The transfer window has come and gone. Like in previous window’s, Tottenham Hotspur are reeling over inactivity in the market.

For the second successive window, Spurs were unable to make any kind of reinforcement to their squad despite obvious deficiences.

Lucas Moura was the club’s last addition to Pochettino’s squad from Paris Saint Germain over a year ago.

The Lilywhites lost two players in the window; Georges-Kevin Nkoudou to AS Monaco and Mousa Dembele who moved to China.

The expectation was that Spurs would bring in some fresh legs to at least replace the duo that left, especially Dembele who has been an influential part of Pochettino’s team in recent years.

Pochettino has been left disappointed with another inactive month in the market, especially with his side in an injury crisis of some sort.

The Argentinean has always preferred to stay muted over questions about funds available to him but revealed his frustration this time when quizzed ahead of Spurs’ home game with Newcastle United on Saturday.

“I wanted to strengthen the squad but, if we cannot sign anyone, I need to stick with the pressure of the club.” He said as quoted by Goal.

“I am disappointed because we are in a very good position and maybe, with a little more help, we could not have an excuse not to be a real contender. But we are in a very good position and we will fight until the end to be as high as we can.”

Spurs are without three first-team players ahead of a busy February.

Harry Kane, Ben Davies and Dele Alli are ruled out due to ankle, groin and hamstring injuries.

Moura, too, isn’t fully fit after picking up a knock last month.

Tottenham are in the race for the Premier League, trailing Manchester City and Liverpool.

The Lilywhites have a tough Champions League last 16 clash with Borussia Dortmund on the cards and their participation in numerous competitions could see an already thin squad stretched to beyond their means.

Tottenham fans will be gutted if, at the end of the season, their team falls just short of the title once again and will wonder what could have been, if only the club added some fresh faces in January.

Tottenham have confirmed the departure of Mousa Dembele to Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League.

The Belgian, described by Mauricio Pochettino, as a “genius” loved by the club’s supporters during his six and a half years with them joined the Asian side for £11m.

Dembele, 31, was severally linked with an exit to the CSL, with a switch to Beijing Guoan last summer falling through in the final minute.

Spurs, however, will have a big grin to have taken the money for a player who had just six months to run on his contract this time with no desire to sign a new.

The Belgian joined Spurs in August 2012 from Fulham for £15m, going on to make 250 appearances in all competitions for them, scoring 10 goals.

It was never about the numbers, though. Dembele charmed the hearts of Spurs faithful with his unique mixture of brute strength and soft touch.

On his day, he could single-handedly dictate Spurs games from central midfield and virtually all of his teammates at various times described him as the best player at the club.

“I always say to him: ‘Mousa, when I write my book, you will be one of my genius players that I have been lucky enough to meet,’” In March 2017 Pochettino said to him as quoted by Talksport. “One was Maradona; also Ronaldinho, Okocha and Iván de la Peña – he was a genius, too – and then Mousa. We always tell Mousa that if we had taken him at 18 or 19, he would have become one of the best players in the world.”

On his part, Dembele described Spurs as “part of my family now, 100%”. Sometimes you separate in a bad way but I don’t feel that way. I go away with an unbelievable feeling and with a certain love for the club.”

Good luck, Dembele.

The 2019 Asian Cup comes at the worst possible moment for Tottenham Hotspur. The North London club are competing on four fronts. They are very much still in the Premier League race, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and a Champions League last-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund in February.

Without the attacking luxury of their top rivals, Mauricio Pochettino tries to make maximum use of his squad. However, the expected departure of Son Heung-min would further reduce his offensive options. But how long will the skilful playmaker be away with his South Korean team in Saudi Arabia?

The tournament runs for almost one month from January 5 to February 1. The number of games the 26-year-old will miss exactly depends entirely on how well his nation fare at the continental tournament.

South Korea is drawn in Group C alongside China, Philippines and Kyrgyzstan. Son missed his country’s first match against the Philippines as he helped Spurs to a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, but he will be available for their upcoming group matches.

In the situation whereby Korea reach the final, Son could miss as many as five games in what is a crucial period for Pochettino’s charges.

“It’s not easy for me to leave the team at this important time,” Son told Sky Sports. “I feel very sad and sorry but I want to win this game and go with confidence to Dubai.”

Son’s final game is the Premier League clash with Manchester United. After that, he will miss the trip to Fulham on January 20. Even without the Korean, Spurs have enough manpower to defeat the struggling side.

Should they reach the quarter-final, the 26-year-old will be absent for the decisive second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea and, most perhaps, the FA Cup fourth-round tie with Crystal Palace.

Son will be ruled out of Spurs’ league game at home to Watford if his nation crosses to the semis.

A place in the final of the Asian Cup for South Korea will rule the forward out of the Premier League encounter with Newcastle United.

However, Son is not only the Premier League star who will be competing at the competition and thus potentially missing a sizeable football.

Newcastle United will be without Ki Sung-Yeung, who is Son’s teammate, and Yoshinori Muto, who has been called up by Japan.

Brighton will be without Matt Ryan and Alireza Jahanbakhsh representing Australia and Iran respectively.

