Former Tottenham striker, Darren Bent, believes that Daniel Levy will have to change the way Spurs are run if he wants to see them consistently compete for trophies.
Tottenham are set to be one of the worst-hit clubs if games are playing behind closed doors due to their high-matchday income (Football Insider).
Reports have suggested that the club will not have much money to spend this summer and are thus prioritising free transfers (Mirror).
One saving grace for the North Londoners during this crisis has been the fact that the club’s wage bill is considerably lower than the other members of the ‘big six’, as well as Everton (Global Sports Salaries Survey).
Bent praised Levy for running a tight ship and claimed that football clubs might have to rethink their wage bills following the pandemic.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “I think this situation is going to affect so many people and I think football clubs are being forced to look at some of their finances and go: ‘We need to be cautious in what we do, we can’t be the free-spirited big spenders we once were.’
“When you look at players’ wages, it was a bit like, ‘when’s it going to stop?’ I always thought to myself it can’t go on. We had players on £300-400,000-a-week – were we going to see £1 million-a-week? How can clubs sustain that?
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“Spurs have done remarkable, considering the budget they’ve had, you’ve got to give them credit that they’ve done well. I know a lot of fans would like Daniel Levy to dip into his pocket a little bit more but he has spent money over the years – not as much as the Manchester United’s but he’s still managed to get them up there.”
The former Spurs striker, however, insisted that the only way that the Lilywhites can compete for major honours is if Levy changes his approach.
Bent added: “Are they (Spurs) going to be challenging for the title? They maybe need one or two real marquee signings to really push them over the line. Are they going to going to spend £100 million-plus on one player? I can’t see it.
“All they can do is keep improving and doing what they’re doing but at some stage you’d have to say for Spurs something will have to change because you can’t keep nipping – you’ve got to go into your pocket and go massive. Everyone’s done it at some stage and look at the rewards.”
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Bent’s two statements are rather contradictory. On the one hand, he praises Levy for paying a sustainable wage and then in the next breath he asks him to spend more to compete with the top clubs. In reality, the accusation that we don’t pay players enough was never accurate. Looking at our wage bill as a proportion of our revenue, it is clear that we pay high wages. It is just that the likes of Arsenal and Everton pay unsustainable amounts, which makes our wage bill seem low by comparison. Additionally, Levy has increased player wages as our revenue has gone up.
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