London (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino called on the club’s chairman Daniel Levy to match his ambitions by being “brave” in the transfer market ahead of moving to a new 62,000 capacity stadium.
Spurs sealed Champions League football for a third straight season by finishing third in the Premier League despite having reportedly just the sixth highest wage bill behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Tottenham have also spent only a fraction of the hundreds of millions outlaid in the transfer market by the two Manchester clubs to take the top two spots in the league.
Instead, Pochettino has worked wonders by developing and improving an extremely talented young squad.
However, patience may be wearing thin for some players not earning as much they could elsewhere after it was revealed last month that chairman Daniel Levy saw his own pay last season rise £3.16 million ($4.3 million) to just over £6 million a year.
“I think Daniel is going to listen to me. But you know me and sometimes I have some crazy ideas,” said Pochettino.
“You need to be brave. In this type of situation, with a club with our unbelievable fans, being brave is the most important, and to take risks.
“I think it’s a moment the club needs to take risks and if possible work harder than the previous season to be competitive again.”
However, Pochettino’s wishes could be hampered by spiralling costs for the new stadium, reportedly set to hit £1 billion.
Outgoing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger even suggested last week that prized assets like Harry Kane might need to be sold to balance the books in the wake of the stadium move.
Wenger was forced to battle to keep Arsenal competitive despite the financial handicap of paying back bank loans and selling a number of his top players following Arsenal’s move from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006.
The Frenchman said keeping Arsenal in the Champions League for the following nine years was his “best job” as a manager.
“The prices for the stadium have doubled, (but) the transfers of the players have tripled or quadrupled,” said Wenger.
“A £10 million player when we built the stadium was huge. Today a guy like Kane, I don’t know for much they can sell him, £100m? So they might get more supply. But they have to face it.”
Pochettino has been widely praised for breaking into the top four on a consistent basis, but insists much more needs to be done if he is to lift his first trophy as a coach next season.
“I don’t know if the club will be agreeing with me or not, but we are going to talk next week on what we need to do to improve,” said the Argentine.
“That is a little bit up to Daniel of course, to the club, to be happy with us, because after four years I think we need to assess that period.
“If we want to play and be real contenders for big, big trophies, yes, we need to review a little.”
