Tottenham, Earthquakes Make a Deal

On a day that summer signing David Bentley lashed out that Tottenham were better than its two-points from seven games Premier League performance, the club make headlines for another reason signing a partnership with the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS. The deal will help grow the Spurs "brand" in America, while sharing coaching and training ideas with the San Jose club.

What wasn't mentioned in the press release was the possible connection with Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, who is a Tottenham fan. Beane also happens to have the ear of the Earthquakes new owners Lew Wolff, who also happens to write the checks for the Athletics. Beane has been long-rumored to be developing some new analytical/statistical methods for evaluating soccer players, which apparently was nowhere to be found this summer at White Hart Lane.

Obviously, MLS teams teaming with foreign clubs isn't a bad thing, though these partnerships -- like Real Salt Lake's titular connections to Real Madrid -- generally haven't yielded very noticeable dividends. That said, if Spurs were to loan out some younger players to develop in MLS it would only help the level of the American league.

For what it's worth, the expansion Earthquakes in their return to MLS after the original franchise moved to Houston are in second-to-last in the Western Conference, whereas Tottenham are in dead last in the Prem. Maybe some outside ideas aren't such a bad deal for Steve Nash's favorite club.