Tottenham Hotspur’s approach to tying key men down to new deals has been hailed by Tony Cascarino, who has slammed Arsenal.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez is substituted as manager Arsene Wenger looks on
Pundit Tony Cascarino has told talkSPORT that Arsenal are lagging way behind North London rivals Tottenham amid confusion over Alexis Sanchez’s future at the club.
The Gunners suffered Champions League humiliation on Tuesday night, as Bayern Munich beat them 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium to complete a 10-2 aggregate victory in their last 16 encounter.
It’s another European failure for Arsene Wenger, and it came just days after a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, yet the major talking point of the week has been Alexis Sanchez’s future.
The Chilean attacker has been Arsenal’s star man this season, but was shockingly left on the bench against Liverpool, with the Gunners struggling until Sanchez was brought on as a substitute, as he set up Danny Welbeck for Arsenal’s only goal of the game.
The Telegraph later reported that Sanchez was left on the bench after a bust-up with manager Wenger, and with just over one year left on his contract, many now expect Sanchez to leave the club this summer.
Whilst Arsenal are in turmoil, and are left waiting to see what becomes of the Sanchez situation, North London rivals Tottenham look relatively settled thanks to Daniel Levy’s approach to keeping top talent at White Hart Lane.
Mauricio Pochettino and the majority of his key players – such as Hugo Lloris, Kyle Walker, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Kane – are all tied down to long-term contracts.
Spurs are ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League and building for the future, whereas the Gunners are left sweating over the futures of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, with Wenger’s future also up in the air.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy
After Tuesday’s embarrassing defeat to Bayern, pundit Tony Cascarino has slammed Arsenal, playing players are controlling everything at the Emirates Stadium, and are prepared to force exits from what is not a well-run club due to a lax attitude to contracts.
Cascarino added to talkSPORT that there is a major difference between Tottenham and Arsenal, as whilst everybody wants to stay at Spurs, many want to leave Arsenal, meaning the Gunners are now actually a long way behind Tottenham for the first time in over 20 years.
“It’s clear that if you don’t want to sign a new contract, you don’t want to stay at the football club,” said Cascarino. “The players at Arsenal are controlling everything now. You’ve got Sanchez and Ozil not signing new contracts, and a number of others’ are up next year too. This isn’t a well-run club! Meanwhile, their neighbours Tottenham have got everybody signed up until 2022!”
“Everyone wants to stay at Spurs, but no one wants to stay at Arsenal – the club is a mess,” said Cascarino. “Arsenal have been in front of Spurs for the last 20 years, and we’ve had that debate about if Tottenham can get near them. It’s not the same now. Spurs are in front of them and look like they’re a long way ahead of Arsenal,” he added.
Whilst Spurs will have to fend off bids for some of those key players in the coming years, Levy has put Tottenham in a strong position to demand huge fees for players, whereas Arsenal face similar situations to Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie in that key players may have to sell on the cheap before they can walk away for free – and that approach from Spurs puts the in a great position to overtake Arsenal in the near future.
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