Writer: Michael Zucker
Well, despite our relegation form over the past two months our rivals have equally stumbled during the run in and handed us a Champions League spot for the 2019/20 campaign.
Despite a few Champions League miracles, it can’t be seen as a season where we have moved forward – in fact, with so many defeats this season, it could be argued, we have at best stood still.
Could this be because of our lack of transfers in two windows now?
The argument has been put forward that we won’t buy players who don’t improve the squad but is this not arrogant of Spurs to think that there were no players in the market that could have been of benefit!
Consider how Liverpool (well behind us a couple of years ago have surged past us now with the purchase of the goalkeeper and centre-back they needed). The injuries and suspensions in the latter part of the season have highlighted that the squad lacks the depth to compete on all fronts as demanded of a top team.
To let Moussa Dembele go in January was crazy – of what value to our Club was the few million we got when reducing our already stretched squad – despite the injuries that obviously reduced his starts.
Going back to the supposed lack of top quality players that we were only interested in. If we believe this was the case then why didn’t we go down the Deli Alli route and buy some young players at more modest cost that were available such as Brooke, Maddison, Grealish (who could have been picked cheaply earlier in the window before Villa got new investment – another one of Levy’s hard ball stances not paying off) and possibly Sessegnon.
Anyway, we have somehow got away with it this season but we can’t continue with this approach going forward or we risk falling from the top table with the huge costs of the new stadium strangling us.
There is also the worry of losing some of our top players Eriksen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen this summer as enter the final year of their contracts. God forbid Pochettino feels he is not getting the support and also looks to leave? It would all unravel then.
Poch – Spurs Have To Stop Over-Achieving – “What Do We Want For The Next Chapter”