Daniel Levy insists stadium cost does not affect Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer budget

On Tuesday, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust met with the Spurs Executive Board, and other senior club staff, to discuss various issues surrounding the club.

Chairman Daniel Levy was present at the meeting and shared a bit more information about the new stadium build and how it has affected Spurs’ operations.

Levy insisted that the ballooning cost of Spurs’ massive new stadium has not affected the team’s transfer policy and won’t affect it in the future, despite tons of speculation towards the opposite. Instead, he seemed concerned that a lack of Champions League qualification could be what actually has a negative effect on the budget.

The THST has recorded Levy’s words.

“Daniel Levy said no. The fact that stadium costs had risen does not impact that number. Levy said that with a debt of £637m, subject to reasonable assumption on interest rates, the net spend on players would not be affected. He continued that Champions League qualification gave more flexibility. There is a certain amount the club wants to invest in the team. If players are sold, that amount increases.”

“Daniel Levy said that transfers were tricky. If we could have sold XYZ and found someone better, we would have done it. He said he was disappointed that the market was not as liquid as it had been previously. He also stressed the requirement for Tottenham’s squad to include more homegrown players. There were squad limits and we had reached the maximum for overseas players.”

These comments will likely be met with doubt by some Spurs. The club hasn’t purchased a senior player since Lucas Moura was signed from PSG in January of 2018. Although, to be fair to Levy, it does appear that they have trade to pursue deals on various occasions.

The cost of the new stadium has increased because of quite a few factors, including Brexit. It’s a massive project that undoubtedly has had an effect on the way the club spend money, and that naturally includes the transfer budget.

Spurs surely can’t go another window without signing anyone at all, but it does look like they will have a very limited “war chest” once again this summer. Selling players would mean more funds are available, especially if one of those players is Christian Eriksen, who would likely go for a substantial fee.

Levy also pushed back against recent reports that Nike were set to buy the naming rights for the new stadium.

“(THST) asked for an update on naming rights. DL said none were in place as yet. The Club had never been in talks with Nike. Sponsoring stadiums is not what Nike do as a business.”

Levy and company were also asked about plans to integrate Spurs Ladies into the club.

“DMC noted the huge step up in support for the Ladies in the past couple of seasons, and thanked THST for their support. The Board is currently undertaking a full review given the Ladies team may secure promotion to the Women’s Super League.”

There had been questions of whether Spurs Ladies would even be able to accept promotion if they were able to attain it. A step up to the first division (FA Women’s Super League) would require the club to become fully professional. It would be unfortunate if the team gets promoted and can’t actually move up a division, so hopefully the club do the right thing and allocate more funds to Spurs Ladies.

The next few months are crucial for Tottenham Hotspur in quite a few ways both on and off the pitch.