Paul Merson has said that Ange Postecoglou should focus on winning silverware next season rather than steering Tottenham to a top-four finish.
Spurs missed out on Champions League qualification this season after a poor run of form during the last couple of months of the campaign.
However, with the Lilywhites back in the Europa League, they will need to add reinforcements across the pitch to be able to compete on multiple fronts next season.
Merson believes that Tottenham need James Maddison to be at his best next campaign and urged the Lilywhites to land a top-class number nine.
He told Sky Sports: “I think next season some of the players have got to kick on. I think Maddison’s got to kick on – before he got injured he was outstanding, but after he got injured I don’t think he brought anything to the party.
“I think they need a centre-forward. I like Son out on the wing where he can cut inside or make inside runs but when you play him up front you take away everything.”
Tottenham should focus on winning a trophy next season
Merson insisted that Postecoglou should prioritise his resources towards ending Tottenham’s 15-year trophy drought, insisting that winning silverware is much more important for the club than finishing in the top four
He suggested that even winning a League Cup will mean more to Spurs fans than qualifying for the Champions League as Tottenham do not stand a chance of winning Europe’s premier club competition.
The former Arsenal midfielder said: “I think a trophy would be amazing. I think that’s the way he’s got to go. I think it would have helped if they’d finished sixth and got in the Europa Conference League because a trophy is a trophy.
“With the way Villa got beaten in this season’s tournament, it made West Ham’s achievement a lot bigger. Before we just thought, ‘Oh, whoever gets in that is going to win it’, but that isn’t the case.
“I think if Tottenham win a trophy that’d be amazing. I don’t think they have to get in the top four – I think they’ve got to win a trophy, I really do. I think trophies are the one.
“I mean, you get in the top four and you do what Newcastle have done, you’re out by October. Everybody fights to get in it and 80 per cent of the teams getting in it haven’t got a chance of winning it.
“Really they’re doing it for the money and really it should be for the fans and winning trophies for the fans. So if they can win the League Cup, or something like that, then I think it would be amazing for them, 100 per cent.”
Spurs Web Opinion
There is no doubt that a cup win will mean more to Spurs fans than a top-four finish but the league performance is the best measure of progress as it assesses teams over 38 matches. So failure to finish in the top four next term would represent stagnation.