Pochettino Consolidates His Power at Spurs

Approaching the January transfer window, it appears as if Daniel Levy has ceded final authority on Spurs’ transfers to Mauricio Pochettino.

Both men appeared together at a forum organized by Spurs fans on Wednesday, and together laid out in part their vision for the club going forward.

Asked about what plans he had for the January transfer window, Pochettino was hesitant.

“It’s never easy to sign players, and January is harder than the summer,” the Argentine manager said. “With the balance we have we need to be careful with who we bring in.

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“The level we’re at now means it’s not easy to find a player than can improve us.”

Despite speculation linking Spurs to a small handful of players in the winter transfer window, it doesn’t appear as if Pochettino is especially anxious to do anything that might disrupt the evident harmony the team has put on the display during their 13 match unbeaten run.

If any player is to be brought into the club, it’ll likely be a younger player targeted with the future in mind. Last January’s grab of Dele Alli fits that mold well, and it’s easy to imagine Spurs’ Head of Recruitment Paul Mitchell having a short list of prospects he’d love to bring in under the radar.

Perhaps most importantly, Pochettino’s comments reveal something about the sea change in how transfers are to be dealt with at Spurs going forward.

Since the departure of Franco Baldini in the summer, it’s become increasingly clear that transfer authority was shifting closer and closer to Pochettino. The former director of football operations had been just short of a disaster over his two years with the club, squandering most of the money earned from Gareth Bale’s sale on ineffectual players, most of which were shuttled out of the club over the last year. With him gone, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has prudently decided to cede some of his own authority over the Spurs coach.

This kind of relationship between ownership and coach is becoming an increasing uncommon in the Premier League. Usually there’s either a director of operations or a transfer committee or a domineering owner making the ultimate transfer decisions, the results of which the coach is obliged to work with.

Were Pochettino of a weaker disposition, it might be the same at Spurs even after Baldini’s exit. Levy has before been that owner dictating how and when money was spent, but here seems to be willing to acquiesce to Pochettino and Mitchell over the further development of the squad.

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Levy made this explicit in follow up comments: “In the end, it’s up to Mauricio to decide who he does and doesn’t want.”

Given the holistic nature of this Pochettino Spurs squad, this kind of mentality from Levy makes sense. This simply isn’t the pragmatic, star-driven Spurs side of Harry Redknapp. The players now need to be willing to be sublimated to the needs of the team as a whole. It makes sense that Pochettino would want to keep that harmony intact by limiting the influx of new blood to only what is absolutely needed.