Do Tottenham Need a Marquee Signing?

Increasingly it feels as if Tottenham are being left behind by the Premier League elite when it comes to big, splashy grabs on the transfer market.

Just this week, Manchester City landed two supremely promising players in as many days. Leroy Sané and Gabriel Jesus add significant oomph and depth to City’s attack, even if they cost the club a combined £64 million. Pep Guardiola is coming to England to win it all, and he’ll have a stable of some of the best talent available to help him reach that goal.

Tottenham, meanwhile, continue to struggle with a rumored £10 million deal for a virtually unknown in Olympique de Marseille’s Georges-Kévin Nkoudou. The club’s prior signings of Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen this summer were not minuscule in price or promise, but they are hardly signings that define Tottenham’s ambitions ahead of a season in which they are once again expected to compete for the title and more.

Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t operate within the typical confines of Premier League ambition, of course. He is wise enough to know what needs to be done and then do it.

He saw holes in Tottenham’s defense and proceeded to plug them with a savvy buy in Toby Alderweireld and a savvier re-positioning of Eric Dier to defensive midfield. Tottenham conceded the joint-least goals last term in the Premier League as a result.

He saw a precocious 19-year-old midfielder and gave him starts early despite a lack of experience. Dele Alli is now considered one of the most exciting players in England.

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All of which is to say that no one gets far in doubting Pochettino’s judgment. He knows better than anyone else just what he’s getting in Wanyama and Janssen and (potentially) Nkoudou.

There remains the tantalizing possibility that Tottenham might make one more move on the transfer market, however. Pochettino is said to be looking for a midfielder in the mold of a number 8 — a box-to-box type — or a playmaking number 10, and theories abound as to who such a player might end up being.

With the possible exception of top tier strikers, such a midfielder might be the most expensive item in the game. There’s a reason that Manchester United are willing to pay £100 million or more for Paul Pogba, for instance. A talented player in that position can change a team from the inside out, bridging the gap dramatically between himself and even a mediocre side.

Tottenham won’t be spending £100 million on an individual anytime soon, but what’s stopping them from dropping £30 or £40 million on a truly remarkable player?

Set aside for a moment the (entirely reasonably) talk Tottenham financing their new stadium or trying to prove that there’s still a sustainable way to succeed at football in 2016. How much better is a Tottenham Hotspur side with Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and, say, Atlético Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez? Or perhaps Paris Saint Germain’s Adrien Rabiot? Or Roma’s Radja Nainggolan?

Perhaps as importantly, what does such a signing — or lack thereof — say about Tottenham in the 2016/17 season? They might already be equipped as is to handle the rigors of the Premier League and Champions League, but are they prepared to succeed on a psychological level?

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Do the players and fans see clear, indisputable proof of the club’s ambition? How much are Pochettino and Daniel Levy willing to pay for what truthfully might be a meaningless indicator of the club’s true quality?

None of this is clear. What is evident, though, is that City and United and Chelsea and even Arsenal are all willing to spend to improve as the Premier League grows more and more into a a free-for-all destruction derby, where any team can beat another other team on any given week. Tottenham would do well not to dismiss this spending outright, and perhaps even embrace it for themselves.