Clause for Concern – Football Finance gone Mad

As rumours surface that Christian Eriksen is demanding a new deal worth £150k/week to stay at Tottenham, I discuss the crazy world that is football finance.

Picture the scene. 

Tech giants Google see promise in a young computer genius. They bring him in for intern work for the summer, fund his way through college, but on the day he comes in with his great new idea, and tells them he wants them to invest in him, they show him the door. 

Fast forward four years. Google is still going strong, but the young entrepreneur they shoved out the door has prospered, and the idea they once rejected is now a thriving business Google wants to buy for £100 million. Pretty embarrassing for Google right? 

Well, the above scenario is entirely fictitious, but change Google to ‘Manchester United’ and young entrepreneur to ‘Pogba’ and it becomes a story we’ve just seen play out before our eyes. The Premier League Giants last week forked out a record fee to bring back a youth academy reject they let walk out the door in 2012 for nothing. The worst part is, very few people are even shocked by this – it’s just the latest example of football finance descending into lunacy.

Since football became professional in 1885, it took until 2001 until a player was paid the eye-watering weekly wage of £100k/week (this is thought to be Sol Campbell after his transfer to Arsenal). However, in the 15 years since then, numerous players worldwide have more than doubled that number, and with every passing day, a new player signs a deal to take home a six-figure wage every week.

But what does all this have to do with Tottenham Hotspur?

Tottenham Hotspur’s management have worked exceptionally well to build such a healthy club/business in a league as competitive as the EPL. This is in no small part down to the dealings of Chairman Daniel Levy, who has both infuriated and delighted Spurs fans during his tenure. Levy’s (in)famous reputation as a notoriously shrewd businessman has meant Tottenham have often been left wanting, rather than receiving, marquee signings over the years due to a reluctance of paying hefty transfer fees and a stern persistence of sticking to a rigid, club-friendly wages structure. Many will remember Harry Redknapp’s final Spurs campaign where a title chase beckoned. Carlos Tevez and Gary Cahill were linked to Spurs in the Winter transfer window, yet in the end it was the bargain bucket pair of Louis Saha and Ryan Nelson who arrived at White Hart Lane and the title aspirations evaporated. However, the upside is, Levy’s stewardship has also left Tottenham in a very healthy financial situation, and fans now have an exciting, well-assembled team to watch each week under the guidance of one of the games brightest managerial prospects. Add to that the prospect of moving into a new state-of-the-art stadium in 2-3 years time, and suddenly Levy’s workings start to look like magic!

All of this has become possible because Levy has taken the high road regarding club finance, in complete contrast to clubs like Man United, Man City and Chelsea, who have attempted to fix every problem in their recent history by throwing money at it, with no regard for the extremely dangerous problem they are creating.

Despite being the home to numerous top quality internationals, it’s believed that no player at White Hart Lane currently earns more than £100k/week. One such player is Christian Eriksen – the Danish playmaker who has been a shining light in the Tottenham team since his move from Ajax. Eriksen is currently believed to be earning around £60,000 a week at Tottenham. In almost any other profession, this would equate to being at the absolute peak of your field. Experts like Doctors or Engineers could only dream of a paycheque so hefty, yet in the crazy world of modern football, Eriksen’s wages are said to be ‘modest’. Therefore, this weeks rumour that Eriksen is holding out for a new contract at Spurs worth £150k/week should come as a surprise to nobody.

The fact is, I don’t blame Eriksen, and no Spurs fan should. The attacking midfielder could arguably call himself Spurs most consistent high performer over the past few years, and he is among the finest attacking midfielders in the Premier League if not World football. At 24, Eriksen is moving into the next stage of his career, and it’s his right to seek out a contract that reflects his quality. A 30% wage increase as reward for good performance in your job would be a dream for you or me, and for Christian Eriksen it would mean a bump up to wages of £80,000 a week. Yet Eriksen need only look at his peers at his position around the league and see players inferior to him such as Memphis Depay, Raheem Sterling or Samir Nasri earn significantly more than him, and you can see why he could be aggrieved. At the end of the day, the Premier League is an entertainment business, and the players are the stars of the show. Therefore for Eriksen, £150k/week wage demands are not about needing the money, but illustrating his worth as one of the leagues star performers.

