The sight of a threadbare Spurs squad limping to the finish of a grueling — albeit successful — season emphasised the scale of the investment required in the squad this summer.

Just 11 points were gained from a possible final 36 in the Premier League and a top four position was secured by a whisker. The Champions League final place is all the more remarkable given Pochettino was unable to name a single attacking player on his bench at home against Ajax.

Spurs infamously haven’t signed a player in the past two transfer windows. In the parlance: It’s time to spending some f**king money, Daniel.

In a previous post, I discussed the club’s better-than-hoped financial position emerging from the peak of the stadium construction phase.

The fear was the stadium mortgage hanging around the club’s neck and limiting the ability of Daniel Levy to give Mauricio Pochettino the funds he needs to take the club to the next level. However, the strong financial performance in 2018 eases these concerns. The work on the stadium is not yet finished despite now being open, and there is still Phase 3 (housing, hotel and community centre) to complete. Plus the club has failed to secure a naming rights deal. But the worst should be over, and from now more resources should be able to be directed at the playing staff.

Pochettino has consistently defied gravity, not least in 2018/19 when he navigated an awesomely difficult set of circumstance — World Cup hangovers, a lack of a proper pre-season, injuries, no transfer budget, and no home stadium for all bar five league games. It has been a remarkable effort, but Pochettino is making clear to everyone that it isn’t sustainable. In Pochettino’s mind, the time has come for Spurs to narrow the gap with the rest of the current top six clubs and lift the ambition to competing for titles, year in year out, rather than merely aiming for the top four.

The question is whether Levy agrees to end the stadium-related austerity and start investing in the squad again. With Pochettino suggesting he may move on if he isn’t satisfied with the club’s new strategy, a huge amount rests on Levy’s answer to this question.

A SELL TO BUY POLICY

As remarkable as achieving four consecutive seasons of Champions League football on a Europa League wage budget, Pochettino has done this without a transfer budget — not just in 2018/19, but throughout his tenure.

I have charted every transfer made under Pochettino, tracking the incomings and outgoings, in order of when they happened and with a credible published transfer amount. It’s one of my favourite graphs, as it shows the “sell-to-buy” transfer policy that has been in place as clear as day.

The red line shows how much money is in the kitty, assuming it started at zero when Poch arrived. Every window, players are sold, then the amount is reinvested in players. It doesn’t happen the other way round — Pochettino isn’t able to move early on targets he wants, unless there is already money in the kitty from a previous window. The only time the club has dipped significantly into the red is the signing of Lucas Moura, and that has since been partially clawed back. By my estimate, heading into his fifth summer transfer window, Pochettino will have a net transfer spend of £7m. Just £7m!

Levy has spoken on a number of occasions about a “ring-fenced” transfer budget — and technically this is true: a budget of £0 has been ring-fenced. The positive through the stadium construction is that Spurs haven’t been forced to sell players to finance construction. However, Pochettino has been forced to sell players when he has wanted to strengthen his squad.

Now the stadium is complete, this will change, right?

WILL LEVY SPEND?

In the final weeks of the season, there have been numerous reports of — in tabloid speak — a transfer “war chest”.

The stories have been a touch thin though — the amount in the war chest varies, and has a tendency to swell only after key players like Toby Alderweireld (appearances this season: 49) and Christian Eriksen (appearances this season: 50) are sold.

These stories aren’t appearing by accident — the club knows the fans and players are impatient to see fresh blood this summer. However, Levy’s last public comments on the matter, at a meeting with the Supporters Trust, offered less cause for optimism:

“With a debt of £637m, subject to reasonable assumption on interest rates, the net spend on players would not be affected.”

“There is a certain amount the Club wants to invest in the team. If players are sold, that amount increases.”

“Transfers are tricky. If we could have sold XYZ and found someone better, we would have done it.”

When you consider that the current “net spend” is zero, these comments were double speak. The last comment was particularly frustrating to hear. “If we could find someone better” — take Vincent Janssen — while the club may have struggled to sell him for a reasonable fee, is it really that great a feat of scouting to identify a better striker?

CHANGING MINDSET AS WELL AS BUDGET

After publishing my last post, I had a number of people ask what the transfer budget may look like this summer.

