Tottenham Hotspur has finished in the top four after being in the middle of the table resulting in the north London club sacking Nuno Espírito Santo and hiring manager Antonio Conte.
Since his appointment in November, the Italian tactician has turned the ship around, and while there were challenges on this path, he has Spurs in the UEFA Champions League next season.
The job that Conte has done in north London has ESPN journalist James Olley stating that with them back in Europe’s top competition next season and seeing how his two acquisitions in Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski are enough for Spurs to back him financially.
“The success of those two acquisitions [Bentancur and Kulusevski] is first-hand evidence for chairman Daniel Levy as to why Spurs have to trust manager Antonio Conte’s judgement in the transfer market and back him with the six summer signings sources claim he has identified to turn Spurs into Premier League title challengers,” Olley wrote.
Conte understands what it must take to invest in the squad to win domestically and have the depth to play UEFA Champions League fixtures. Tottenham will need depth to rotate the team without losing the quality is one aspect Tottenham will focus on this summer.
It’s not often in life we’re given a second chance to make things right. Levy didn’t back Poch. Now he must back Conte.
If he doesn’t, Tony walks, Levy out.
If he does, happy days!
Win-win.
Reportedly the approx 700m debt has been refinanced out to 25 years payable at less than 3% so simple maths around 20m debt service. Not an issue.
I think it’s realistically possible to compete with the top clubs in CL if as you say we buy shrewdly, that will be key to how far we go in the competition.
However if Conte is adamant on specific players he wants then that’s where the kitty will be stretched beyond Levy’s limited budget and sacrifices will be made by opting for second or even third choices.
I’d also like at least a half dozen turnaround but we’ll have to see what Levy conjures up with bated breath.
If we can shift the deadwood on, our wage bill will be much healthier.
Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sanchez, Winks, Reguilon, CCV, Clarke, Royal, Rodon, Bergwijn, Gil and send back goalie on loan
Even if we only got £130 million for the lot, the funds coming in from the Champions League could offset any loss and I cannot see us buying in more than 6 players, which a couple will be free transfers too!
Knowing Levy as we do, I would suggest his ‘modus operandae’ regarding the upcoming transfer window will be as follows. To keep Conte as happy as possible, whilst spending as little as possible. In other words to spend just enough so Conte won’t leave, but not enough to really challenge the ‘big boys’. With the proviso that, if Paratici and Conte spend as shrewdly as they did on the Romero, Bentancur, Kulu acquisitions, then we might still be able to challenge even on a tightly controlled budget.
Conte knows exactly what he wants and will make his demands clear to Levy anytime soon, obviously there are issues concerning what monies are available to strengthen the squad, so this is where everything could fall down.
I’m pretty sure Conte would wish to stay and take on the next phase of the job with a more optimistic outlook than when he arrived, however how Levy will view the situation is not as simple as others will have done.
Levy has achieved what he set out to do with CL qualification and his decisions alone will determine where the club goes from here, and that is the main concern for the future.
Those were my thoughts also Mike, albeit I was open-minded about Royal, due to his improvement and bearing in mind it’s his first season. The main problem with Royal, is his greatest deficiency is his technical ability/skill level, which is the one area least susceptible to immediate improvement, as opposed to fitness, strength, tactical awareness, etc. I agree also about Doherty, having limited resale value, so it would be better to keep him for rotation and purchase an upgrade on Emerson.
Yep
😂 Think about Levy’s creaking personal finances and the poverty he could end up in
The stadium debt needs servicing first. Think about the interest.
I’d go with that. Though I think I’d add Royal into the (Sales) mix. Oky he’s improved, but Doherty improved more, and neither are really strong enough to be consistent 1st choice RWBs against strong opponents (imho). We can sell Royal for good coin, we can’t Doherty. Purchase a top quality RWB and keep Doherty for rotation/injury etc
The trio of Romero, Bentancur and Kulusevski cost approximately £100 million, excellent value for money in today’s market and all first choice starters.
Aside from a back-up goalie, who can be picked up on a ‘free’, I reckon we need another SIX starting calibre players … LWB, RWB, LCB, CB, CM and CF.
By extrapolation, if the cost for those six acquisitions would be around £200 million, then £100 million could be used from the 4th place prize money and the other £100 mill could come from player sales.
I would suggest Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sanchez, Winks and Reguilon should be sold, with an open mind on Royal, Rodon and Gil. This would finance the rebuild needed to challenge on all fronts next season.
Three bargains (there are some older players and free agents we can now attract for no or minimal fees) and three top notch straight in the first team signings would be the way I’d go. Don’t spread the money too thin.
Levy should give Conte the £148 million prize money for finishing 4th and whatever funds they generate from player sales
Let Antonio reshape the squad completely, if he doesn’t back him it will all end in tears.
It’s do or die time for Levy. I’m still expecting a ‘fudge’ but if it’s a fudge that gets 3-4 more second tier (on the ‘transfer list’) players of the quality of Kulu or Bentancur plus 2-3 decent bench warmers from the Championship for our ‘heavy schedule’ just maybe it’ll be enough for Conte to stay and bring some silverwear next season (plus another top 4 position).
Of course… if Levy just actually backed Conte with 5-6 first pick Conte transfer requests… that would be ideal and pretty much we’d be guaranteed of winning something.