Spurs have done extremely well to assemble the talented squad they have now, and do it for affordable prices. Yet to keep this talent in the long term, they’ll have to abandon their wise financial tradition, and instead follow the likes of Manchester United And Manchester City into financial madness.

As a fan of Tottenham and Eriksen himself, I do hope the club eventually caves in to demands and pay Eriksen what he’s worth. I expect The Dane to lessen his demands, and a deal of £120k/week to be agreed, but even so, Tottenham’s famed rigid pay-structure will have taken a hit, and I can’t help but wonder where it will end. I understand that the increasing wages and transfer fees in football are; to an extent, relative to the extra money coming in, but surely this exponential rise in prices can’t continue forever without repercussion?

Many United fans have justified the Pogba deal, by pointing out that Man United’s earnings are higher than ever. Others have justified the signing, by simply saying ‘it’s not my money!’, however this seems to ignore that every few years as another average player earns a week what a fan may earn in three years, ticket and jersey prices will rise, and fans will become more and more detached from the clubs they love so much.

Solution?

The wheels may already be moving too fast to pull this financial disaster in football back from the brink, yet maybe there are lessons football could learn from other Pro Sports to help limit the damage.

American football sees similarly dizzying salaries paid to its top stars. Recently, young Quarterback Andrew Luck signed a record-breaking new deal that will see him paid around $26 million a year (On par with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo). However, these figures are limited to a select few in the league, as each team is forced to work under a set salary cap, which sets a limit on the amount of financial muscle any one team can flex.

Add to this, transfer fees are non-existent in the Sport, with player moves only happening as a result of trades, or at the end of a contract. Teams instead rely heavily on developing their own young players instead of fixing problems with cash.The result is a league where teams remain on a similar level to each other, with no handful of super heavyweight teams distancing themselves from the rest of the pack.

The more football distances itself from reality with incredible figures and fees, the more sense a change to a system like the above seems to make. However, convincing a team like Man United to agree to a salary cap they share with the likes of Hull City may prove to be an impossible task at this stage of the game.

So after spending more than a staggering combined sum of £500 million this summer, Premier League teams set out this weekend to write the first chapter of the 2016/17 season. I just wonder if this story will have a happy ending.

What are your thoughts on this article? Let us know in the comment! If you enjoyed reading, follow @thinkspurs on Twitter to keep updated!

Hotspurs Rising – Spurs Players in for a Big 2016

Many fans (myself included) can often view the offseason as a time of squad changes, be it a change in manager or a raft of new signings. These happenings regularly dominate the discussion, and are commonly expected to be the main factors which will determine the success of the coming season.

However, often the crucial change in a season may not be the purchase of a new signing, but instead the breakthrough of a player already on the books. It happens every year in every club, and in all likelihood, this year will be no different.

Often the jump is from a fringe player or a youth player to regular first team status. The player is often thrust into the role during a crisis, and thrives. On other occasions, the player may already be a first teamer, but a certain season may bring with it a jump from starter to star player.

In recent years, we’re very lucky at Tottenham to have seen some classic examples. Eric Dier started his Spurs career with occasional promising performances at centre-back and full-back, however, during last year’s off-season, under Pochettino’s tutelage, he was converted from back-up defender to one of the first names on the teamsheet at the holding midfield position. The previous year, as Tottenham scraped the barrel for options up front, a certain local lad called Harry Kane was given a chance, and in a matter of months he announced himself as one of the hottest young striking talents in Europe!

Now as the new season approaches, I want to take a stab at picking out three Tottenham players capable of making the leap in 2016.

Heung-Min Son

Many Spurs fans were quite surprised in the past week to read that Tottenham were ready to offload South Korean star Heung-Min Son. With good reason too, because there’s just no way it will happen.

