It is surely no coincidence that five of the seven new players who arrived at Tottenham Hotspur this summer have a personal trophy cabinet to be proud of.
Joe Hart was a two-time Premier League winner with Manchester City, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg got the taste for silverware as a youngster at Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich and, two months before arriving in North London, left-back Sergio Reguilon was writing his own chapter in Sevilla’s Europa League story.
That is without mentioning Gareth Bale, of course, who won pretty much all there was to win at Real Madrid. Matt Doherty has experience of winning a league himself, albeit in the Championship with Wolves.
Even Carlos Vinicius, despite losing out on the Portuguese title to Porto last term, knows what it takes to shine at a club where victory is not just desired but demanded.
If Jose Mourinho wanted to add proven winners to his Tottenham squad, he has certainly succeeded.
Mourinho is a man who cares little about the long-term. He is a coach who operates almost solely in the present, programmed to view victory as the prime objective – one he will target at any cost.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy hired him with one thought in mind – to end the 13-year trophy drought that hangs over the white half of North London like a thundercloud.
Mourinho may be hoping that, by surrounding Harry Kane, Heung Min Son and co with leaders and winners, another league medal will be hanging around his neck come May.
The arrivals of Bale and Hart have given the dressing room a dash of top-level elitism, while the hunger of Hojbjerg and Reguilon shines through in every game.
With BILD reporting that Jerome Boateng could join the pack in the New Year, with Bayern Munich deciding against extending a contract that is due to expire in July, the Premier League’s dark horses may soon have a nine-time Bundesliga and two-time Champions League winner in their midst.
Don’t let an impending departure from the Allianz Arena fool you. Even at 33, this is one of the finest defenders in the game today; a man who tasted treble success as one of FC Hollywood’s genuine A-listers as recently as last season.
Boateng has snubbed Mourinho before of course.
Back in 2018, when the Portuguese was still in charge of Manchester United, the then-£50 million-rated Boateng phoned Mourinho to tell him he would not be arriving at Old Trafford (Guardian).
But a lot has changed in the last two years.
With their space-age stadium, their legendary manager looking reborn and rejuvenated and a smattering of truly world-class talent, Tottenham are in a much better place now than United were two years ago.
You’d think a phone call between Mourinho and Boateng would go a little better this time around.
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