Speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Miguel Delaney discussed Tottenham Hotspur’s summer transfer business.
Over the course of the summer transfer window, Tottenham made a number of additions to their first-team squad, including the signing of Sergio Reguilon from Real Madrid for £27 million, Matt Doherty from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £15.12 million, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton for £14.94 million, and Joe Hart on a free transfer – as well as the loan signings of Gareth Bale from Real Madrid and Carlos Vinicius from Benfica.
In total, Spurs spent £57.06m on permanent signings, as well as a £2.7 million loan fee for Vinicius, despite the fact that Mourinho stated earlier this year that his side would not be spending large sums of money over the summer transfer window.
The club’s spending was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Delaney suggested that Mourinho ‘persuaded’ the club’s chairman, Daniel Levy, to open his chequebook.
He said: “It’s quite remarkable, especially if you look at the issues in recruitment they had for the entire [Mauricio] Pochettino tenure. That’s one thing that would reflect not as well [on] Pochettino, and maybe raise questions whether some of the failures [in] recruitment [were] down to him, rather than Daniel Levy, because Mourinho has persuaded Levy to spend – it’s really striking, that.
“If you look at the strategy in what Mourinho did, one of the first things he did this summer was basically, all the young players, like [Troy] Parrott and [Oliver] Skipp, were loaned out, which immediately makes the squad look more threadbare, and subtly increases the pressure to get more signings in.
“I think they’ve signed well, they’ve addressed issues in the squad, and, to be fair to Mourinho, it’s probably his most decisive window, in the sense of [the] forensic addressing of issues in his team, since Chelsea [in summer] 2014 – when he won the title.”
Are you happy with Tottenham's transfer window?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
From Delaney’s comments, it is clear the journalist is impressed with how Mourinho encouraged Levy to spend money in the transfer market and the signings that the 57-year-old made over the summer window.
And considering the fact that Spurs have lost just one of their eight fixtures in all competitions so far this season, we have to say, even before two of their new signings – Bale and Vinicius – have made an appearance for the club this term, it would indeed seem as if Mourinho has recruited well over the summer.