Tottenham Hotspur were already preparing to take the handbrake off when the reality began to set in that relegation from the Premier League was a serious possibility.
In the months after Vinai Venkatesham took control from Daniel Levy discussions had already taken place around a two-pronged change in transfer strategy – ripping up the wage structure that had kept even the highest earners below the £200,000-a-week mark and planning a record-breaking summer of spending on new arrivals. March’s defeat to Crystal Palace under then interim boss Igor Tudor sent alarm bells ringing that Spurs needed to survive at any cost before fully addressing the squad.
Owners Enic are understood to view this extraordinary £300m window as just one part of a “multi-year plan”. There was an acknowledgment that even aside from the two successive 17th-placed finishes, Spurs had fallen away from the rest of the Big Six. Enic consider Spurs not for sale and it is not thought that any potential sale of the stake Levy still owns would have much bearing on the club’s day-to-day operations. Summer reports that Levy’s shares had been sold were premature.
After last year’s pursuits of Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White collapsed, there was a determination that this summer’s targets had to be treated differently. Newcastle were unsure if Spurs would bid again when an initial approach for Sandro Tonali was knocked back, but they ultimately returned with a £100m offer. Tonali was persuaded to move in spite of interest from Manchester City with the prospect of living in London a major pull.
