Mauricio Pochettino is one of the world’s best football managers. An expert at developing young players and balancing his squad, he has taken Tottenham into genuine title contention for consecutive seasons. He has done so without the sort of flamboyant spending of their rivals, and with a core of young, improving players. The only way is up from here for Spurs, you might think.
Form, as is natural with a young squad, has fluctuated. A dire run during last autumn saw them eliminated in the Champions League group stages and they needed a poor Stoke side to end a dodgy run over the last few weeks. Pochettino, unlike many managers in similar situations, has managed to redirect the Spurs ship when it has become seemingly stuck in choppy waters. Injuries to key players – Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Harry Kane particularly – have hurt at times this season, but Pochettino has juggled his squad to keep results at an acceptable level.
The challenge from here for Tottenham is a difficult one. With Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs lined up to spend heavily this summer, the purse strings at White Hart Lane are tighter than ever. A new stadium, the failed investment in Moussa Sissoko last summer and a far smaller amount of revenue make it impossible for Spurs to compete. In the 2015/16 season, the Lilywhites generated over £130 million less than Liverpool, who generated the least of the other clubs in the Premier League’s top six.
Competing financially is not an option for Tottenham. Their current approach of buying young and developing players must continue, but it does not reap instant rewards. Their transfers over recent seasons have still been hit and miss, with players like Sissoko and Vincent Janssen unlikely to be at the club next season. Revenue will increase for Spurs once they have their new stadium and if they can maintain a position in the Champions League each year, but, for now, they are a way off financial parity with their top six rivals.
That leaves them hoping that coaching can succeed over investment. The squad has depth throughout and Pochettino – as has been seen in the impressive displays of Harry Winks – continues to place faith in their best youngsters.
This is where their expectations may be limited. Winning a title is plausible, of course, but they will be unable to build a deep, experienced squad like many of their domestic rivals. For now, consolidating their position in the top four and developing this squad is the best way forward for Spurs.
Cup success is now an increasing necessity, too. With only one trophy since 1991, Pochettino must deliver silverware of some kind as reward for the leaps forward they have taken under his stewardship.
The greatest fear for Tottenham is that their Argentine manager is poached by a club who can offer him riches and a more realistic shot at big trophies immediately, and perhaps that’s what Pochettino should do: if he’s one of the best managers in the world, surely he should be at a club with the resources to match.
While Spurs do still have their manager and the talent to win silverware, they will have to struggle against a significant financial tide if they are to hold their own with Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs in the mid to long term. For just how long will Pochettino fancy that fight?
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