Winners and losers from transfer deadline day: Tottenham signed how many players?

Loser: Tottenham

There’s nothing wrong with consolidating during a time of heavy spending by the club due to the new stadium, but a few additions to the squad could have a significant impact on Tottenham’s fortunes. Mauricio Pochettino has shown himself to be an excellent tactician and developer of talent over the past few seasons.

Spurs have managed to keep the squad together and they should be reasonably confident of finishing in the top four, but there are issues that need to be dealt with. Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld and Mousa Dembele have all indicated that they want to leave the club.

Dembele needs to be properly replaced or a long-term replacement found because he only has a year left on his contract, so they have only delayed the inevitable by not selling him. He’s also injury-prone and past his peak, so selling him for a good price would have been to their advantage. They could still do that, but they have no obvious replacement which leaves them thin in central midfield.

Rose and Alderweireld aren’t too much of an issue because the club has alternatives already in place. However, they could have an effect on the team morale due to the close nature of the squad and there’s nothing to stop sides in other leagues poaching them in the rest of August.

Tottenham were heavily linked with Jack Grealish throughout the window, but they never got the deal over the line. Aston Villa were in dire straits financially at the beginning of the window, but Spurs failed to take advantage of that and were unwilling to meet their demands later on. They also have a squad which was heavily involved in the latter stages of the World Cup, so they’re likely to have a slow start.

The focus on developing academy graduates and bringing in talented prospects for cheap prices has been an inspiring model in a time of financial excess for the Premier League. However, they don’t appear to have planned well for this window and it could cost them in terms of league position because their top six rivals have all strengthened.