Tottenham Hotspur may not equal their Premier League-record highest ever finish of second place this season, but thanks to Sunday’s win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, there’s the sense that this season represents an improvement over the previous year.
The core of the squad is strong, and as Matt Law writes in the Telegraph (£), Spurs are now expected to offer improved contracts to manager Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham’s best players to prevent them from leaving the club later.
The Telegraph reports says that Spurs want to reward Pochettino with a £3m/season pay raise, bringing his compensation to £8.5m/year and making him one of the best compensated managers in the Premier League. Pochettino has been linked in the media with just about every major open managerial job already this spring, and it’s thought that keeping him well paid and happy could prevent mega-clubs like Real Madrid from coming in for him.
Likewise, Law says that the club is set to also offer improved contracts to Spurs’ best players, including Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-Min, Hugo Lloris, and Jan Vertonghen. This would almost certainly mean retooling the club’s existing wage structure, which still lags well behind the top clubs in the league. Another key player, Mousa Dembele, has said that he will not discuss a new contract with the club until after this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
Most observers expected that, with White Hart Lane demolished and the club playing all their home football at Wembley Stadium this season, Spurs were going to take a step back. While Spurs will end up with a lower table position and fewer points than in 2016-17, they have almost certainly achieved Champions League football for the third consecutive season, and done so while competing with super-rich clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea, and Manchester United, all of whom invested upwards of £150m to improve their squads.
We have no details as to what those hypothetical contracts might be or how much they’ll pay, but just the idea of keeping the band together for another few seasons is fantastic. Let’s hope it happens.