Mourinho demands Spurs players unite to save season
New manager: I will win silverware if Kane stays Dias and Ake could be first transfer targets
Jose Mourinho has told Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, that he does not need to break the bank to deliver silverware on his return to management, but he is adamant Harry Kane must not be allowed to leave next summer.
Levy appointed Mourinho as Tottenham’s head coach on a 3½-year contract, worth up to £13 million a year, in the early hours of yesterday morning, having only confirmed the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino and his staff the previous evening.
Mourinho held a team meeting at Tottenham’s Enfield training centre hours after his arrival, in which he told the squad that they must pull together to save the season. He also held individual talks with senior players, including Kane.
The Portuguese will focus most of his efforts on trying to rebuild Tottenham’s defence, but he is otherwise satisfied that he largely has a squad capable of challenging for trophies – as long as Kane stays at the club. Any January business may have to be subsidised by the sales of other players.
Kane’s Spurs future had started to become uncertain under Pochettino after the 26-year-old made it
‘I can promise passion – for my job, but also for my club. It’s a privilege to feel that happiness’
clear that he wanted to start winning trophies to go with his various goal records.
Mourinho will ask Kane to give him at least one full season to prove that he can bring Tottenham’s 11-year trophy drought to an end and succeed where Pochettino ultimately fell short.
Levy also remains determined to keep his star player, whom he values at £250 million. Mourinho wants to work closely with Kane and rates him as one of the best strikers in the world. He is also a fan of Dele Alli and Son Heung-min, who will be integral parts of his attacking options.
Mourinho reiterated his admiration for the Tottenham squad in his first interview with the club, in which he said: “What can I promise? Passion – for my job, but also passion for my club. It’s a privilege when a manager goes to a club and feels that happiness in relation to the squad he is going to have.
“These are not words of the moment. They are not words of me being the Tottenham head coach. These are words that I’ve told and I’ve repeated in the last three, four, five years, even as an opponent.
“To play against Tottenham at White Hart Lane was always hard, but beautiful. It was one of these places where I used to go with passion, but also with respect.
“I always told about the club’s potential. I always told about the qualities of the players. I always told of the magnificent work the club was doing.”
It is understood that Mourinho’s primary concern is over Tottenham’s defence, with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen approaching the final six months of their contracts, Danny Rose struggling to reproduce his best form and right-back Kieran Trippier still to be replaced.
Mourinho admires Benfica’s 22-year-old centre-back Ruben Dias, who could emerge as a potential signing, while Tottenham’s scouting department has a longstanding interest in Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake, also a target of Chelsea.
Mourinho is willing to let Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen leave Spurs if they will not sign contracts past the end of this season. It remains to be seen whether his arrival provokes a change of heart from any of the trio.
One player who is likely to benefit from the arrival of Mourinho is Eric Dier, whom the Portuguese tried to sign for Manchester United.
Mourinho has been keen on Dier’s attributes for a number of years and the 25-year-old, who grew up in Portugal, is likely to get an extended run after falling down Pochettino’s pecking order.
Pochettino was angered in December 2016 when he caught Mourinho and Dier chatting in Portuguese and laughing together in the Old Trafford tunnel after United had beaten Spurs.
Mourinho’s appointment will inevitably lead to speculation linking Gareth Bale with a return to Spurs, but sources close to the Welshman do not believe there is any chance of a move materialising.
Tottenham made a summer bid for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes, whom Mourinho has previously heaped praise on, and he remains on the club’s radar.
Mourinho took his first training session yesterday afternoon ahead of Tottenham’s trip to West Ham United on Saturday lunchtime.
Levy, who was due to be in the United States, is thought to have changed his plans so he can be at the London Stadium.
Tottenham go into the game in 14th place in the Premier League, but Mourinho has promised he will quickly have the team climbing the table. They are 11 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City and 20 behind leaders Liverpool.
“In relation to the Premier League, we know where we are and we know that we don’t belong there,” he said. “We should just play match after match, the next match we want to win and that’s the same about the next, and the next, and the next until the last.
“At the end of the season we will see where we are, but I know we are going to be in a different position to where we are now. I look forward to the challenge, to the responsibility to bring happiness to everyone that loves the club.”
Other than preparing his squad, Mourinho has made Joao Sacramento his assistant manager in a wide-ranging shake-up of the club’s backroom team.
Sacramento has joined Mourinho’s new staff from Lille, where he held the same position under Christophe Galtier. The Portuguese was previously a technical assistant under Leonardo Jardim at Monaco, before moving to Lille in January 2017.
Mourinho has been forced to appoint an entirely new football staff after Tottenham sacked assistant Jesus Perez, first-team coach
Miguel D’agostino and goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez, along with Pochettino.
Carlos Lalin has become Mourinho’s fitness coach, while Giovanni Cerra and Ricardo Formosinho have joined the analysis team. Portuguese goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos has also moved to Tottenham from Lille.
It is understood that Mourinho and his staff have already drawn up player-specific training plans in a bid to hit the ground running and he has immediately attempted to allay the fears of any of Tottenham’s youngsters that they may be ignored.
“I really like this squad and looking to the young players there is not one manager in the world who doesn’t like to play young players and to help young players to develop,” Mourinho said.
“There is not one. The problem is that sometimes you get into clubs where the work that is below you is not good enough to produce these players, so I look to our history. The academy is always giving the talents that the first team need.”