Why new head coach Mauricio Pochettino can succeed at White Hart Lane without Spurs going crazy in the transfer market.
1. Low key transfer window
Tottenham’s past two seasons began turbulently, with Real Madrid publicly courting their best player all summer – Luka Modric in 2012 and Gareth Bale a year later.
On both occasions, hard-bargaining chairman Daniel Levy waited until the campaign was underway before selling to the La Liga giants.
Financially, Spurs did very well from both sales, but the protracted nature of the deals made it impossible for manager Andre Villas-Boas to prepare a settled and balanced squad.
Tottenham’s best player right now is Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen and, fortunately, there is no suggestion that he will move on this summer.
Eriksen enjoyed an impressive debut season in England, scoring seven goals and providing eight assists in 25 Premier League games.
The 22-year-old, who won Tottenham’s Player of the Year award, improved steadily throughout the season and he is likely to be even better this term.
Michael Dawson and Paulinho are the main first-team stars that have been seriously linked with possible exits. Both are far from indispensable.
He may be club captain, but reported QPR and Hull City target Dawson, who Villas-Boas tried to offload last summer, is not a patch on either Jan Vertonghen and Younes Kaboul.
Meanwhile, Paulinho’s departure would be slightly more of a blow, but central midfield is an area where Tottenham have impressive strength in depth, with the likes of Sandro, Moussa Dembele, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Nabil Bentaleb and Etienne Capoue.
Without the pressure of having to sell – and replace – key men in a mad dash, Pochettino will have a much better chance of achieving success with Spurs than poor old AVB ever did.
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