Paul Merson has delivered the worrying verdict that Tottenham players must think about leaving the club if they are to realise their ambitions of winning trophies.
Earlier this week, Mauricio Pochettino suggested that it could be five to 10 years before Spurs lifted a title, as reported by Sky Sports News, and former Arsenal man Merson has argued that the club’s top talent must be willing to look elsewhere for success.
Speaking on Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, 12pm, Saturday March 2nd), he said: “I’d be worried about what he said about Tottenham not winning the league for the next ten years.
“There’s not one player at that club who has a contract more than five years so that tells you that all these players there are not winning the league.
“For me, they’ve got to move on. They’re never going to have to work again, that’s not a problem. Now, do you want to win trophies? Do you want to finish your career and say ‘you know what, I won something?’.
“They have to move on.”
OPINION
Tottenham are at a real crossroads at the moment. They are on the cusp of success, but evidently they do not quite have enough about them to seriously challenge the top, top clubs. Therefore, they can either double down and go all out for success, or they can accept their fate and admit that they are not quite good enough for the top table. The worry will be that the board are not willing to go for broke, and if that is the case then Merson is right, players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli have to start reassessing their roles at the club. It would be a travesty for players of their quality to finish their career without any accolades to show for it, and they must know deep down that they are good enough to walk into any side in the country, if not Europe. It’s a crucial juncture for Spurs, and one that they might not be ready to meet head on.