This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Glen Johnson has criticised Tottenham Hotspur’s handling of the contracts of their senior players after Danny Rose confirmed he would run his down, per The Debate via HITC.
What’s he said?
The England left-back told The London Evening Standard that he intended to leave the club only when his deal expired, the date of which will come at the end of next season.
Of course, Spurs have had this problem with a number of players. Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld all have deals that expire in the summer, while Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama have contracts that are up in 2021.
And Johnson believes that, while the strategy of handing youngsters long-term contracts is “clever”, it has come back to bite Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.
He said: “When they sign the young players they put them on six-year deals, which is clever because they don’t need to negotiate with the player every two years.
“They get to a point where they don’t perform as well as they first thought and they stay on that contract or they do outperform what they’re expecting, but they don’t need to give them a new deal because they’ve got four years left.
“But they seem to get in this position towards the end too often with their starting players.”
Payback time
This has been coming.
Spurs adhere to a strict wage policy and, per Spotrac, they only have six players who earn £100,000-per-week or more. Vertonghen is one of them, with Alderweireld on £80,000 and Eriksen is on £75,000. Rose earns £60,000-per-week.
Compare that to Manchester City and Liverpool; 25 players earn £100,000 per week or more in those two squads.
One has to imagine that the contract rebels at Spurs could, at least, double their salaries with a big move, and it is not a surprise that they are willing to run their deals down.
Not only will they receive a bigger wage packet, but they will also receive a signing-on bonus from moving as a free agent.
At a time in which Spurs are playing in a stadium that has cost £1bn, and they are starting to lavish more funds on signings such as Tanguy Ndombele, there is a legitimate question to be asked surrounding the lack of wage rises.
At the end of the day, Rose, Eriksen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen only have Levy to blame.
The Spurs chairman could have put his hand in his pocket but he has refused to do so and now the inevitable has happened, with players looking for pastures new.
He shouldn’t be surprised.