Much like the rest of the football world, Gary Neville has been left surprised by the fact that Jose Mourinho has put pen to paper on a three and a half year contract with Tottenham, replacing Mauricio Pochettino at the helm.
Many have claimed that the Jose Mourinho and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy are an odd pairing with the former Man Utd and Chelsea boss never hesitating to criticize the board at his previous stints for a lack of transfer spending.
Levy, of course, is known to be extremely cautious in the transfer market and so Neville has hence suggested that Mourinho will have wanted assurances about the availability of transfer funds.
Labelling the relationship a ‘marriage of convenience’, the former Manchester United defender suggested that both Mourinho and Levy would have safeguarded themselves by establishing in Mourinho’s contract exactly what will be available to spend if certain triggers and certain achievements are hit.
Speaking to Monday Night Football on Sky Sports (25/11/19 as relayed by Football.London), Neville said, “Historically if you said to me that Daniel Levy would appoint a manager of Jose Mourinho’s stature that would stand up to him, I would have said not in a million years, but I think this is to protect finances, to protect revenue.
“This is the new stadium, this is the fact that the team is half falling apart in terms of contracts running out and a little bit of destabilisation, trying to keep them together by appointing a big-name manager.
“For me, this is absolutely a bridge for Levy and Mourinho. Jose needed to get back into the Premier League to reset himself, to reestablish himself, to be in London, Levy needed someone who could get the club back up quickly to a level that is acceptable, into the Champions League, this is a marriage of convenience.”
MORE SPURS STORIES
“People said to me last week that it’s a three and a half year contract, Daniel Levy is not stupid enough as an operator to expose himself to a £25m pay-out to Mourinho unless there is certain triggers hit and certain achievements made.
“Mourinho is not stupid enough and soft enough just to allow Levy to mess him around and sack him after 10 minutes to wreck his reputation. This is has got prenuptial written all over it like you would not believe. They are using each other.
“I think it’s a hard, cold conversation between two men who respect where each other is at but actually never saw each other working together.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Although Mourinho has asserted that he is happy with the squad and doesn’t need new players, I believe he would have sought guarantees on transfer funds provided he helps Spurs finish in the top four. I believe he will be given a considerable amount to spend in the summer if Tottenham do manage to qualify for the Champions League for a fifth straight season.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.