Journalists need to fill column inches, and so picking a player, who may seem surplus to requirements at Tottenham, is an easy article. However, those who follow Spurs closely, will be aware that Son is only scratching the surface of his Tottenham potential.

As Harry Kane struggled early in the season with the entire weight of Tottenham’s goal-scoring threat on his shoulders, Son was drafted in to ease the load. For a relatively hefty sum of £22million late in the window, Son’s arrival made him the most expensive Asian player ever.

Less than three weeks later, Son was off the mark. Deputising for Harry Kane, Son impressed as he bagged two goals against Qarabag in the Europa League in a game full of industry and endeavour. That weekend, his hot streak continued as he scored the decisive goal for Spurs in a tight home game against Crystal Palace. Within a month of his arrival, Son had already given Spurs fans ample reason for excitement. Unfortunately, a foot injury soon after put an end to Son’s run of form, and he struggled to replicate that form consistently for the remainder of his debut season. Many consider this a sub-par return for a big signing, but few seem to consider the difficulties involved in the lifestyle change of a Korean player, moving from Germany to play in England. New league, new language, new teammates. For occasions like this patience is key. In the Premier League, we’ve often seen skilful attackers like David Silva, Eden Hazard and even closer to home Erik Lamela (who we’ll come to in a moment) take time to adapt before excelling in the league. With a season on his back, and a full Tottenham pre-season under his belt, I fully expect to see a rejuvenated Heung-Min Son in 2016. Tottenham are fortunate to have such an attacking threat already on the books, and the best factor of all his, he still remains under the radar!

Cameron Carter-Vickers

For avid Spurs supporters, the name Cameron Carter-Vickers; or more commonly the acronym CCV, seems to have been popping up for years, yet the American centre-half is somehow still only 18 years old! To look at him, you certainly would question that age. The son of a former basketballer Howard Carter, CCV boasts a strong athletic frame and stands at over 6 ft tall. His footballing prowess has also steadily progressed since he joined the Tottenham Academy at 11 years old and he is now a regular for the Spurs U21s and the USA U20 teams. However, the true test of his calibre is likely to come very soon, as he looks set to become a regular feature in the Tottenham first team squad.

Look past the dominant Belgian duo of Alderweireld and Vertonghen, and you’ll see just two names waiting in the wings. The young Austrian Kevin Wimmer, who impressed in Vertonghen’s absence last year is certainly an adequate provider of depth, but next in line is the exiled Federico Fazio, who seems destined to leave the club either temporarily or permanently before the window closes. With no defensive transfers seemingly on the horizon, it would seem to suggest Pochettino is confident he can promote from within, and CCV is certainly the outstanding candidate. Pochettino delivered the first show of faith this week, as he included CCV in his first team squad, and as Spurs prepare for the rigours of a season juggling European and domestic football, a healthy squad rotation will surely be necessary. Look for Cameron Carter-Vickers to seize his chance during this time.

Marcus Edwards

There’s a saying I like. It reads

“If you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone.
But if you’re great at something, they’ll tell you”

This sentiment can be related to Youth Academy products. When a club has a good prospect coming up through the ranks, fans of the club will always be happy to inform people of the great new talent to keep an eye on. But when there is a great prospect coming up through the club… everyone seems to know already.

This is the case with Marcus Edwards.

Just over a year ago, Edwards’ star began to rise as he was a leading light for the English U17 team in the European Championships. Edwards is a classic playmaker, who provides an attacking midfield option not unlike that of Christian Eriksen or Erik Lamela. He oozes confidence and has a comfortable look in possession that would be better suited to someone ten years his senior. The 17 year old has already pushed his way into Pochettino’s plans in the pre-season and was introduced in the second half of the friendly match vs Juventus.