Embed from Getty Images

On Friday, Tottenham broke the news that star striker Harry Kane signed a new and improved contract at White Hart Lane, tying the striker down until 2024 at least. The news not only confirms that the Englishman will not be moving on to pastures new this summer, it also indicates something extremely significant.

Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy didn’t negotiate some of the most impressive deals in football without being stubborn and standing his ground. Widely renowned for being one of the worst people to deal with off the field, Levy has often taken the same, stubborn approach to internal matters, especially when it comes to the subject of player wages.

Smaller basic wages, boosted by sizeable performance-related bonuses, in theory, seems like a sensible way of paying the modern footballer, especially when you consider the fact that some players struggle to find motivation nowadays, as hard as that is to believe. Despite this, Spurs are one of the few clubs to adopt this strategy, and please note that the performance-related incentives are thought to be quite tasty in North London.

The wage structure at Tottenham has been a hot topic for discussion in the past year, and not only amongst fans. Danny Rose openly criticised the wage structure at the start of last season, who was thought to be earning £65,000-per-week at the time. Hugo Lloris was the top earner with £120,000 (including bonuses), followed by Harry Kane and Jan Vertonghen on £100,000-per-week. Surprisingly, Moussa Sissoko was reported to be on £95,000-per-week (what?!!). The question of how Tottenham would keep hold of their best players with such a wage structure was presented to Daniel Levy on many occasions. Bonuses appeared to be the answer to a searching question.

Kane’s new deal will see him trouser £200,000-per-week including bonuses, destroying the wage structure that was in place at Spurs just a few days ago. The catalyst for change is the man behind Spurs’ recent Premier League success, Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine held crunch talks with Chairman Levy following the conclusion of the Premier League season, and these have seemed to have had the desired effect. The former Saints boss has emerged with a new contract for himself, the dismissal of the old wage structure, and an increased transfer budget of £200m for this summer. With negotiation skills like that, you would be forgiven for believing that Pochettino was in line to succeed Daniel Levy as Chairman at Tottenham Hotspur.

Embed from Getty Images

The new contract for Harry Kane could be a historic moment in the history of Tottenham Hotspur. The start of a new era. The end of an era where Tottenham couldn’t financially compete with the rest of the big six, an era where Tottenham built up a reputation for selling their best players and an era plagued with mediocrity, although this has changed in recent years. Next season, Tottenham move into a world class 61,000- seater stadium, and it seems that Daniel Levy is taking significant steps to transform Spurs into a consistent title-challenging side. Therefore, don’t be surprised if we see new contracts over the summer for the likes of Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli, and don’t be too shocked if Spurs were to make a couple of big-money signings before the season starts on 11th August.

This report shows the Tottenham player’s wages – though we are not sure how accurate they are, they are certainly interesting and worth a look.

Tottenham will need to pay big money to keep hold of one of their star players this summer, the London Evening Standard has revealed.

The player in question is Christian Eriksen and according to the report he is only currently earning around £30,000 per week. That is incredibly low for a player of his quality, moving into the peak years of his career. His current contract expires in two years and the club have offered him an extension, but the player has rejected it.

Tottenham have managed to keep their wage bill relatively low with the likes of Harry Kane earning £50,000 per week, although reports indicate he will soon double his earnings – Hugo Lloris is thought to be the clubs top earner at this stage, earning around £80,000 per week. Compare that to the other top clubs in the Premier League and you’ll see that Tottenham pay a lot less than their competitors.

Eriksen remains keen on extending his contract at Tottenham, but he has rejected the clubs first offer of an extension, according to the London Evening Standard. They don’t speculate as to the value of that contract offer, but it is likely to have been in the region of £60,000 per week. The 24-year-old could extend his contract if he was offered something similar to Lloris’ £80,000 per week.

There are several players at Tottenham that could easily be earning more money elsewhere, and so far it is great to see the players choosing to stay with us rather than move elsewhere purely for financial purposes. Pochettino almost took this squad to a Premier League title last season and there is no football reason for any of these players to switch clubs. They will play in the Champions League next season and have another go at winning the title.

 

Daniel Levy likes to drive a good bargain in transfer negotiations and it seems that is also the case when it comes to negotiating contracts. Tottenham fans will hope that this attitude from Levy will not push players away from the club – as really, even if Eriksen is asking for £80,000, he could earn that without any negotiations at plenty of other top European clubs.

Aged 24, Eriksen is approaching the prime of his career and it is extremely important to tie him down for those years. He is a top quality midfielder that will interest plenty of other clubs. Levy should probably soften his negotiation approach when it comes to this one as we don’t want to lose Christian.

Tottenham are interested in signing Watford striker Troy Deeney reports from The Sun last week claimed, but The Telegraph suggest that they will have to fight off competition from the Premier League champions Leicester City if they are to sign their summer target.

The Telegraph claim that Leicester are lining up a bid for the Tottenham target in order to bolster their attacking options ahead of their Premier League title defence, which begins in August.

Leicester could be about to lose their star man Jamie Vardy to Spurs’ North London rivals Arsenal, who reportedly have offered the Englishman a contract that will see him earn in excess of £100,000 per week. However, The Telegraph suggest that Leicester will make a move for Deeney, regardless of whether Vardy moves to Arsenal or not.

