Tottenham have to paddle like crazy to keep pace at the top with White Hart Lane set to host its final north London derby

Taking shape | Tottenham's new stadium
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images
Tom Collomosse28 April 2017

Tottenham deserve considerable praise for competing for the title this season and last but as they approach Sunday’s north London derby, they know the challenges are about to become even more difficult.

It is hard enough to stay near the top of the Premier League when at least three of your rivals – Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea – have apparently limitless funds to spend on transfers and salaries. Tottenham’s task is to handle this threat while also committing the best part of £1billion to a stadium project.

In Arsene Wenger’s first 20 years at the club, Arsenal never failed to qualify for the Champions League. Although they have won only two major trophies since 2005, this consistency has allowed Arsenal to remain financially powerful. This sort of record must be Tottenham’s long-term target. Can they achieve it?

At the moment, Tottenham resemble a swan: on the surface, everything appears calm. They still have a chance of winning the Premier League title, they have – in terms of league points – been the best team in the country for the last two seasons, and they have a manager and players who are universally admired. Below the waterline, though, everyone is paddling like crazy.

​Mauricio Pochettino said recently that since he arrived in May 2014, the team had exceeded expectations. Where his original challenge was to turn Spurs into a regular top-four side, they are now title contenders. “The step was massive from the team,” he said. “The club is still growing up, but not at the same pace.

“Maybe now we need to wait a little bit for the club to arrive, finish the new stadium, afterwards move from Wembley back to White Hart Lane again. That will be the moment to push, try to win.”

What will Spurs look like when they do return, however? They hope to be in their new ground during the 2018-19 campaign, and are likely to confirm by Saturday that they will stage home fixtures next season at Wembley.

In a strange way, the speed of their progress under Pochettino has placed unwelcome strain on other areas of the club. Had Spurs been a solid top-four side, rather than title contenders, would so many of their players now be prime targets for the wealthiest clubs?

Would Kyle Walker, for example, have been chased with such determination that he has been unsettled by the idea of joining Manchester City and doubling his £70,000-a-week salary? Would agents be able to exert such pressure on chairman Daniel Levy to improve their players’ contracts?

They will argue that Dele Alli (£50,000 a week, 20 goals this season) is worth at least the same as Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (£180,000 a week, nine goals this season). Is Shkodran Mustafi (£80,000 a week) really more valuable to Arsenal than Toby Alderweireld (£50,000 a week) is to Spurs?

Mustafi’s team-mate Mesut Ozil (12 goals, 10 assists this term) has asked for £250,000 per week to sign a new contract, while Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen (12 goals, 14 assists) earns £70,000 a week. Alexis Sanchez (24 goals) has been offered a £300,000 per week to stay at Arsenal when Harry Kane (26 goals) earns a third of that sum at Tottenham.

This is not a criticism of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, whose shrewd approach contracts and wages should cause embarrassment in the Arsenal boardroom. Yet for how long can he keep the squad happy with the policy of regular renewals and steady wage increases? The better Tottenham do, the harder it will be to keep the wage structure intact.

In Pictures | What Tottenham's new stadium will look like

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Then there is the stadium. Levy says it is Europe’s largest private construction project, with their most recent estimates predicting a final cost of £800million. How to manage this upheaval – the move to Wembley, ensuring Spurs are in the new ground for the start for 2018-19, having three different ‘homes’ in as many seasons – while ensuring matters on the pitch are unaffected? It is a ferociously difficult job.

This is the best Tottenham team for many years. Yet the next time they face Arsenal in a ‘home’ derby, things will probably look, and feel, very different. It will require all Pochettino’s skill, and all Levy’s talent for negotiating, to make the ride is as smooth as possible.

The key for the hierarchy is to ensure their Argentine coach – who has never lost in the league to Arsenal as Spurs boss – continues to believe in a bright future. If they can, Tottenham have a strong chance of overcoming the obstacles in their path.

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