Tottenham were 14th in the league table when Jose Mourinho was appointed as the manager. The experienced Portuguese, despite considerable injury issues, led Spurs to a sixth-place finish but his real test starts now.
The North Londoners are a long way off competing with the top sides in the Premier League. Despite their impressive wins in the last few games of the season, there is a lot of room for improvement, and Mourinho will know that better than anyone.
Tottenham have a good core of players. Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura, Giovani Lo Celso, Toby Alderweireld and Hugo Lloris are undisputed starters more often than not.
However, the rest of the places aren’t up to Mourinho’s standards and, to correct that, he will have to dip into the transfer window.
Jenas thinks Levy will not meet Mourinho’s transfer demands
This summer’s window will be a very difficult one for Tottenham considering the global financial situation. Mourinho would like to have funds available to sign a few players, but ex-Spurs star Jermaine Jenas feels that Daniel Levy will come up with an excuse to not spend any money.
He told The Mail: “If you look at what Pochettino did for that football club, to not back him at a time when he needed to be backed seemed like a ludicrous decision. No managers walk anymore because there’s too much money involved but obviously Jose has come in and taken the job so I would presume there was conversations that there would be investment.
“Granted, no one could have (predicted) the pandemic and there was a new stadium and with that, Spurs are probably one of the richest clubs in Europe I think with the amount they make from people coming to games.
“I’m sure Daniel will have said ‘this is the project, here’s gonna be the money’. But I’m also sure he’s now gonna come up with an excuse to say ‘there is no money so deal with it.’ I will feel Jose’s frustration and have sympathy for him because his hands are tied.”
Lack of funds could cause a rift between Mourinho and Levy
Mourinho was brought in to end Spurs’ trophy drought, but he will need a lot of help from Levy to achieve that. Tottenham need reinforcements in a number of areas and that will cost a lot of money.
If Mourinho is denied funds to strengthen his squad, the Portuguese boss, like he has done previously, may well make his frustrations known in public, something that would irk Levy.
That path could eventually lead to Levy and Mourinho going different directions and the club, and its fans, will be the ones left in a terrible state as a result.
Another disappointing season could see Harry Kane leave the club in search of silverware. The likes of Son and Lucas could well follow him, which would leave Tottenham in a big mess in the very near future.
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