Tottenham agree deal to extend stay at Wembley

Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement with Wembley to allow them to play their remaining home matches this season at the national stadium, despite an ongoing aim to move into their £800million new ground early next year.

The Wembley capacity for Spurs matches has been capped at 51,000 following the game against Chelsea on Nov 24, although an application has been submitted to Brent Council to increase that to 62,000 – and potentially 90,000 for certain matches – if further fixtures are played there from late January.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Saturday the club are “so close” to opening their stadium, and revealed his opinion has been sought on the design of key football-related details at the 62,062seat facility. Spurs missed their scheduled grand opening in September and, although all their home Premier League and Champions League fixtures have been staged at Wembley, the match with Manchester City had to be rescheduled and played on a damaged pitch after an American football game.

Spurs described the new Wembley agreement as “a contingency measure”, something that is required by the Premier League, while they “await certainty on the exact opening date of our new stadium”. They intend to make a further announcement next month amid recent concern over the complex wiring in the new arena’s fire safety system.

Pochettino described his first emotion simply as “Wow” on visiting the £700million stadium last Thursday, but it was also significant that chairman Daniel Levy sought his view on parts of the stadium that related to match preparation and the working areas for the players and coaches.

The manager believes that Spurs are about to open “the best stadium in Europe” and was especially taken by the proximity of the pitch to the stands, in what has been a deliberate attempt to avoid the lost atmosphere that has been a criticism of other new stadiums.

“Daniel wanted to introduce me to the stadium because it is so close to being opened,” said Pochettino. “I think you use the word stunning. You expect that you are going to find a good, nice stadium, but when I saw the stadium it is like ‘Wow’. I think it will be an amazing place.”