No crisis at Spurs, but signings can make them challengers

Such talk was momentarily quelled when a Lucas Moura inspired Spurs won 3-0 at Old Trafford at the end of August. Maybe Pochettino’s men could compete for trophies this term? But, football being the fickle industry that it is, opinion shifted once more as back-to-back defeats to Watford and Liverpool in the league were followed by a Champions League reverse at Inter Milan.

A successive UCL defeat to Barcelona at Wembley and the doom-mongers were out in full force.

Spurs are currently 35/1 across platforms like Bettingapps.co.uk to win the Premier League this term, and following Saturday’s 1-0 win over Cardiff, they sit 5^th in the Premier League table – just two points behind leaders Manchester City. With 18 points from eight games, Tottenham are one point ahead of where they were this time last season having played two of their ‘Top Six’ rivals already, and are three points closer than the five-point gap they trailed City by at this stage last year.

Fair to say that any talk of a crisis was a little premature and having not brought out the cheque book in pre-season, if anything there must be a little comfort for Pochettino in knowing that there is room for improvement in the current squad.

Chairman Daniel Levy is notorious for being tight with the purse-strings, but January will bring another opportunity for Spurs to add to their ranks and there are a number of potential moves that would bolster the group.

Tottenham were heavily linked with Jack Grealish in the summer but were unable to agree on Aston Villa’s £30 million valuation of the versatile 23-year-old winger, though a raid for either he or Manchester United’s out of favour Anthony Martial (who will also turn 23 in December) would make sense in January. Either man could provide back-up, or competition to the likes of Dele Alli and Son-Heung Min. With a number of players in the side, like Alli and Harry Kane, having played deep into the World Cup, Spurs will need strength in numbers if they are going to challenge on multiple fronts.

Frenkie De Jong is a prodigious Ajax midfield talent that Spurs have also been linked with and would be a great buy while he remains a little under the radar, before his star really grows. Tottenham could also shop Dutch for De Jong’s team-mate, international centre back Matthijs de Ligt, an area where they may need cover longer term with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen advancing in years.

 The Danny Rose saga was resolved in August and the left-back remained at the club and returned to the starting line-up, but it’s another area of pitch where Spurs may want reinforcements. Highly-rated Benfica star Alex Grimaldo has been linked with a potential move.

Tottenham have started the season on decent shape, pouring water on the theory that they would fall away early after a lack of investment.

For Spurs to get to the next level and bring trophies to their new stadium however, which should surely be the end-goal, investment will need to come.