A series of soaring highs and embarrassing lows characterized Tottenham last season leading the club to the chaos that would haunt the team across the summer.
The chaos would revolve around two separate parts of the club that forced the hand of the club. The two separate parts would be the choice of manager and the future of icon Harry Kane.
After a disappointing season in 2018-19, the club had high ambitions for the 2019-20 season as manager José Mourinho had his eyes on winning the Europa League and challenging for the Premier League title. The team was never able to get off the ground and struggled to keep up with the other top clubs and were knocked out of the Europa League in a humiliating fashion.
In the middle of the season, Mourinho was fired by the club as the situation became more toxic with assistant coach Ryan Mason finishing the season. Despite being the top scorer for the club and putting in great performances, captain and icon Harry Kane felt that he could accomplish all that he could with the club and asked to leave. In the span of one season, Tottenham lost a manager that they heavily invested in and their homegrown legend who brought the club to this level.
All this chaos set the stage for a summer that would seemingly define the club for the next few years, if not the next decade.
To set the tone of the transfers, the club first focused on obtaining a new manager that could take the helm of the club.
Choosing to go in a new direction after the tumultuous tenure of Mourinho, Tottenham identified their preferred target in Antonio Conte. Having just come off a title win with Inter, Conte was well in demand and a proven Premier League manager. This seemed like the perfect choice with Conte’s exciting style seeming like the best fit for the roster.
However, Conte would reject the club as their plans didn’t match what he wanted. This led to a carousel of different managers being linked to Tottenham but each rejecting the job. Eventually, they were able to hire former Wolverhampton Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo with a mixed response from fans.
Despite the mixed response, Nuno Espírito Santo is a great choice for the soft rebuild that the Spurs decided to start. Over his four years at Wolves, he proved to be a capable Premier League manager who could play exciting soccer while developing players with Adama Traoré being a prime example. With this type of background, he should be a great candidate for the revamp that Tottenham is undergoing.
After getting their manager of the future, Tottenham would spend the rest of the summer revamping their squad with younger players to replace departing veterans. The club allowed some of their stalwarts in Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela to leave in order to start their rebuild. This symbolized the transition between the previous era which led to a Champions League final amongst other achievements and the youth movement that has started to define this era.
The club’s transfer policy reflected this transition as all the players the club brought in were all 26 years old or younger. Three transfers are of note as they represent players of great potential with those players being: Bryan Gil, Cristian Romero, and Emerson Royal.
Romero and Emerson are immense upgrades in the defense as Romero was one of the best defenders in the Serie A last season and Emerson has a ton of untapped potential. Gil is an interesting prospect who has shown glimpses of talent at the youth level but has yet to play at a higher level. These transfers should all help bridge the gap to the next era of Hotspur soccer.
Finally, the transfer saga of captain Harry Kane hung over the club’s actions this summer like a sword. Despite all the good work done by the board, they were always going to be judged by how they would handle Kane’s possible departure. After a good Euros where England would finish as runners-up, Kane looked for potential suitors as Tottenham looked for an appropriate bid for their icon.
Manchester City seemed the likeliest to get Kane but went ahead with Jack Grealish instead leaving the market for Kane rather empty. Tottenham started the season with Kane away from the team as they looked to sort out the transfer saga for their captain. Eventually, Kane would join the squad in the past few weeks as he looks to complete another season for the club.
A summer of chaos could have tanked the club but the choice to go with a soft rebuild allowed the club to weather the storm. Tottenham’s future will be interesting as the issue with Kane still hasn’t been fully resolved.
Amongst all the storylines in the Premier League, Tottenham’s rebuild is definitely going to be one to keep an eye on.
Featured Image: Bruno Happold/PA Images