Mauricio Pochettino on the other hand will be looking to strengthen his options this summer to provide support for Harry Kane up front, with Clinton N’Jie far from providing anywhere near enough goals in an injury-hit season for the Cameroon international.

Spurs of course will be looking to improve squad depth as they be playing in the Champions League after a third placed finish last term.

It is thought that it will take a bid of £15m upwards to tempt Watford into accepting an offer for the striker who struck thirteen times last season for the Hornets.

The striker, standing at six-feet tall, would be a big asset for Spurs, should they be successful in their pursuit for the 27-year-old. Not only does he having a good goal scoring record at Watford and at Walsall, his previous club, but he also has experience of the Premier League on his side. This means that splashing out £15m upwards on the striker would not be as bigger risk as it would be splashing the cash on somebody from overseas, who is not going to be a guaranteed hit in the Premier League, which previous signings have suggested.

Spurs will be looking to challenge once again for the Premier League title, after falling short last season, and Troy Deeney would give Mauricio Pochettino a much needed alternative to Harry Kane if the Golden Boot winner was to come off the boil or be hit with injury.

With two weeks remaining of the transfer window, there’s still plenty of opportunity left to get deals done as has happened may times over the years. Spurs are often the team to deliver deadline day drama, from Rafa Van Der Vaart to Scott Parker and even Hugo Lloris have all singed the Spurs dotted line in the final moments of the summer.

So the question is, now have we already finished our transfer business or do we still need to strengthen in certain areas? In terms of our defence, I feel we’ve added smartly with Alderweireld, Wimmer and Trippier adding quality and depth to the defence and competition for every position at the back.

I still feel we could do with a game-running midfield to complement the energy styles of Mason and Bentaleb. Dier has done well in these opening two games in the holding midfield position but I doubt we can rely on him throughout the season to keep up form in big matches. There have been murmurings in recent days that we’re eyeing up a move for Victor Wanyama, who fits the role we need very well and would be a class addition to the side.

Up front the addition of Clinton N’Jie is a shrewd, versatile signing but we do still require another striker to give support Harry Kane. If we do manage to get Saido Berahino, it would give us options of playing one or two up top and link-up together, which they’ve done very well in England U21 games.

If Wanyama and Berahino join us before deadline day, that would mean, in my opinion, we have a squad that is genuinely capable of challenging for a Top 4 finish this season. As ever, keep calm and Come on you Spurs!

 

Four Premier League clubs are set to battle it out for Tottenham winger Andros Townsend, who has fallen out of favour under Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Sunderland, Aston Villa and Newcastle are set to be joined by West Ham in the race for the England international who started just ten league games last season for Spurs.

The Daily Star believe that West Ham have now joined the race for Townsend, and they also report that the Lilywhites are wanting to sell up for £15m, and with that many clubs interested, they are sure to be holding out for the full asking price.

Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy have been working hard throughout the summer shifting some of the deadweight, including midfielders Paulinho, Benjamin Stambouli and Etienne Capoue.

The Argentine boss has left Andros Townsend out so far this season with the Englishman unused this campaign, will this summer see the end of Townsend’s career at Tottenham?

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that he is still looking for another striker to sign before the deadline of the summer transfer window.

On the morning before kick-off against Stoke- Spurs’ first home game of the season- the North London club announced the capture of former Lyon star Clinton N’Jie, their fourth signing of the summer alongside Kevin Wimmer, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld.

You may think that this could be the last of Tottenham’s business in this window, with a forward now on-board, something Pochettino has been striving to do throughout the summer.

However, the Argentine boss has said that Spurs are still looking to sign another striker before the summer is out.

Pochettino also stated that Kane lacked fitness for the game against Stoke, leading to his substitution part way through the 2-2 draw with The Potters, and the Lilywhites now seem to lack options up top with Emmanuel Adebayor out of the frame, Roberto Soldado sold to Villarreal and Harry Kane lacking fitness.

Clinton N’Jie may seem like the answer, but Pochettino has said that the Cameroon international is comfortable playing out wide, so may require another striker.

“N’Jie can play in different positions. Centrally? He can play there but I think we need another centre forward,”

“We need to add some more players to the squad but don’t worry, I think today we deserved to win – it wasn’t a problem about the strikers.”

The Daily Mail report that Tottenham are keen on offloading centre-back Federico Fazio, just one year after he made his switch to North London from Sevilla.

Fazio signed for Spurs in August last year, and he has failed to make a huge impression on the first team following a couple of red cards in his first few months at the club.

The Argentine wasn’t included in the matchday squad in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United on the opening day, The Mail now claiming that Spurs will listen to offers for the defender, with Lyon and West Brom interested in the 28-year-old.

It now seems that Fazio is no longer needed at White Hart Lane following the arrival of Kevin Wimmer and Toby Alderweireld in this summer transfer window adding to the existing Jan Vertonghen and Eric Dier at the heart of the Spurs defence.

Fazio appeared 31 times for Spurs last season, and wherever he moves, he will surely be looking for regular league action, which he currently isn’t getting at Tottenham.