New Contracts Signal Shift in Tottenham’s Aspirations
By Peter Brewis
When Mauricio Pochettino began signing players to contract extensions a few months after his arrival, it was a signal that he had found players to build for the future. Ultimately changing Tottenham’s aspirations.
Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen have cemented themselves into the fabric of Tottenham Hotspur and have played a vital role in this year’s title challenge.
Signing them to new, long term deals would go a long way in keeping Tottenham at the business end of the Premier League table for years to come.
Related Story: Tottenham's Numbers for Vertonghen's New Contract
According to a report from Football Insider, both Eriksen and Vertonghen are in advanced stages of contract negotiations and close to signing new deals.
The actual numbers and details of the contracts are irrelevant for this post.
However, what is important is that this signals Tottenham are in for the long haul and intend to challenge for silverware on multiple fronts over the course of the next few years.
This change in identity is one that is exciting for supporters who in recent years have more often than not seen their best players sold to the “giants” of the football world.
Obviously the big sale in recent memory is Gareth Bale. It’s fair to say that even the most die hard of Spurs fans couldn’t blame Bale for leaving and couldn’t blame Levy for selling him.
He was quickly becoming one of the world’s best players and the state of Tottenham at the time wasn’t big enough for him. It was disappointing to see him go, but the money received for him certainly couldn’t be turned down either.
In the short run, from a monetary standpoint, things don’t look so good, with the club losing a total of £25 million on players who didn’t work at the club, in particular Soldado’s net loss of £16 million.
However, in terms of players who are still at the club: Eriksen, Chadli, and Lamela, they are contributing massively to the product on the field.
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Much has been written on this site about Lamela’s break out season this year, and nobody can question the vital role Eriksen has played ever since arriving at the club in 2013.
The jury may still be out on Chadli, and this summer could see him leaving. However it would be safe to assume that if he were to leave this summer, his price tag would be greater than the £6 million that Spurs purchased him for.
This leads back to the current contract situation of Vertonghen and Eriksen.
If this season were to finish in anything other than a top four finish, it would be understandable for a player of Christian Eriksen’s talent to be in the market for Champions League football.
The fact of the matter, however, is that Tottenham are all but guaranteed to finish in the top three and will be competing in the Champions League next year. With that in mind it is important that Spurs work to improve the squad any way they can, and that starts with signing the players that played vital roles this season.
And two of the most important players are Vertonghen and Eriksen.
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Resigning two of Spurs’ best players in the prime of their careers is massively important for the club to remain a top four finisher for years to come. While Harry Kane to United rumors come up almost daily, Tottenham are not in the market to sell any of their best players.
This bodes well for Spurs this year and for the near future. The only hope is that all of this positivity can be turned into silverware sooner, rather than later.