Five Players Tottenham Need to Sign to Finally Earn their Premier League Spurs

Perception is a funny old business. According to the inarticulate masses, Tottenham somehow ‘bottled’ their assault at the Premier League title for a second season in a row.

The 0-1 defeat at West Ham was endemic of their lack of intestinal fortitude, apparently, and symptomatic of a team who will never fulfil their potential due to a lack of character.

What hokum.

Never mind that Chelsea’s final points tally of 93 would be good enough to win the Premier League crown for the past six seasons in a row, or that Spurs’ haul of 86 is the highest recorded by a runner-up for the past five years.

The reality – something that armchair pundits often struggle to get a handle on – is that this Tottenham outfit has performed miracles in hanging onto the coattails of an unstoppable Chelsea force for so long; a Chelsea side that, numerically at least, is one of the finest we have seen on these shores in the past decade.

So where do the Lilywhites go from here? How do they bridge that gap to the Blues and become the better tip to win it in 2017/18?

We anticipate a regression from the champions, there has to be. They won’t dominate so readily next term given that the major driving force behind their success – that bizarrely earth-shattering switch to a 3-4-3 formation – will no longer have the X Factor it possessed this time around.

Also, they will have a Champions League campaign to prepare for, which has its own way of stretching resources to the limit. An extra six games as a minimum will test the resolve of fringe players, and so a less glittering season from Chelsea’s perspective is expected. Will that open the door for Spurs to finally get their hands on the Premier League trophy?

They will have to manage another tilt at the Champions League as well of course, and that requires not only a strong starting eleven – which Tottenham undoubtedly possess – but also a capable cavalry waiting in the wings. It’s not a perfectly mirrored example at Chelsea, but when N’Golo Kante got injured or Pedro was rested in came Cesc Fabregas and Willian; two Premier League medal owners with bags of experience to call upon.

At Tottenham, the likes of Moussa Sissoko, Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier enter the fray when injuries/suspensions strike; three players whose prior experience of the Premier League has come from relegation battles. It’s not quite the same, is it?

Squad depth will be key for Tottenham as they seek to finally go from nearly men to the men. But any new recruits have to bring immediate quality, because players who have potential are nice to have around the place but it is those who can slip into a white shirt and do the business from minute one that Spurs need in 2017/18 to finally make the breakthrough.

So who will Mauricio Pochettino be monitoring throughout the summer?

Dani Alves

There has been a lot of press speculation regarding the future of Kyle Walker at Spurs – the suggestion is that the right back is on his way out of the club after falling out with Pochettino.

So a replacement may need to be sourced, and once again the rumour mill is in overdrive that Dani Alves could be the man for the job.

It seems a strange one in many ways: the Brazilian will turn 35 during next season, and that’s unusual given that Poch seems to prefer younger talent.

That said, Alves has produced one of the best seasons of his career to date, helping Juventus to the Serie A title and the final of the Champions League. His campaign has been hampered by injury, but he still found the time to win not one but two Man of the Match awards in his side’s two-legged triumph over Monaco in the semi-final.

So there’s life in the old dog yet; but is there one more big season in him?

Jermain Defoe

Another player in the winter of his career, Defoe – like Alves – has served up a campaign that a player half his age would be delighted with.

Fifteen goals for one of the most hapless and anaemic teams in Premier League history suggests that Defoe, in the right surroundings, could still flourish despite his advancing years. A call up to the England squad is evidence of that.

He wouldn’t offer much in the Champions League, but in terms of taking the pressure of Harry Kane with goals on the domestic front there is surely another campaign left in the ageing poacher’s legs. You may feel Tottenham have moved on but worse strikers than Defoe will be linked this summer.

Gylfi Sigurdsson

Perhaps a return for a former Spurs favourite is in the offing? Gylfi Sigurdsson continues to be one of the most underrated talents in the Premier League, and at 27 is just the right age to add experience to this youthful Tottenham camp.

The 14 assists he has aided Swansea’s cause with this term is no surprise – the Icelander is a perennial goal creator of some repute – and linking him with Harry Kane truly is a mouth-watering prospect.

Like Defoe, you suspect he wouldn’t get much game-time in the Champions League, but when he gets a bow in domestic action you know he won’t let anybody down.

Jonas Hector

Something that has become abundantly clear in the last few months of the season is that Ben Davies, as hard as he tries, is not quite ready for the challenge of playing for a team with aspirations of Premier League glory and a deep dart at the Champions League.