My goal for this post had originally been to try to estimate this — but very quickly it became clear it would be guesswork and a pointless exercise. We don’t know the club’s financial performance through financial year 2019 — in particular the cost of hiring Wembley and the stadium overruns. Nor do we yet know how much of an uplift the new stadium will provide once financing costs are covered — although early talk of £800,000 per game on catering alone seems promising.

For me, I’m looking for three things that will show the club moving to the next phase of the Pochettino “project”. It’s not the amount of money per se, more an indication that mindsets are shifting in a more ambitious direction.

1: An end to “sell before you buy”

In previous summers windows, Spurs have spent months waiting for the right offers to come in for players, and only then allowing Pochettino to spend. Early deals for Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama were “no-brainers”, involving release clauses/expiring contracts that enabled Spurs to get these players at well below market value. There was money in the transfer kitty to bring in these players, and Spurs didn’t have to dip into the red.

In a post stadium construction environment, where there should be a little more latitude around funding transfers, it would be better to see Spurs moving early on targets, even if this means running the risk of not securing the desired transfer amount from outgoing players. Leaving it late risks Pochettino missing out on key targets. Instead of simply seeing each player as an asset with an accounting value to be preserved, and a transfer negotiation as a contest to be won, it’s developing a more strategic view of player investment as crucial weapon in the battle for the bigger goal — winning the league.

2: Spend big when the right player comes along

Liverpool showed how aggressive moves for top-calibre players like Virgil van Dijk and Alisson can allow a club to move to another level while still staying true to a footballing identity and balancing opportunities for emerging talent. Spurs have glaring holes at right back and in central midfield — Spurs don’t need more squad players in these positions, they need world-class players. Spurs showed with Davinson Sanchez an ability to spend big — and that transfer was only possible because of the sale of Kyle Walker. It’s time to bust through the £50m barrier for the “right” player.

This doesn’t mean Spurs have to stop searching for value — a recruitment strength of the club has been its market intelligence and ability to find bargains, whether they be release clauses, expiring contracts and players from financially distressed clubs. But the “bargain bin” shouldn’t be the only item that Spurs look at it in the shop. Spurs have struggled at right back since the departure of Walker — and with both Manchester clubs in the market for right backs, it is going to be an expensive position to fill this summer. But if Spurs decide, say, that Aaron Wan-Bissaka is the outstanding potential recruit, then Spurs are going to have to move fast and spend big — because you know Man City will.

3. Developing talent is a competitive advantage, so exploit it

One of Spurs greatest strengths for many years has been identifying young British talent and developing it. Pochettino has a superb reputation for bringing through young players and ensuring a pathway. In reality, as the current squad has aged this has faltered a bit — but nonetheless it remains a competitive advantage for Spurs in recruitment, compared to clubs like Man City and Chelsea.

This strategy has lapsed. Last summer, Spurs were too slow in spiriting Jack Grealish away from Aston Villa, while there were rumours the club could have had David Brooks from Sheffield United if the money could be found. Every time he plays for Bournemouth he screams “Tottenham player” — he has intelligence and class — but it’ll be a lot more expensive to get him now. Brooks would have had plenty of opportunities in the past 12 months to establish himself at Spurs with Erik Lamela’s injury problems and the general squad fatigue.

Encouragingly, it sounds like a move for Ryan Sessegnon is on. Spurs want to ensure players from the academy have the chance to make it. But let’s keep bringing in the best young domestic talent — Spurs have proven time and time again, over many years, that this approach works. Dele, Dier, Bale, Dawson…the beauty now is that Spurs no longer have to sell the players when they peak. It will also help address the issue of home-grown quotas, which has been a problem in the past season with both Ben Davies and Eric Dier classified as overseas players.

THE INEVITABLE GEORGE CLOONEY REFERENCE

Those are the three things I’m looking for — all fans will have their own ideas, and desired targets. I’m optimistic — Levy is many things, but he is not a stupid man. He knows he has the best manager in modern Spurs history, plus the footballing lottery jackpot ticket that is Harry Kane.

I’ve been thinking of that line in Oceans 11: “The house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, then you take the house.”

Spurs are like Brad Pitt and George Clooney, strolling through the lobby of the MGM Grand — there’s a moment here when the odds are in Levy’s favour.

What a summer it’s going to be.