Tottenham Hotspur have to achieve something major this season if they want to avoid being in a very difficult financial situation in 12 months.
The arrivals of Savinho and Omar Marmoush at Tottenham have taken the club’s transfer spending this summer close to £400m, with the Lilywhites potentially on course to set a new Premier League spending record.
While many will point out that Tottenham’s net spend for the summer only stands at £178m, the club have also significantly increased their wage bills.
| Tottenham net spend | Fee |
|---|---|
| Incomings | |
| Andrew Robertson | Free |
| Marcos Senesi | Free |
| Martin Dubravka | Free |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | £52m |
| Mateus Fernandes | £85m |
| Sandro Tonali | £100m |
| Savinho | £85m |
| Omar Marmoush | £60m |
| Total spent | £382m |
| Outgoings | |
| Luka Vuskovic | £50m |
| Will Lankshear | £20m |
| Radu Drăgușin | £21m |
| Alejo Veliz | £7.7m |
| Alfie Devine | £6m |
| Tynan Thompson | £8m |
| Manor Solomon | £7m |
| Cristian Romero | £34.1m |
| Ashley Phillips | £20m |
| Djed Spence | £30m |
| Total received | £204.2m |
| Tottenham’s net spend | £177.8m |
Not only have they handed out huge contracts to some of their new signings, but Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven have also signed big renewals.
Tottenham have to qualify for the Champions League to avert financial problems
While many Spurs fans are happy to see the club break their self-imposed wage ceiling, football finance expert Stefan Borson has claimed that the Lilywhites have put themselves in a difficult position.
Borson suggested that Tottenham have to qualify for next season’s Champions League in order to be able to afford their additional squad cost.
When asked about Spurs’ financial position, he told Football Insider: “In terms of what they’ve got to do going forward, they’ve set themselves up now in a scenario where they have to qualify for Europe.
“And when I say Europe, really, we’re talking about the Champions League. If you if you’re going to have that wage bill, that amount of spending on transfers and, therefore, amortisation within all the tests, you’re going to have to be in the Champions League.
“You’re going to need to find that £100m of revenue to pay for what you’ve got there. I think the issue is, is everybody very, very confident that that’s going to be the case next season?
“Now, they’ve got a big advantage with no European football, of course. They’ve signed a lot of decent players, but it’s very hard to be absolutely confident these days in being of the Champions League.”
Roberto De Zerbi is under pressure even if he says otherwise
In his press conference on Tuesday, Roberto De Zerbi dismissed the idea that Tottenham’s spending has piled more pressure on him this season.
The Spurs boss insisted that he always puts pressure on himself and argued that there is nothing wrong in the Lilywhites matching the spending levels of their rivals.
However, there is no doubt that Tottenham may not be able to make similar huge investments into the squad over the next few years if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.
The Italian has been backed with all of his top targets, and the North London club cannot afford for this rebuild to fail.