Contracts will make desired Tottenham rebuild slow and hard

Mauricio Pochettino knew a couple of years ago Tottenham Hotspur needed to go through a rebuilding process. And while the coach may have changed, the need for the rebuild has not with José Mourinho in charge. The problem, however, for Spurs is that the current player contract situation is going to make any kind of quick rebuild a difficult proposition for Tottenham.

Tottenham Have Lots of Long-term Deals

In the world of professional sports, one thing few athletes really get is true security. Yes, professional athletes are paid an enormous amount but a single injury or accident could make that all disappear in a second. Enter player agents and multi-year contracts, which provide some measure of long-term security for players as well as protection for clubs on their investments.

Tottenham Hotspur, beginning under Mauricio Pochettino and continuing under José Mourinho has made a habit of locking up their own players to long-term deals. This can be a great boon for the team as the core of the squad can be locked in and built around. The problem is, some of the core needs to change, and right now more than half the team is contracted for at least 3 years.

Not including players on loan, Tottenham only has eight of 26 first-team players with a year or less on their contracts. This means, turning this team over is not going to easy.

More years means more money right?

In professional football, most players move when they are in the last year of their existing contracts. This is because – as we saw with Christian Eriksen last season – as a player contract runs out a club does not want to end up with no compensation for their asset. Given a club has the choice between taking a smaller fee or getting no fee at all, clubs often take the smaller fee – again see Eriksen going to Inter for 20 million.

The opposite is also true, when a player has more years left on their existing deal, it means it will be harder – in theory – to get the player as there is the commitment the contract represents. This is where Harry Kane is sort of stuck, given he has three seasons left on his deal, to get adequate value in return, someone is going to have to break the bank at a time when many vaults are empty. This means Kane is likely going nowhere but Kane is also an extreme example, as was Eriksen although for differing reasons.

The player or the club have to want you to leave

Of course, when it comes to contracts and clubs and player transfers, the end result is not a one-way street, as it always takes two to tango. Looking back at Eriksen, the final year of his deal or not, if the Dane had wanted to stay at N17, Levy, Mourinho, and company would have put a fat contract in front of him and he would still be a Spur.

However, in Eriksen’s case, it was the player who wanted to move on and the result was a sale of a terrific player for well below market value. Currently, there are no Tottenham players looking to force their way out – at least publicly as Eriksen did. One could argue that both Dele Alli and Harry Winks may be looking for new opportunities moving forward, but both are signed to the club until 2024, making their situation very different than that of Eriksen’s.

Likewise, a club can simply decide a player is no longer one they want to keep and either your contract runs out – see Jan Vertonghen last season and Danny Rose this season – of the club sells you on for what they can get, see Kieran Trippier two seasons ago. Right now there is no shortage of players the club is likely looking to move on including Moussa Sissoko, Matt Doherty, and Eric Dier.

Sissoko still has two years remaining on his deal and both Dier and Doherty, like Dele and Winks are contracted with Spurs until 2024. All this goes to say that Tottenham is not in a great position to bring in a bunch of new transfers.

Even if the club wants to move all five players it is not going to be easy given their market values, current playing status, and in Dele and Winks’s case their English nationality. All of these factors combine making it very difficult to move on some of the players that Spurs need too.

If the players who want out or need out are not realistic options for transfers, this takes us back to those on dwindling contracts.

Tottenham only have four players up at seasons end

At the end of the season, Danny Rose’s horror story will be over, as will the loans of Carlos Vinicius, Gareth Bale, and Cameron Carter Vickers. It is very likely that none of the four are back with Tottenham next season. Rose is gone and based on recent comments Bale seems destined to leave as well. Vickers was never going to break into the team and then Vinicius may be back if Levy can get a lower price for a permanent transfer.

The point of all this is to say, there really will not be any big funds opening up based on the contracts expiring this season.

Looking ahead to those with only 1 year left, there are some options.

Currently all three Tottenham first-team keepers – Hugo Lloris, Joe Hart, and Alfie Whiteman – are all contracted until 2022. Additionally, Erik Lamela and Serge Aurier are set to have their deals expire at the end of next season.

Talk has already starting springing up about the replacement for Lloris and selling the club captain this summer seems likely given the time remaining on his deal. This does not mean Spurs would go into the season with Hart and Whiteman as the only keepers but odds are against all three returning to finish their deals.

As for Lamela and Aurier, they both tend to split opinions but could be extended. Right now Aurier is the best right-back Spurs have and Lamela seems somewhat renewed under Mourinho. While both could be intriguing options in the transfer market, expect another year or two to be added to both their contracts to prop up whatever transfer fee might be gotten for their departure.

The bottom line is Tottenham needs a rebuild but it is going to take time. The current contract situation and having so few shorter contracts is going to make outgoing transfers difficult and without outgoing transfers, new incoming transfers are even more difficult still.