Tottenham are set to suffer short term pain when they move into their new stadium because of the competitive nature of the transfer market, according to the Times journalist Jonathan Northcroft.
With Spurs set to complete their switch into the new 61,ooo capacity White Hart Lane at some point this season, Northcroft believes the financial stress of the build could cause the club issues in the transfer market in the immediate future.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement, he said: “You look at the team and on the one hand you look at Harry Winks, a brilliant young player who has been great and is going to be an important player for Spurs, but then you look at Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, who are probably starting to recede and one of them might leave in the summer.
“They’re in that zone where every time Poch builds something, something else is going to become a problem. It’s hard for Real Madrid to sign players, never mind Tottenham and that leaves Spurs trying to find genius bargains, but then other clubs are doing the same.
“All you can see is pain in the short term of getting in the new stadium, trying to get to a point financially where they can compete and then maybe in 10 years become one the truly big clubs.
“But by then Pochettino will be gone. This sounds gloomy but it’s just come at the wrong time for them.”
OPINION
It’s a sad reality, but Spurs probably are going to struggle to make the kind of signings they need over the next few years. In the long run, the new stadium, which will immediately become one of the best in Europe, will hopefully catapult them towards that next level that they so desperately crave, but balancing the output of building a new ground with a sustained period of impactful transfer activity is going to be tough. You would still fancy the club to keep hold of it’s Champions League status, but even then a lot of that could depend on whether or not Mauricio Pochettino stays on as manager. With the new stadium on the horizon, and with his project half completed, the hope will be that the Argentine sees things through in north London, but nobody could blame him if he were to move on if the club cannot provide a decent amount of financial backing, and then things could get really difficult.