Former Tottenham Hotspur forward Gary Lineker has warned that the clock is ticking on their opportunity to become a major team in world football.
Spurs finished last season in poor form and have had a rocky start this campaign, winning only just four of their last fifteen league games.
Lineker believes that the clubs star players may begin to feel like they have to leave the club to win things.
He said in an interview with The Independent: “Tottenham have been so close in recent years to making that breakthrough and it could get to a point when Pochettino and his players will start to question whether they can make that next leap with Spurs,”
“Players like Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min all signed new contracts with the club in recent years, but they will want to start winning trophies and unless Spurs sign players of top-level calibre, they may start to question whether that can happen.
“Jose Mourinho recently stated that keeping your best players is just as important as making expensive signings and I would agree with that sentiment, but there will come a point where a player like Kane may feel he has to move on to win things.
“This is a seminal moment for Tottenham. They could go back to being what they used to be or they could take that step, invest some serious money and become one of the game’s powerhouses.
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“For many years, Tottenham were a selling club with players like Gareth Bale, Michael Carrick and Luka Modric all leaving when they did well at Spurs, but that has changed now and Pochettino clearly deserves all the credit for making the best of the resources he has had to work with.
“When you consider Tottenham didn’t sign a single player in the two transfer windows before this summer and Pochettino has kept them in the Champions League for four successive years and got them to the final of that competition last season, it is an impressive statistic.
“I met up with Pochettino a few months ago and you could sense that he was keen for the club to show some ambition and try to compete for some of the biggest names in European football, as that is what Tottenham need now to go to the next level.
“They are not far short of being a really, really top side, but they tend to come up short against Manchester City and Liverpool and that is the standard they have to try and get to now.
“I believe they are the third best team in the Premier League this season, but the gap between them and the top two is still pretty big and at some point, Pochettino and his best players will want the club to make some effort to close that.
“It must be very frustrating for all involved in the playing side at Tottenham. We don’t know whether paying for the stadium has drained the resources to a point that they can’t sign players, but there must be a real danger they will drive away Pochettino and some of the big-name players unless something changes.”
Spurs fans have been worried by the fact that key players such as Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen have found themselves out of the starting eleven this season (The Sun).
This comes after uncertainty about their respective futures at the club, with Eriksen stating that he would like a new challenge (Ekstra Bladet).
This summer was an important one for the club; the capture of Tanguy Ndombele was a big statement after he was pursued by some of Europe’s top clubs (Sky Sports).
However, the key issue of squad depth was left unaddressed and there are serious doubts over whether Spurs can mount a title challenge this season.
Spurs Web Opinion
Under Pochettino, Spurs have become a much bigger club and have challenged for multiple trophies. However, it is true that unless ambition is shown and trophies are won, we could see some of the clubs top stars leave.
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