Can Spurs still compete without spending in the transfer window?

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino. Photo: Reuters / Paul Childs

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino. Photo: Reuters / Paul Childs

Published Jul 24, 2017

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LONDON - For a club who have won a single trophy this century - the League Cup in 2008 - there is a strange kind of smugness about Tottenham at the moment. Christian Eriksen encapsulated it at the weekend. "When I came here there were seven new players at the same time, and you saw how that ended," he said. "It’s an English thing where you have to spend money to win something, apparently."

No, it isn’t. It’s a successful club thing. Most aren’t averse to spending a few quid to get the job done, to make that last surge for the finish line. And certainly, a club who have come up just short in the last two seasons would be forgiven for concluding the answer might not lie within.

Yet while their rivals have invested hugely again this summer, Tottenham have only sold. Daniel Levy has brought in around £70million from the sales of Kyle Walker, Nabil Bentaleb and Federico Fazio and bought no one.

"It’s not because we cannot invest," said the manager, Mauricio Pochettino. "But Tottenham have built a different idea to the other big clubs. We have faith in youth from our academy."

Cue swooning. We love to beat up our own league, to re-imagine a success story as a colossal failure, and we love the negative idea of stupid English money, clubs wasting fortunes on colossal acquisitions. But it isn’t quite like that.

Manchester City had a lousy goalkeeper, ageing full backs and a central midfield that required strengthening. So they fixed it. Manchester United had one top-level goalscorer and needed an upgrade at centre back. They threw over £100m at these problems.

Despite being champions, Chelsea thought the striker was a pain in the neck, Nemanja Matic wasn’t the player he used to be and the defence needed strengthening. They didn’t sit polishing their trophy. They did something about it.

Not all of these moves will be successes; but not all will be failures, either.

Last summer, Chelsea bought Michy Batshuayi, Marcos Alonso, David Luiz and N’Golo Kante. Batshuayi was a disappointment for the money - although he continues to improve with time - but without doubt Alonso, Luiz and Kante were three of the reasons Chelsea won the title.

We would all like to see Chelsea’s young players given more of a chance, but it is impossible to argue with the return on the way the club are run. Since Roman Abramovich took over they have matched Manchester United’s 14 trophies.

Now, Tottenham have an excellent squad. Tottenham’s first XI is up there with any in the Premier League. Tottenham have young players who continue to improve and others, like Harry Winks, who may now be first-team ready. Yet the fact remains, they couldn’t get past Leicester, and then they couldn’t get past Chelsea.

And Chelsea have made what they hope will be improvements on a team who set the record for Premier League wins. Do Tottenham have, right now, players coming through their ranks who are at the same level as Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata? If not, then it will be very hard to overtake Chelsea this season.

This is not about breaking up Tottenham’s starting XI or blocking the pathway of promising young players; this is not about buying just anyone, but of providing options.

Could Ross Barkley improve the group, by offering an alternative to Eriksen once the demands of a European campaign take hold? Yes. Does Harry Kane need better back-up? Yes. Are Tottenham vulnerable without either of their starting centre halves? Yes. Can all of these problems be solved by promotion from the youth ranks? Well, they couldn’t last season.

A win. A goal. Plenty to work on. A great start to pre season. Thank you Orlando! 🇺🇸👏👏⚽ #SpursInUSA pic.twitter.com/HybYrkGeXX

— Harry Kane (@HKane) July 23, 2017

Eriksen is right. Trying to replace Gareth Bale with seven lesser talents proved costly and unsuccessful. But that doesn’t mean all transfers are doomed, or symptomatic of failure. Tottenham spent a combined £47m on Moussa Sissoko and Vincent Janssen last summer and may as well have set fire to it.

Yet Victor Wanyama, Toby Alderweireld and Son Heung-min have proved excellent buys. Kieran Trippier is one of the reasons the club have been able to sell Walker to Manchester City. And Tottenham’s philosophy of elevation from the youth ranks is a relatively new phenomenon.

The reason the supporters sing about Kane being one of their own is because it is so rare. Most of the players who have got Tottenham where they are now - including Eric Dier and Dele Alli - were bought.

So there is a middle ground. It is very easy to sneer as Manchester City’s new goalkeeper opens with a howler, or Arsenal field £52m Alexandre Lacazette and are beaten 3-0 by Chelsea, but these are clubs trying to catch up. They admit they were short. Will Tottenham even acknowledge their fate these last two seasons?

Daily Mail

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