Poch: We won’t sign just for the sake of it
not signing anybody!
sorry for the English people.’ Tottenham came closest to signing Jack Grealish from Aston Villa but would not increase their £25m bid yesterday. It capped a summer of frustration in the transfer market.
In May, Pochettino appeared to challenge his chairman Daniel Levy to do more to make Tottenham ‘competitive’.
He said: ‘Being brave is the most important thing. It’s a moment that the club needs to take risks and tries to work harder than the previous season to be competitive again, because every season will be more difficult.’
Yet Spurs, who have achieved three consecutive top-four finishes with only a £50m net spend under Pochettino, did not spend a penny.
The boss underlined the importance of his own decision to sign a new contract, while a new longterm deal has also been agreed with World Cup Golden Boot winner Harry Kane this summer.
‘We keep the best players. For me that is to be brave,’ he said. ‘ Of course maybe in the mind of everyone they will say, “Oh, Tottenham didn’t sign anyone” but to sign for the sake of signing?’
Pochettino backtracked on his comments in May, suggesting they had been misinterpreted: ‘I am responsible for what I told you but I cannot be responsible for what you believe that I wanted to tell you.
‘Our decision was to not sign. That maybe looks bad because of the perception and because of the history of football, but that is our decision — to keep the best players and to keep the squad. It’s a brave decision.’
Asked whether his squad will understand the club’s approach, Pochettino said: ‘They don’t need to understand. They need to give their best. The people at Tottenham who manage and decide and take the way to act is the board and is not the players.’
Tottenham expected to off-load Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld and Mousa Dembele, who only has a year left on his contract, at the start of the summer but have so far retained all three.
Pochettino has warned the trio they must now knuckle down. ‘Once you cannot change anything, then you need to change your mindset and think about the team,’ he said. ‘I am the boss and if I expect you to do something, then you need to provide it. ‘You need to show your commitment, from the pitch, from the bench, sometimes from outside. outside. That’s what being professional means. ‘We are always open tto finding the solution when it is possible. But not when it is not possible, because then yyou are only damaging yourselves and then your company and the fans who pay your salary every month.' The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust last night called on the club to explain the absence of transfer activity.
‘It is not unreasonable to question if it was really the case that Spurs could find no one who would improve their squad,’ they said.
‘Earlier this year, the club objected to criticism of steep ticket price rises. It told us we could not expect players to be signed or wages to be competitive while we opposed those ticket price rises. Fans have paid the prices asked. And yet no signings have been made.’
MAURICIO POCHETTINO insists Tottenham have been ‘brave’ this summer despite ending the transfer window without a single new signing. The Spurs manager launched an impassioned defence of his club’s policy, explaining that a ‘crazy market’ and spiralling stadium costs have stretched resources. That led to Spurs becoming the first Premier League club to go through a summer transfer window without additions since its introduction in 2003. The Argentine said: ‘What the club is doing is showing it is so brave. Building a new training ground, building a stadium that is nearly £1billion. ‘And then with Brexit it is worse because the cost is 30 per cent more. That is a drama too. I feel