Summer of discontent

“For us we are so calm and so quiet because we have belief in our squad and our young players pushing from our academy.”

Mauricio Pochettino has been understandably defensive about Spurs’ transfer strategy this summer. While rivals have been cheerfully locking down one multi-million-pound deal after another, the Argentine coach has reiterated his belief that progress isn’t always achieved through mindless free-spending.

‘It’s totally unsustainable’, said chairman Daniel Levy, at an event at Times Square recently, when quizzed about Tottenham’s restraint in the window.

And why shouldn’t the club trust the nucleus of players who piloted Spurs to a second-place finish last season, while continuing to drip feed academy graduates into the first team? It’s a bold model that’s been steadily generating results since Pochettino’s arrival in 2014.

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That’s one way of looking at it.

Another, would be to say that although Tottenham have an impressive starting eleven— amongst the best in the division — the squad appears worryingly threadbare.

Let’s look at where improvements could be made.

Kyle Walker replacement

It might be argued that Spurs have found a replacement already. Kieran Trippier’s performances toward the back-end of last season were of such a high standard, many supposed Kyle Walker had been dropped on merit— rather than penance for his desire to leave White Hart Lane.

Even if Trippier does emerge as Spurs’ first-choice right-back, with battles to fight on numerous fronts, they’ll need a capable deputy. That is unless Kyle Walker-Peters is pulled into the fold, which would produce no shortage of confusion amongst casual supporters.

Possible targets:

German under-21 international, Jeremy Toljan, continues to be linked with a move to North London while Barcelona and Juventus have apparently dropped their interest in PSG defender, Serge Aurier.

Attacking midfielder

2016/17 was Christian Eriksen’s most productive campaign in a Spurs shirt, with 12 goals and 17 assists in all competitions.

There is, though, the very real risk of creative burnout if he’s banked upon so heavily this time round. Eriksen more than doubled every one of his teammates’ assist output for last season.

Although Tottenham are blessed with numerous attacking midfielders, the Dane’s is an influence that’s hard to replace. The lifeblood of the team. Number 10, creator-in-chief. We’ve no-one else like him.

Possible target:

Ross Barkley is the obvious candidate to challenge Eriksen as Tottenham’s principal playmaker. Just the kind of raw, precocious talent Pochettino has spent a career developing.

Both Manchester clubs are thought to be interested, which is a bidding war Spurs would look to avoid. If Levy can somehow tip-toe between the two Northern Giants and chip away some of the £40m asking price, it would represent far better business than either a £50m Gylfi Sigurdsson or a £30m Roma-bound Riyad Mahrez.

A striker who isn’t Vincent Janssen

Vincent Janssen has taken an active role in all of Spurs’ pre-season fixtures this summer. Sadly, all those cameos appear to have done is confirm that the Dutch striker just isn’t fit for purpose.

My suspicion is that Pochettino will allow the former Eredivisie top scorer one more year of adjustment. A final chance to prove his worth before trying to claw back some of the £17m fee. In reality, though, Spurs need an upgrade if they’re serious about challenging on multiple fronts again.

Possible targets:

It’s a tricky one. How do you entice a striker of the required standard, while also making it clear they’ll be an understudy to the untouchable Harry Kane.

In an ideal world, Levy would spend big on an elite centre forward, to keep the young England frontman on his toes. But that simply isn’t going to happen.

Spurs won’t spend more than £15-20m, which leaves the talent pool restrictively small. If Aleksandar Mitrović hadn’t just been named Newcastle captain, I’d say take a gamble on him. The entertainment value alone would be worth it.