SPURS ON THE SLIDE
Disillusioned players, an increasingly grumpy manager and a poor start to the season — the problems are piling up for Tottenham.
DISCONTENTED SQUAD
There is unease among the players about the direction of the team and a feeling the squad is reaching the end of its cycle. Key players want to leave or are thinking of what they might have won elsewhere. Christian eriksen has made it clear he wants out. The dane did not get his dream move to real Madrid and there is a concern he is sulking.
eriksen remains determined to leave when his contract expires next summer. Talks between his representatives and chairman daniel levy have collapsed.
similar issues surround central defender Toby Alderweireld. The Belgian can leave for nothing at the end of the season and is understood to have lost around £10million in earnings due to a long- running contract saga. Making up that shortfall is a priority for Alderweireld, who turns 31 in March.
danny rose is another who may be unhappy. he did not travel on the pre-season tour of Asia so he could sort out his future. But after the club failed to negotiate his exit, the england international has been reintegrated into the first-team squad.
AGITATED MANAGER
MAuriCio PoCheTTino’s snipes about Tottenham’s transfer activity suggest a strained relationship with levy. Pochettino feels he must pressurise the club’s decision-makers for the betterment of his team. But his comments have not been well received by the board.
sources claim the clear-the-air dinner between levy and Pochettino last month was necessary amid a deterioration of their relationship. And while any friction has been put to bed for now, Pochettino is still showing signs of frustration.
The spurs boss is not one for small talk at the club’s training ground but some there have noticed grouchiness since his return after the summer break.
Those close to the Tottenham manager feel the loss to liverpool in last season’s Champions league final lingers in the Argentine’s mind. or, perhaps it is the realisation the team he has spent five years assembling is about to disband without winning a trophy. it is only natural for Pochettino to agonise over whether he wants to lead another rebuild. he would not be short of offers from elsewhere.
leading spurs to the Champions league final has reinforced his reputation as one of europe’s leading coaches.
Manchester united, Paris saintGermain and Barcelona could all be looking for new managers at the start of next season, while it is understood long-standing admirers real Madrid have contacted Pochettino recently.
CAN THEY AFFORD SQUAD REBUILD?
eriKsen and Alderweireld’s pending exits will leave gaping — and expensive — holes to fill next season. Add the possible exit of Jan Vertonghen, whose deal also expires next summer, and Tottenham’s finances will come under immense strain over the next two transfer windows, particularly if they target like-forlike replacements for their outgoing trio.
spurs face paying at least £120m to replace their two starting central defenders, though levy may argue davinson sanchez and Juan Foyth could fill the void.
replacing eriksen will prove the most costly. spurs hope loanee Giovani lo Celso will be a success, with the club able to make his move permanent for around £55m next summer. After not signing a player last season, spurs had a net spend of £70m before this campaign. last week they confirmed the restructuring of more than £600m of debts attached to the new stadium, news which is supposed to ease the financial pressure.
But the prospect of losing around £150m worth of talent for nothing should eriksen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen see their contracts out leaves spurs facing a monumental financial hit.
some of the rebuilding work is already under way: ryan sessegnon’s arrival from Fulham has paved the way for rose’s exit. But there are concerns from within the club — and from a number of players — about how the team will move forward given the upheaval.
SHIRTY HARRY
There is a bluntness to harry Kane that was not apparent before. ‘The most important thing is to try to win a trophy. Year by year we have progressed, but we still haven’t got anything to show for it,’ he said in pre-season.
Then, following the Champions league capitulation against olympiacos last week, the prolific striker was just as curt: ‘We’re not young any more, we’re not inexperienced. We’re still making similar mistakes to the ones we were in (Pochettino’s) first year.’
his frankness will have those connected to spurs shuffling uncomfortably. Kane is Tottenham through and through and has consistently proved himself one of europe’s deadliest strikers. But what can Tottenham offer him now? he is already the club’s top earner by quite a distance. Trophies are the 26-year- old’s big motivation.
it seems ridiculous to consider a player of Kane’s standing has not won anything in his career. reaching Champions league finals is great, but no longer enough.
he wants to be a winner and must feel he deserves to be a winner. But with another Tottenham rebuild on the horizon, the wait for Kane’s first winner’s medal shows no sign of ending.