Tottenham Hotspur fans have been reacting on Twitter after it was revealed the club could save a significant sum should they fail to qualify for the Champions League after a clause was inserted into the Pierre-Emerick Hojbjerg transfer.
The Denmark international made the switch from Southampton to Spurs last summer in a deal worth £20m and has impressed throughout his maiden campaign with the capital club.
Jose Mourinho has started the 25-year-old 29 times in the Premier League this season as the Portuguese boss attempts to guide Spurs back into Europe’s elite cup competition, but with an in-form Chelsea side three points ahead of them with just nine games to go, their chances of achieving that are looking slim.
One silver lining to missing out on Champions League football has been revealed by The Athletic, however, as it means Tottenham won’t have to pay the Saints a £2m fee. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is renowned for driving a hard bargain, and it appears as though this latest revelation has come as little surprise to the supporters.
“Another Levy masterclass”
“This was the plan all along”
“Fair play levy, save the £2 million instead of making £50 million champions league. Masterclass”
“Small price to pay should we, by some miracle, make CL”
“levy masterclass. anything to save money.”
“Result!”
“Wouldn’t surprise me if levy wanted to deliberately miss out to save the pennies”
Although Spurs are set to save themselves a bit of cash on the Hojbjerg deal, overall missing out on Champions League football would hit their finances hard. Just reaching the group stages of the competition will pocket them £14m, so Mourinho may need to pull off a minor miracle in the remainder of the campaign if Levy really wants to see a substantial financial benefit.