Despite his young age, very few at Tottenham seem to doubt that Edwards is en route right to the top, and he is widely renowned as the finest English player at the u18 age group right now. However, the biggest threat to Edwards rise at Spurs may come from the outside. For over a year, there have been whispers that Barcelona, Man City and Real Madrid are monitoring the progress of Edwards. It’s likely that this news permeated right through to the player himself as he stalled frequently during negotiations recently over a new deal. In the end, a short-term two year deal was signed, tying the precocious attacker to Tottenham until he is 19 years old at a minimum. This two year window will be a crucial period, during which he must prove to Spurs, and Spurs to prove to him, that he can reach the peak of his potential at White Hart Lane.

 

Erik Lamela

Had this list been prepared one year previously, Erik Lamela would still have been a prime candidate. In July 2015, Erik Lamela had just completed his second difficult season in the White of Spurs. After the weight of expectation as Gareth Bale’s direct replacement shackled him in 2013, and a mix of poor form and poor luck with injuries blighted his second season, many wondered whether it was time to cut our losses with the skilful Argentinean.

And yet even then, when matters were at their worst, Lamela had already endeared himself to many of the Spurs faithful, and more importantly, the Tottenham coaching staff. Even on his worst days, Lamela was very rarely accused of not trying. Even when his play was sub-par, his work-ethic was superb, and slowly but surely, the form began to match his effort.

In season three, Lamela was first and foremost, noticeably fitter than previously seen in a Tottenham shirt. He had packed on sizeable strength, sending out a clear message that he would not allow injuries to easily blight this season as it had the previous two. With his fitness better than ever, and his work-rate typically sky-high, Lamela’s wealth of skill soon broke the surface, and from early in the 2015/16 Lamela became a foundation of Pochettino’s all-action high-pressing Tottenham side.

Now 24 years old, Lamela has overcome the most difficult period of his short career so far. Having fought his way onto the starting XI over three years, and having completed his first full season as an integral part of the Tottenham team, Lamela’s confidence must surely be at an all-time high. Tottenham’s upcoming Champions League campaign poses the perfect opportunity for Lamela to showcase his progress and break through the next glass ceiling, and announce himself once again as one of football’s finest upcoming dynamic playmakers.

Agree with this list? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Stick or Shift? Spurs Players at a Crossroads this Summer

As the new season approaches, Pochettino and his lieutenants will continue the mission they started two summers ago, of turning this Spurs group into contenders. The progress report so far reads ‘So far, so good’ yet with all others strengthening, this season represents Pochettino’s biggest challenge yet.

Last year we saw the continued growth in Harry Kane, Erik Lamela and Eric Dier, while both regular full backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose pushed their games to new levels. Moussa Dembele announced himself as the juggernaut we long knew he could be, and Toby Alderweireld and Dele Alli joined the ranks and swiftly became two of our most valuable players. The result of the above was an unprecedented 3^rd place finish, leaving the squad looking forward to a Champions League campaign in 2016.

However, the 2015/16 was not so sweet for all in White last year, and I want to look at some of these players, and analyse what the best course of action is for the season ahead.

 

Nabil Bentaleb

In 2014, Spurs fans became used to seeing Bentaleb’s name on some of  Tim Sherwood’s teamsheets, and even after Tim’s time at Spurs came to an end, most fans were pleased to see Bentaleb’s continued presence in the Spurs XI when Pochettino arrived. However, few expected a partnership of Bentaleb and Mason to be the foundation on which Pochettino’s midfield was built.

Bentaleb impressed with unrelenting energy off the ball, and a coolness in possession that seemed well beyond his 19 years. Spurs seemed to have a new starlet on their hands and that summer, whispers of interest from Napoli and PSG were heard.

However in 2015/16 Bentaleb’s rise plateaued. The dominance of Dembele and Dier in the centre of the pitch made chances hard to come by, and even when those opportunities presented themselves, injuries often prevented him from making it onto the pitch. A frustrating season for Bentaleb and his fans has brought with it rumours of an exit from the club.

