Where do Tottenham go next?

"Mauricio Pocchetino" by Дмитрий Голубович(CC BY-SA 3.0)
Tottenham Hotspur are in a very unique position as far as recent transfers go, and it is something we do not see very often. They raised an eyebrow or two when they didn’t sign anyone during the summer transfer window last summer, and they added further surprise to that by not signing anyone during the winter transfer window that has just passed. This means it is over 12 months since the club last signed a player, a very strange and unique position to be in when you are towards the top of one of the best football leagues in the world.

The big question now for Tottenham has to be what do they do next? What do they want to achieve? Are they prepared to gamble and go for it, or will they play it safe and keep plodding along as they have been doing?

The first thing they will need to address bringing in a new striker. When Harry Kane was injured in January, they had Fernando Llorente as backup, but didn’t really trust in him and worked out another way to play and use Dele Alli in attack. It was only when Alli went down injured himself that Spurs had no choice but to use Llorente, so they clearly do not trust him to perform for them. If you are aiming to win trophies and challenge on four fronts you cannot rely on one man to score all of your goals, and therefore a new second striker is needed to sit on the bench at Tottenham, and fill in when they are required.

"Harry Kane" by Brad Tutterow (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The second area Tottenham need to look at is another which they are light in, and that is central midfield. When Moussa Dembele left for China in January, he left a hole behind that was not filled. Tottenham were down to the bare bones in midfield, and played various players out of position to cover their holes. Teams that are trying to cover holes in some way are very unlikely to be title challengers; you need options in the squad to challenge and that is something that Tottenham have to add.

Despite their lack of additions, Spurs are far from out of the title race this season, they are just five points off the league leaders. The latest football betting has them at 25/1 to win the league, which shows it is an unlikely scenario, but one that cannot be discounted yet.

The chances are that Spurs will eventually run out of steam due to the small squad they have, and this is what will prompt them to take a look at things in the summer. If they are brave enough to go for it and bring players in, this time next year we could be talking about Tottenham as genuine title winners, but they need to be brave if they are to get there. Otherwise it could just be another season of coming close but never really threatening, which is something we have seen from them so far this season due to the lack of additions.