Danny Murphy explains why he is surprised by Daniel Levy’s mistake

Tottenham’s poor form since the start of the campaign seemingly runs far deeper than just an inability to hang onto leads or create enough chances.

There seem to be problems behind the scenes at the club, with several first-team players coming close to the end of their contracts with the club.

While the contractual situations of Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen have been well-publicized, Danny Rose also came out recently insisting that he plans to stay at the club and see the remainder of his contract out (Evening Standard).

Former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy has revealed his surprise at how Daniel Levy has allowed so many players to run down their contracts, particularly given the reputation the Spurs chairman has of being a shrewd operator.

Speaking to talkSPORT ( Nov 12, 2019, 4pm to 6pm), Murphy said, “I’ll tell you (the) one thing I’m surprised at is the contractual situation with the players at Spurs, because Daniel Levy [the Tottenham chairman] – we eulogised about his business acumen over the years, especially tying up young players on long contracts.

“And any players at Tottenham very rarely go cheaply, when you think of Berba [Dimitar Berbatov], [Gareth] Bale, [Michael] Carrick – all been overpaid for, really, in many respects.

“To have this many players, it feels like… Have they employed the head of recruitment from Arsenal or what?”

Murphy blamed the contract problems for the drop in the team’s performances this season.

He added, “You can’t have it. The first thing I’d be doing if I was at any club is making sure that your best players are tied up. If they don’t want to sign, you get to two years and they have to go. You move on.

“The problem is not a financial one, it’s (that) when you get into your last year players subconsciously switch off.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I believe Levy really had little say in this as the players in question decided to reject moves away from the club as running down their contracts will allow them to get a better deal at their next club. Perhaps the players view this as fair game given the club’s unwillingness to pay a competitive salary in comparison with their rivals for the past several years.

Related Topics