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da bet nacional： Daniel Levy is one of the most stubborn men in the business. Tottenham Hotspur have signed just one player in the last three transfer windows and, with the lack of strength in depth clearly tarnishing the club’s title chances, the supporters are growing increasingly frustrated with his tight-fisted approach.
The move into the new stadium is on the horizon, and the crippling financial implications of the move are surely influencing Levy’s transfer strategy. But, with the implementation of a coherent summer plan, Tottenham’s chief executive could free up a large chunk of cash from the wage bill.
Using figures obtained from Spotrac, we’ve taken a look at a collection of players who should be offloaded in the summer in order to make way for two elite-level footballers.
Cut the deadwood – plus Aurier
There are a handful of players residing within Pochettino’s squad who simply aren’t up to the standard required. Fernando Llorente is currently earning £3.9m per year and Spurs would be foolish to extend his deal when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Although it’s verging on the harsh side to place him in the deadwood category, Serge Aurier is far too inconsistent, so his £3.64m per year salary should be slashed and Kyle Walker-Peters should be given a more prominent role in the senior squad.
Michel Vorm, who earns £2.08m per year, should be released when his deal expires in the summer, while Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, Vincent Janssen, Josh Onomah and Cameron Carter-Vickers, who earn £1.82m, £1.76, £1.54m and £1.04m respectively, are all disposable talents with no future in north London.
Result of Tottenham’s clear-out
If Levy managed to successfully find new clubs for all of the aforementioned players, he would slash a healthy £15.78 million from the yearly wage budget.
To place that into context, that’s enough to pay the yearly salary of Son Heung-min – which is currently £7.28m per year – twice over with some cash left to spare.
The South Korea international is the club’s second-highest earner after Harry Kane, and it’s the kind of salary which Levy will surely need to offer to lure two game-changing players to the club.
Two more Son Heung-min’s?
Son’s weekly salary breaks down to £140k per week and, on current form, that wage has been thoroughly justified. But how long can Spurs continue to expect to compete at the top level if they have just two players earning more than £100k per week?
Naturally, there is not always a direct correlation between wages and positive contribution to the squad, as Llorente’s wage aptly reflects, but there is no question that, generally speaking, it pays dividends to employ a handful of mega-money earners.
Manchester City, for example, have ten players earning in excess of £100k per week; Liverpool have nine; Manchester United top the lot with twelve; Chelsea and Arsenal both have eight.
It’s about time Levy delivered the goods in the transfer market, and a mini exodus could be all he needs to make room on the wage bill for two marquee signings earning figures in the region of £140k per week.
If Spurs want to keep pace with their top-six rivals, they better start acting like them too.