After Coronavirus Crisis, Where Might Tottenham Find Funds To Rebuild Its Squad?

After seven early-March days in which Tottenham exited the FA Cup at the hands of Norwich, limped to a dour draw with Burnley and crashed out of the Champions League in ignominious style against RB Leipzig, the club’s 2019-20 season crisis came to a head. Questions were bound to be asked and fingers of blame were inevitably pointed in all directions.

José Mourinho openly castigated some of his players, while the coach himself came in for widespread media criticism for his tactical approach and man management. Others looked in the direction of chairman Daniel Levy and his failure to invest in the playing squad over the last 18 months of Mauricio Pochettino’s time as manager.

In reality, of course, it is never quite as simple as putting all of the blame at the door of one individual. But while some still look for a scapegoat, the most interesting issue to address now is where Tottenham goes from here.

Surrounded by the clouds of uncertainty that come with the coronavirus crisis, it is not easy to say what will be possible over the next few months. One thing is for certain though; the playing squad needs some fresh faces. When the current quarantine is eased and football resumes something approaching its normal rhythm, the Spurs hierarchy will need to act decisively if they want to build a team that can compete for the top four in seasons to come.

Under Levy’s stewardship, Tottenham has gone from strength to strength financially, building a new stadium, a new training ground and overtaking Arsenal and Chelsea as the London club with the highest annual revenues. In recent results for the year ending 3 June 2019, Spurs announced a record income of $573m, mostly on the back of their success in last season’s Champions League and new commercial partnerships.

Yet that does not mean there is an endless pot of money for José Mourinho to go out and spend when the transfer market reopens. There is, as a result of the infrastructure projects mentioned, a substantial long-term debt to service. And with the break from football enforced by the coronavirus outbreak, all matchday revenues for the rest of the season have been put on hold, if not wiped off the balance sheet entirely.

As Daniel Levy said upon the release of last season’s financial results; “I have spent nearly 20 years growing this Club and there have been many hurdles along the way – none of this magnitude – the COVID-19 pandemic is the most serious of them all.”

To rebuild the squad, then, Tottenham will have to get rid of some deadwood and perhaps even cash in on some valuable assets to free up money for wages and bring in transfer funds.

There are some immediately obvious candidates for a move. Jan Vertonghen’s $125,000-a-week contract expires at the end of the season, so he will almost certainly move on a free transfer. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker-Peters, meanwhile, have been deemed surplus to requirements by Mourinho and sent out on loan. Both could become permanent moves. Eric Dier, whose current deal expires in 2021, may also be sold if a new contract cannot be agreed.

Yet those sales would not bring in the sort of money that Tottenham require for a full rebuild, so it may be the case that Daniel Levy has to let go of one of his more valuable assets, something he has shown very little willingness to do in the past. Part of the reason for the current staleness in the squad is that he did not sell players like Rose and Christian Eriksen at the peak of their value and reinvest the profit in fresh faces.

Tottenham, despite the constant miserable assertions of their manager to the contrary, do have a valuable squad at their disposal. According to the CIES Football Observatory, their players have a current total market value of $878m, more than Juventus, Inter Milan, Arsenal or Borussia Dortmund. The question is: who could be sold to free up some of that capital?

The most valuable assets are currently Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, who were both out injured in the run-up to the coronavirus crisis. Neither, though, would be a prime candidate for a move. Despite Kane’s injury record, he is a central part not just of Mourinho’s plans, but also the club’s identity. And in Son, Spurs have the perfect Mourinho wide forward.

Next up on the list purely in terms of value would be Dele Alli, even after his recent drop-off in form. Again, though, Dele is a player who fits into Mourinho’s plans and who the manager clearly believes he can work with to get him firing once more.

But following on from those three, there are two other relatively valuable players with whom the manager would likely be willing to part; Tanguy Ndombele and Davinson Sanchez.

Ndombele became Tottenham’s record signing just last summer and clearly has talent in abundance, so it would be very un-Levy-like to cash in (presumably at a loss). But Mourinho has been ultra-critical of the French midfielder and there is interest from Barcelona, according to Catalan paper Mundo Deportivo.

Sanchez, for his part, has never been fully trusted by Mourinho, their relationship perhaps bound to fail after the Spurs boss deliberately targeted the then-Ajax player during their Europa League final defeat to Manchester United in 2017. Don Balon, another Spanish outlet, has reported that Mourinho would be willing to offer Sanchez in exchange for Real Madrid defender Éder Militão or attacker Luka Jovic.

That, perhaps, raises the most interesting possibility. After the coronavirus crisis comes to an end a lot of clubs will presumably be short of liquidity, so swap deals may be the best a lot can do as they look for reinforcements. As Spurs look to reshape, Sanchez and Ndombele could be used in trades with the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona to strengthen the squad in other areas.

If either of these two were to go, it would also be a huge vote of confidence in the manager and another step in the direction of the full ‘Joséfication’ of Tottenham, as The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson recently referred to the new manager’s influence.

Just what happens with Spurs in the next transfer window, whenever that may be, will be fascinating to see. And if Mourinho gets his way, it could shape the direction of the club for years to come.