Verdict: Stick or Shift? Stick

Despite his progress stalling in 2016, there’s no doubt Spurs still have a tremendous talent on their hands. A fully fledged international, with more than a full season under his belt, there are very few 21 year olds more advanced in world football.

This time last year, many questioned Dembele’s worth to this Spurs side, yet he ended up being a rock in Pochettino’s 2015/16 side. If Pochettino can instil the same vigour in Bentaleb this pre-season, Spurs are onto a winner.

 

Ryan Mason

In many facets, Ryan Mason’s Spurs career mimics that of Bentaleb’s. Both became first team regulars during Pochettino’s first campaign at the helm. And both became recognised as one of the most impressive young central midfield duos in the league during that time. A North London derby v Arsenal in which the pair dominated will long be remembered in the minds of Spurs faithful.

However, there is one key difference. Where Bentaleb is 21, with endless promise and potential, Ryan Mason is 25, and should be entering his prime. Don’t get me wrong, Ryan Mason is a fine player. He is a terrier in midfield that would give blood, sweat and tears for the Spurs shirt. He has also popped up with various important goals in the past two seasons. And yet, it appears more and more evident that Spurs are out-growing him. As Dier, Dembele, Bentaleb and now Victor Wanyama compete for the midfield positions, Ryan Mason appears to be the odd one out. Mason could certainly play a role for Spurs in the future, but a regular position in the first XI seems unlikely. Mason must surely also be aware that while he may be surplus to requirements at Spurs, he could be a key man at various other Premier League clubs who would love a player of his skill set.

Verdict: Stick or Shift? Shift

With Spurs adding depth at central midfield, and with teams like Crystal Palace, Hull City and Bournemouth actively chasing quality Premier League calibre players, a move seems logical for Ryan Mason.

 

Clinton N’Jie

It’s hard to assess Clinton N’Jie’s time at Tottenham at this stage, as it feels very much like we’re yet to see what he has to offer. Like Bentaleb, personal injuries and the good form of the personnel ahead of him, curtailed his impact in season one. However, when given the chance, he showed glimpses of the threat he poses with his guile and pace (think back to the win v Man City where he was introduced as a late sub and terrorized their tired defence).

The potential signing of George-Kevin N’Koudou seems doesn’t bode well for Clinton’s chances as there are many similarities to both of their  games.

Verdict: Stick or Shift? Loan

If Pochettino and Mitchell recognised enough potential in Clinton to spend £12million on him this time last year, then it’s far too early to pull the plug on this experiment. We’ve seen with Erik Lamela that patience can eventually be rewarded, and the same logic could be used here. A loan back to France is likely, but a loan to a Premier League side like Swansea or Sunderland would be the ideal option to watch his progress from close at hand.

 

 Nacer Chadli

From the infamous seven who were brought in to replace Gareth Bale, only three remain on the books. Christian Eriksen was an instant hit, and has gone from strength to strength since. Erik Lamela struggled initially, but finally showed his immense talent with an impressive campaign in 2015/16 where he became the on-field representation of Pochettino’s hard-pressing, dynamic style of play. The last of the three is Nacer Chadli, whom the jury is still very out on.

Chadli, like most of the others who were parachuted into the experimental team in Villas-Boas final term, found it hard to adapt. However, Chadli displayed a huge improvement in his second season where he appeared noticeably fitter and more confident. This boost resulted in 11 goals in 35 league games.

Chadli’s progress halted last season, with the rise of Dele Alli and Erik Lamela bumping him out of the first XI. Having been demoted mainly to a substitute role last year, question marks have been raised regarding his place in the squad.

Verdict: Stick or Shift? Stick… unless adequately replaced.

Chadli still has a lot to offer Spurs in terms of depth, especially as the team contends with a busy Champions League campaign. Despite taking a step back last year, he still came up with 7 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions. Such a contribution; particularly from the bench, will be crucial this year.

However, if Spurs are to invest in an attacking midfielder before the Summer transfer window closes (like those listed here for example), then Chadli may have to look to other clubs for his first team opportunities.

 

Agree with this list? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading!