OPINION
Daniel Levy is doing an impressive job at Tottenham. The north London side wowed the football world with its new stadium yesterday, and Levy has turned Spurs from perennial also-rans to a genuine top-four side.
In Mauricio Pochettino, he has one of the world’s best managers, one feted by Real Madrid and Manchester United. And, on Thursday, the BBC reported that Spurs had announced a world-record profit £113million after tax in the 2017/18 year, beating the £106million posted by Liverpool.
Income went up from £310m to £380m thanks to Champions League football, player sales and crowd income from Wembley.
Off the pitch, Tottenham couldn’t be in better health. However, the figures do mask what Tottenham supporters have been saying for a while now – a successful business is great but it can’t be at the expense of success on the pitch.
The 2017/18 figures include £116million spent on players, with Lucas Moura and Serge Aurier incoming. But they made £84million from sales and haven’t signed a player in two windows now.
Despite being expected to finish in the top-four, Spurs still haven’t won a trophy with Pochettino and were way off the pace at the top of the Premier League. They could still land the Champions League this season, but that’s going to be a big stretch.
Players like Harry Kane want to win trophies. He’s hinted that he’s not happy just chugging along at Spurs and there’s real fear that he will leave if silverware doesn’t come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
To do that, Tottenham need to invest in the summer, and they need to invest big and invest wisely. They could have one shot at getting this right and they should be able to compete for big-name players with their new stadium, but qualifying for the Champions League is a must.
That’s the last piece of the puzzle for Levy, but it’s a big one. Without a trophy, the players could leave and Tottenham could drop back in the Premier League, and that would be a huge shame,
The Tottenham/Poch project is still firmly on track but success off the pitch must not come at the expense of success on it. And this summer, getting the players in to deliver this success could well be the biggest test Levy has faced at Tottenham to date.