Friday, March 29, 2024

Tottenham have to hold on to top players to progress

Tottenham full-backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are being linked with big-money summer moves

Tottenham have been one of the most exciting teams to watch over the past few seasons in the Premier League.

The young team built by Mauricio Pochettino will finish second in the Premier League table after a 2-1 home win over Manchester United on Sunday.

Everything seems to be going in the right direction for the north London club. They have a very good young boss, exciting team and a new stadium under construction.

Everything is perfectly set-up for Spurs to become a real force in English and European football.

Unfortunately, it may not all be rosy at Tottenham, as a number of the British tabloids are linking their players with moves elsewhere this summer. Losing their highly rated players this summer would hinder their chances of a successful future.

Trio linked with moves to Manchester United

According to the Daily Star, Manchester United are set to launch a triple swoop of £110million for full-backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, as well as defensive midfielder Eric Dier this summer.

Losing all three players would be a big blow to Spurs, although Rose and Walker’s back-ups Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier have performed extremely well in their absence.

However, Rose and Walker are still considered two of the best full-backs in the Premier League and as a pair the best in the English top-flight. Rose has recently been sidelined through injury and is unlikely to feature in the club’s final league game of the season at Hull City.

Walker has been in and out of the team of late but was recently dropped in favour of Trippier. Pochettino has liked to rotate his full-backs in the last few seasons, but Walker has usually played in the big games.

Trippier was preferred to Walker for the recent FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea, though. The decision has led to reports of a rift between the player and his boss.

Both Rose and Walker have previously been linked with Manchester City, while reports from Spain suggest Spanish giants Barcelona are interested in signing Walker.

Dier has proven himself to be a very steady performer for Spurs. Whether he is playing as a centre-back or a defensive midfielder he produces performances of the highest calibre.

He could be the biggest loss of the three, simply because Spurs already have cover for the full-backs. They do not have another player with the same versatility as Dier. His ability to switch positions gives Pochettino the option of switching formations very easily mid-game. That can be vital at times when games are not going Spurs way.

Players not on great wages

In terms of wages, the Spurs players make far less money than their contemporaries at the other top-six clubs. For example, both Rose and Walker are on £50,000 per week, which is phenomenal money for your average Joe.

However, at Manchester United, England international Jesse Lingard recently signed a deal worth £100,000 per week. For me, Lingard has done very little for United to give him that sort of contract. He has scored a few vital goals but is he has not even a guaranteed starter at Manchester United.

Yet, some of Spurs top players are on less than half the winger’s wages. It would not surprise me if the Tottenham players have their heads turned by big-money offers.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has always held a tight grip on the purse strings at White Hart Lane. However, maybe he needs to allow the club to offer their star players higher wages.

Until Tottenham offer higher wages there will always be that doubt that their star players will have their heads turned. If Tottenham constantly lost their players they will never get to the next level of winning the Premier League title.

Outsiders for the Premier League title next season

Tottenham are not a club that have spent ridiculous amounts of money, yet they are second in the Premier League table. The club have been managed the right way at every level in recent years and deserve success.

However, they could be victims of their own success. If the team is successful their star players are going to attract the interest of clubs who are willing to pay higher fees and wages. Unfortunately, that is a fact of life and football.

Tottenham are odds of 7/1 to win the title next season, (fourth favourites). The reason for those odds is that everybody knows the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United will spend big this summer to strengthen their squads.

Spurs have done well in the last few seasons to challenge for the title. However, I have this horrible feeling that some of their top performers will be tempted by the circling big-money vultures.

Can Tottenham keep their current squad together this summer?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

SHARE OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE

WE RECOMMEND

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This field is required *

Join the conversation!

or Register

Live Scores

advertisement

Betting Guide Advertisement

advertisement

Become a Writer
More More
Top