Tottenham Hotspur sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a staggering total of
£90million on September 1, 2013, and throughout that summer spent £108m on seven players, in a bid to replace the two-time PFA Players' Player of the Year.
Tuesday marked the departure of one of those purchases - Nacer Chadli to West Bromwich Albion - and also the three-year anniversary of Spurs' final signing of that summer, Christian Eriksen.
The north Londoners now have just two of the seven men they bought three years ago; Sportsmail assesses the impact each of those players made at White Hart Lane.
PAULINHO
Cost: £17m from Corinthians.
Sold for: £9.8m to Guangzhou Evergrande.
Paulinho was Tottenham's record signing for a short while and got off to a decent start under Andre Villas-Boas, ending his first season with eight goals. However, he failed to make anything like the kind of impact that the club had hoped for, and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was happy enough to take a £7.2m loss on the now-28-year-old by shipping him out to China early last summer.
VERDICT: MISS.
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN
Cost: £11.5m from Ajax.
Sold for: n/a.
The majority of Lilywhites supporters will agree that their great Dane, Eriksen, has become the standout player from the 2013 summer recruitment drive. At just 24, Spurs fans will hope that Eriksen still has plenty of football to play with the club, endearing himself to them with his brilliant technical ability, and the speed at which he adapted himself to the Premier League from the Eredivisie. Eriksen - who currently earns £32,000 a week - is closing in on a new four-year deal worth around £75,000 per week.
VERDICT: HIT.
ROBERTO SOLDADO
Cost: £26m from Valencia.
Sold for: £12m to Villarreal.
Like Paulinho, Soldado got up a head of steam very swiftly at the Lane, scoring four goals in his first three games against Crystal Palace, Dinamo Tbilisi and Swansea City. Yet, that form soon deteriorated as he ended that season with just 11 goals to his name, and the following just five, as he suffered a crisis of confidence. Soldado's Tottenham career was an unmitigated calamity as the striker hit the back of the net on just 16 occasions in 76 appearances before departing last August. Nevertheless, Spurs fans still hold some affection for the Spaniard - whose song they used to sing: 'He came from sunny Spain to play at White Hart Lane,' and
the feeling is mutual.
VERDICT: MISS.
NACER CHADLI
Cost: £7m from Twente.
Sold for: £13m to West Bromwich Albion.
Chadli - the latest of the famous seven to leave - is the only player of the five signings to have been sold, which Spurs have made a profit on. That probably goes some way to demonstrating the 27-year-old's impact at White Hart Lane. He proved a versatile player over his three seasons and chipped in - primarily from an attacking midfield position - with 25 goals in 119 games in all competitions, including a memorable one against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in September 2014.
VERDICT: HIT.
ETIENNE CAPOUE
Cost: £8.6m from Toulouse.
Sold for: £6m to Watford.
Capoue's uninspiring two seasons at Spurs both read '18 games, one goal, in all competitions', as the seven-time France international failed to shine in N17. The 28-year-old has fared much better in the Premier League with Watford - equalling his two-season tally of games with Spurs (36) in just one term with the Hornets last campaign. The ex-Toulouse man has already scored two Premier League goals this season, too.
VERDICT: MISS.
VLAD CHIRICHES
Cost: £8.5m from Steaua Bucharest
Sold for: £4.5million to Napoli
Romania international centre half Chiriches initially earned rave reviews for his performances at the heart of Tottenham's defence but those were quickly ripped up. His fall from grace was sudden, going from being Man of the Match in a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on January 1, 2014, to back-up status in under six months. He struggled with a back injury, and then a loss of form, and was sent off in his last appearance - a 3-0 defeat away to Stoke City last May.
VERDICT: MISS.
ERIK LAMELA
Cost: £30m from Roma
Sold for: n/a
Now entering his fourth season with Spurs, Argentine winger Lamela, 24, has blossomed, after initially struggling with the physicality and intensity of English football. He scored only one goal, against Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova in the Europa League, before his first season at White Hart Lane was ended by a back injury in December 2013. Tottenham's record signing then showed flashes of what he can do in his second term – not least the outrageous 'Rabona' goal against the Greeks of Asteras Tripoli - before
flourishing in a regular role with 11 goals in 44 games, in total, last season. Lamela demonstrated another aspect of his game - strength and bravery in the air - with an equalising goal against Everton on the opening day of the current campaign.
VERDICT: HIT.
