MONEY’S TOO TIGHT TO MENTION
Jose’s transfer misery
SPURS boss Jose Mourinho will be forced to shop in the bargain basement as Covid-19 continues to wreck havoc at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Loan signings are now high on the agenda – and that has been communicated to the club’s external recruitment teams – as last year’s Champions League finalists look to cut costs.
Spurs have already made a U-turn over furloughing their playing staff – and that decision, while welcomed by fans’ groups, will have an effect on their financial situation.
That has led to budgets being hastily revised as cancellations of non-football activities at their £1billion stadium are starting to hit Daniel Levy’s (right) bottom line.
Capital’s Summertime ball was among the first event to be axed along with Anthony Joshua’s fight with Kubrat Pulev, which has been postponed, provisionally until July.
If Boris Johnson confirms this week that the lockdown will last until June, that will also put paid to American supergroup Guns N’ Roses playing at the venue. A rugby union clash between Saracens and Harlequins has already been cancelled and NFL fixtures for later in the year are also under threat. The revenue from additional events was to be an important part of the club’s strategy to maximise income from their new home. Tottenham were this week highlighted as the most valuable club in the Premier League due to the relatively low ratio of players’ wages to income generated. Reaching the final of the Champions League last term enabled the club to hit record revenues and the events that the stadium is capable of staging have only added to the player purchasing power that a 61,000-capacity arena will give the club in the marketplace. The first sign of the latest scenario has come with Mourinho’s potential acquisition of PSG defender Thomas Meunier, who is available on a free transfer. But more bargain-hunting now appears inevitable as the fallout from the coronavirus crisis continues to bite.