Mourinho’s vision shaping up Spurs

Last season’s Champions League runner-ups Tottenham Hotspur had a disastrous start to the season, fired their manager Mauricio Pochettino and replaced him with the “Special One” Jose Mourinho.

Tottenham’s rise, or some would say return, to the European elite was due to Pochettino’s determined tactical approach as well as man management squeezing everything out of his squad. In hindsight, it’s easy to see that the Spurs team overachieved for big part of their last season, but it was still Pochettino who paid the price.

Notoriously adamant to not overspend (if spend at all) in the transfer market, the chairman Daniel Levy kept Pochettino on a tight leash. Not seeing eye-to-eye regarding the transfers was rumored to be one of the biggest reasons Pochettino was more than ready to leave. From summer 2014 to January 2019, Pochettino’s overall transfer balance was only £-27.2M, nowhere near the sums spent by every other of the top six clubs. When Pochettino was let go and replaced by Mourinho, many wondered how the relationship between a stingy owner and demanding manager would work. So far, it seems, splendidly.

Spurs have performed better on the pitch under Jose Mourinho and currently man the sixth place in the EPL, six points behind 4th placed Chelsea. Rather surprisingly, Mourinho has managed to get Levy to open his wallet and splash the cash around, if only for remarkably small extent. Letting Christian Eriksen go was an unfortunate must, as he was reluctant to sign a new deal (or Levy was reluctant to pay) and was reportedly extremely unhappy at the situation. Inter paid only £18M for the Danish playmaker, quite a drop from the asking price of some £80M last summer. Argentinian international Giovani Lo Celso arrived to Spurs on loan already to start the season, but injury kept him out of contest. However, Mourinho didn’t hesitate to make the move and sign the midfielder to a permanent deal for £29M. In addition, the Portuguese manager pushed through the loan-to-buy transfer of another promising midfielder, 21-year-old Gedson Fernandes from Benfica and acquired la 22-year-old versatile attacking midfielder Steven Bergwijn from PSV for £27M.

After receiving lots of criticism for not spending – or allowing Pochettino to spend – enough on transfer market to make a proper push for the title, Daniel Levy has seemingly bought in to Mourinho’s master-plan. Admittedly, all of the three acquisitions seem to have signed for less than their market value is, so Levy is still holding on to his principles. How far will it take Mourinho and the Spurs in modern football marketplace is a question for another year.

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