Tottenham Hotspur are at a crossroads as a number of senior stars will more than likely be leaving the club during these next two transfer windows.
Gary Neville has defended Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to allow three of their senior stars to run down their contracts, but it is a decision which Graeme Souness thinks the club have got ‘wrong’.
Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen will all be out of contract at the end of the season, and it seems more than likely that they will be heading for the exit door.
It seems as though a lot of off-field issues are harming Tottenham’s performances and results on the pitch, as Sky Sports pundit Souness explained why Spurs have made a mistake in not breaking their wage structure.
“Gary was saying they won’t pay wages to Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Eriksen,” Souness told Sky Sports. There’s a calculation you have to make, if you give them the salary, or I don’t give them the salary and I sell them then you have to go out there and spend that money.
“You then have to buy a player you’re not quite so sure about. If you’re spending £40 million on a defender, you have to pay them £40 million in wages. There was a calculation made on those three players, and in my opinion, they got it wrong. Danny Rose if you want to include him as well.”
Playmaker Eriksen has been in and out of Tottenham’s team this season, whilst Belgian duo Alderweireld and Veronghen have also been treated in the same manner.
On Sunday, Vertonghen was the one who missed the defeat at Anfield, with the other duo producing a poor display against the Premier League leaders.
Despite results becoming worse and worse by the day, Neville passionately defended Spurs and the road they have decided to go down, which, for the short term, is seemingly harming them.
Neville responded: “I disagree with Graeme’s point that they got it wrong. I don’t think we can sit here and say clubs are wrong when they panic buy, and when they throw and break the wage structure, which some clubs have done. And then we have a got at a club, which quite clearly doesn’t break its wage structure.
“If you break the structure for three players, there are another three or four who are better than them who will then demand that money. All of a sudden, you are well out. They spent £300-400 million more on the stadium than they wanted to.
“This team for eight of the last 10 seasons has finished above Liverpool, it’s got to a Champions League final and it has been run really well for quite a long time. There was a situation whereby they couldn’t sell players before the stadium was finished, otherwise, it would have demoralised the whole season ticket push they were going for. They get criticised both ways [sell or keep].”
Some would question why Spurs didn’t cut their losses and part ways with their wantaway stars in the summer, but selling such big-names in a small market isn’t that easy.
Not only that, it would have been easier for the players to wait till their contract runs down if they felt any offer provided to them was not suitable.
Either way, the commitments of those players and their passion towards the badge has to be questioned as Spurs’ hopes of finishing in the top-four has to be questioned as well.
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