million euro move to Real Madrid or Barcelona. So, what happened? Well, nothing really. Azza, for someone with such quick feet, stood surprisingly still. ‘Arry still got some reasonably good performances from him but nothing that bettered what he had previously achieved. ‘Arry left, in came AVB. AVB left, in came Tim. Tim left and now we have Mauricio. Lennon has played less and less over the last couple of years and where he could once handle the challenges from pretenders like David Bentley (what the hell happened to David Bentley?!) he seems to be having less luck with Andros and Erik. And even a diehard Spurs fan could not entertain the thought that Andros has been playing well this year. Erik...well, the jury’s still out.
So where does this leave our favourite player and one remaining relic from the Big Martin Jol era? Will he play for us again? Will the persistent rumours of a move to Inter Milan transpire? Or will he shun the Italians’ faded glory for a crack at the big time with Stoke? £7 million seems like small change for an English player in this day and age, especially when you hear £20 million being quoted for an average Saido Berahino who is only six years younger. At 27 Lennon should be at his peak and be leaving us to better his career. But you can’t argue that for all his promise he has never scored more than five league goals in one season and has never really added anything to his game other than running exceptionally fast. Yes, he does back-track and he can tackle (Andros and Erik take note) but it’s the forward part of his game that we’re really interested in.
Whatever Aaron Lennon’s next move is I will wish him luck. He’ll always be loved by Spurs fans for the exciting moments he has given us and while he’s still lacing his boots at the Lane we can always live in the hope that next season, yes next season, he will finally fulfill his promise and eclipse Christiano Ronaldo.
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Er... He never learnt to cross the ball??? Giants of the game? Hardly...,
ReplyDeleteRemember him scoring the winner against Chelsea after taking the ball round Ashley Cole, unless he has done something to annoy Pottechino he should be told to play down the outside and not cut in, if he continues to do so then sell, give him another chance, but only a few games to prove he can still do it.
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