The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has admitted his surprise at his old club’s contractual situation.
Danny Murphy has joked that Tottenham Hotspur must have hired Arsenal’s head of recruitment after allowing several of their players to enter the final year of their contracts.
Tottenham have Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen coming to the end of their deals, with renewals looking increasingly unlikely.
Should agreements fail to be reached, the trio will be free to leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without a fee – a scenario more commonly associated with Arsenal than Spurs in recent years.
Speaking as a guest on Talksport yesterday (Tuesday), Murphy, the former Tottenham midfielder said: “I’ll tell you (the) one thing I’m surprised at is the contractual situation with the players at Spurs, because Daniel Levy [the Tottenham chairman] – we eulogised about his business acumen over the years, especially tying up young players on long contracts.
“And any players at Tottenham very rarely go cheaply, when you think of Berba [Dimitar Berbatov], [Gareth] Bale, [Michael] Carrick – all been overpaid for, really, in many respects.
“To have this many players, it feels like… Have they employed the head of recruitment from Arsenal or what?
“You can’t have it. The first thing I’d be doing if I was at any club is making sure that your best players are tied up. If they don’t want to sign, you get to two years and they have to go. You move on.
“The problem is not a financial one, it’s (that) when you get into your last year players subconsciously switch off. “
Tottenham could encounter a similar situation next season, at the end of which senior players like Danny Rose and Eric Dier will be out of contract.
Speaking to The London Evening Standard earlier, Rose vowed to see out the rest of his deal – which he claimed Levy has decided not to renew.
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