Astonishingly Tottenham Hotspur are the only Premier League club yet to have put their hand in their pocket this transfer window, selling right-back Kyle Walker for £45 million (Dh214.6 million) to Manchester City but not bringing anyone in.
You could argue they need not risk disrupting the harmony of a squad that finished second last season and third the season before by bringing in too many new faces, especially in a year where they have the additional financial challenge of building a new £750 million stadium while playing at Wembley in the interim.
However, now is probably Tottenham’s best chance of staging a bid for the title - what would be their first in 57 years — so it would be a shame to let this momentum slip and allow other clubs to catch up, but that’s exactly what they are doing.
Teams that underachieved last season (and the season before) like Manchester City have spent over £200 million this summer, while Manchester United have spent almost £150 £million.
Spending does not always equal success, but you suspect after two anomalous seasons whereby big guns haven’t shone, that the likes of City and United will come back into contention this season usurping the likes of Spurs who have thrived in the quiet.
Tottenham needed to guard against that and while Spurs chairman Daniel Levy may be a habitually late starter in the transfer window and openly critical of the Premier League’s overspending, you still feel he needed to make some sort of statement to counter the threat of resurgent powers.
If anything, you spend to improve the psychological approach of your players and supporters.
Levy may feel he has the full package under Mauricio Pochettino and so long as they keep Harry Kane and Dele Alli this summer, there is no need to change things.
But if you don’t show some sort of movement the fans get restless and the attitude of the squad wanes, it could also result in key players jumping ship for a more ambitious rival.
Levy is a shrewd businessman and Tottenham have one of the best balance sheets in the league, so we shouldn’t get too worried, he’s probably just holding out for a last ditch bid for the likes of Everton midfielder Ross Barkley or Estudiantes defender Juan Foyth as has been widely reported.
Bidding late limits the ability of selling clubs to keep raising the asking price and in turn they’ll be rushed into a somewhat more sensible take or leave decision.
This could also backfire of course with the selling club deciding to leave these advances, leaving Tottenham with nothing. If that happens all their hard work over the past two seasons could have been in vain. It’s very much now or never.
