Little spending, plenty of sense.. how Spurs have triumphed in this transfer madness

AS of yesterday morning, of the 49 signings in which money has changed hands, 45 of them are listed on the Premier League’s official website as being for ‘undisclosed’ fees. Why? JOSE MOURINHO wants to manage Manchester United for 15 years. That’s going t

IT is barely three weeks old but judgements are already being made on who has had a good transfer window.

So here goes. Tottenham Hotspur have had a cracking one, so far.

They have yet to recruit a single player but so what?

In the madhouse of Premier League spending, they currently represent what counts for a muted voice of sanity.

It seems, in this day and age, that it doesn’t matter who you spend money on just as long as you are spending. Just as long as you are seen to be spending.

Everton are a club widely acclaimed to have had a good time of it in the market.

That may well turn out to be the case.

They have certainly registered a fair number of new faces, to such an extent they are being talked about as a club that will realistically compete with Spurs for a top-four place.

The bullishness of Everton supporters, even though they have lost their most important player, is understandable. They now have an owner with the resources and the commitment to invest in personnel.

But would any one of Everton’s captures get into the Spurs side?

Michael Keane, with a recent relegation on his CV, ahead of Jan Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld?

Jordan Pickford, with an even more recent relegation on his CV, ahead of Hugo Lloris? Davy Klaassen, six years at Ajax without a big move, ahead of Christian Eriksen? You could go on.

In Romelu Lukaku, Everton have lost the player who makes the greatest difference. He would not get into the Tottenham team ahead of Harry Kane. Lukaku is now being paid at least double the amount Kane earns at Spurs. Yet Kane is as certain to start next season with Tottenham as agent Mino Raiola is to make another £50million by the end of August.

Likewise Dele Alli, Eriksen, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele, Lloris, Vertonghen, Alderweireld et al.

The point is that Tottenham have a very good, young, improving team. Keeping it together is the priority, not spending cash like a sailor on shore.

With, in comparison to the rest of the Big Six, a relatively modest wage structure, this originally shaped up to be a fiercely challenging summer for Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino. But there are no signs of prize assets being lured away or into discontent.

Spurs have sold Kyle Walker for a £50m fee that has become the mascot of the Premier League’s financial insanity – and managed to get a player who they regarded as at least his equal, Kieran Trippier (above, with Kane), to sign a new five-year deal.

Now we all know that strengthening from a position of strength is the key to ongoing strength.

There is plenty of time left for Pochettino to do just that.

But towards the end of last summer’s window, Spurs appeared to spend just for the sake of it and Moussa Sissoko turned out to be a £30m dud.

Pochettino has some good young talent coming through and, under him, Spurs have got better in each of the last three seasons. If he believes he already has a squad that can take another step forward, he should be trusted.

With a willing accomplice in Levy, Pochettino is hardly adding to the fun of the transfer fair. That might change. But if it doesn’t – and there are no more departures from the Lane – this will still be a good window for Spurs.

Little spending, plenty of sense. ANTONIO CONTE has committed himself to Chelsea by signing a new two-year deal. Actually, he has committed himself to a bigger salary and that’s about it.

He has committed himself to a heftier pay-off when the inevitable parting-of-the-ways arrives.

Securing a deal for Alvaro Morata will soothe some Chelsea supporters’ anxieties, but the noises about an uneasy relationship between Conte and the hierarchy remain loudly clear.

Chelsea should again be in contention come next May. Just don’t bank on Conte being with them. IF nothing else, Kevin Pietersen’s timing has always been immaculate.

As the dearth of genuinely worldclass English batsmen was laid bare in the second Test, KP swans back into Surrey with a typically belligerent T20 contribution.

The mishandling of Pietersen still strikes many as one of the ECB’S most heinous recent failures.

Ahead of a half-century against Essex, Pietersen had some typically strident things to say about the current England team.

“I only need to watch a batsman for five minutes to know whether he can play. (Keaton) Jennings cannot play, (Gary) Ballance cannot play.”

And however the ECB handled KP, you remember, in an instant, why the England dressing-room considered itself better off without him.

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