The first time Mauricio Pochettino met Daniel Levy back in May 2014, the Tottenham chairman handed Pochettino a list of the Spurs squad and asked him what he would do with it. Pochettino passed the sheet of paper back to Levy. He was still Southampton manager, he said, and could not think like the coach of anyone else. Levy, impressed by Pochettino’s single-mindedness, paid the £2million to buy him out of the club.

Two and a half years on, Pochettino returns to St Mary’s on Wednesday with his Spurs side. Tottenham are just three places ahead of Saints, but they are nine points clear and are preparing for this season’s assault on the Champions League places. The story of the two teams since Pochettino left has been the story of one side who can keep the people it wants at the club and one side who cannot.

Since Pochettino was effectively sold to Spurs, Southampton have parted with almost an entire team of first-team players, as well as another coach, Ronald Koeman, who left for Everton this summer. They have sold, in chronological order, Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers, Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin, Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama and Graziano Pelle, as well as plenty of other players less important to their first team plans. In 2017 they will have to fight to keep Jose Fonte and Virgil van Dijk too. It is a testament to how well executive director of football Les Reed and director of scouting and recruitment Ross Wilson have bought that Saints have stayed competitive since Pochettino left, finishing seventh and sixth in the Premier League under Koeman.

But while Saints have been powerless to stop this flow of players and coaches away from the club, Tottenham’s success in the last few years has been to stem the flow without over-extending themselves financially. Since the departures of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2012 and 2013, the only players to leave Tottenham have been those that the management no longer has a use for.

Since long before Pochettino arrived in 2014, Spurs have been struggling to qualify for the Champions League without paying Champions League wages. It is the hardest balance to strike in football. Every player at the club could earn more elsewhere and so Levy’s job is to offer them just the right amount of money to keep them at the club without breaking Tottenham’s wage structure.

That is exactly what Spurs have done this season. Their summer transfer business was fairly underwhelming, but more importantly than that, they have secured the futures of the players who mounted their most serious title challenge for a generation last season.

In the last six months Spurs have tied Dele Alli, Mousa Dembele, Harry Winks, Danny Rose, Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen and, most importantly of all, Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane to new deals at White Hart Lane. This despite serious interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs, with Manchester United wanting Kane and Walker.

Kane has signed for a basic salary of £90,000 per week which can reach £120,000 through bonuses and incentives. That is far less than he would earn at United, and almost every Spurs player could improve his salary at another side. But the calculation that the club has made is that these players want to stay and be part of something that could be special. They want to stay in the Champions League, they like living in London and they love playing for Pochettino.

Lloris followed Harry Kane in committing until 2022 (@SpursOfficial ) (@SpursOfficial)

Of course, plenty of players have left Spurs in the last three seasons, but they have only been those that Pochettino does not want in his first team. Emmanuel Adebayor, Etienne Capoue, Younes Kaboul, Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, Nacer Chadli and the rest have all gone, but none of them exactly leaving against Spurs’ wishes. The days of big poachers picking off Tottenham’s best are over.