WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR TOTTENHAM? A CHAT WITH SPURS CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER AT FOOTBALL.LONDON

What do you think has been the main issue since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure from the club?

A lack of clear direction. They’ve been headed in every which way, appointing a manager in a very different style, then going to another manager in a different style, then another one, and they don’t really have an identity anymore. We’ve seen Harry Kane coming out in recent weeks saying that he feels the club have lost these values and he’s absolutely spot on. This was the thing, whether you agree or not, (with the departure of Pochettino), some would say it was the right time, some might say they should have been given more time. They’ve just made a mess of it since they haven’t had a clear idea; and that’s evident on the pitch.

Do you think that has also been evident in our recruitment of players recently?

Yeah. I mean, definitely if you’re going to keep appointing different managers, your recruitment is going to be a mess because you’re building squads for very different managers and the next manager has a load of players that don’t fit what he wants to do. So that’s absolutely right on Fraser Forster. I would say with Fraser Forster he was brought in to be a backup goalkeeper and to be fair to him, he’s probably done that role. He’s been absolutely fine in that role. I don’t think he was ever seen as a long-term Lloris replacement, whereas Gollini was definitely meant to be, and Nuno (Espirito Santo) thought he was going to be the man.

He didn’t really impress enough on the pitch or in training, I don’t think, to really justify that kind of belief they had in him. But it looks like this summer will be the one where they kind of bring in their Lloris replacement for the long term. And yes, there’s a shame for Lloris obviously. Eleven years at the club has done a lot of very good things. Unfortunately, it’d probably be remembered by some for the way it ended, which is a shame.

Who would you like to see as our first-choice keeper next?

I like the idea of David Raya; I think he is a very good choice. I was kind of watching him quite closely in Saturday’s game, just to see kind of the way he moved, what he did with the ball, what he did with his feet, especially as well. Obviously, he couldn’t do much about Kane’s goal, that was just incredible. But yeah, made a couple of good saves at the end as well from Richarlison.

I think looking at the ones out there, I personally would quite like someone with Premier League experience and I think Raya obviously ticks that box as well. I would have maybe gone for Jordan Pickford if Everton had gone down. Of course, they still could, but I don’t think they will at this stage. But Spurs might end up helping Leeds out at the weekend, which would send Pickford down, but we’ll see!

What to do with loan players? (such as Tanguy Ndombele)

The manager has to ultimately be a big chunk of the decision-making process, but then also I guess the players as well. Look, I’m Tanguy’s biggest fan. I love Tanguy Ndombele. I’ve interviewed him a few times, had some really good interviews with him. I know what a talent he is. But also you’re looking at his situation - four years into a six year contract now and it’s a bit like if he’s going to make it, he probably would have already made it. And I think I’d be stunned if he really believes that he could be a success at Spurs still. I mean, I’ve even seen links with him and moving to Turkey. So, I think there are so many kind of issues there with different players. There’s also Destiny Udogie coming in, he’s a new face brought in, which was meant to be for Conte. The issue is, can he play as a left back? What if your new manager doesn’t play with wingbacks and he’s been playing as a wing back at Udinese, so you’ve got him. Sergio Reguilón is a natural left back. Does this now open the door for him to come back and actually have a part?

Lo Celso, I would say, is probably the one that’s got the most interest in him right now, especially from Aston Villa, so they actually could get a decent fee, which reminds me a bit of when way back when Pochettino first joined Gylfi Sigurðsson was sold within a week of him joining, and Poch admitted later he would have actually liked to keep him, but the problem was his situation. He just wanted to go, and they got a really good offer in from Swansea. So, a lot depends on where the players head’s at, where they really, truly do want to be at Tottenham anymore, and obviously for the club, whether they can just get them off the wage bill. Because a lot of those players you mentioned are on big wages as well, which doesn’t help.

Which players would you like to ideally see join in the summer transfer window?

Funnily enough, ordinarily I’d be able to answer this quite easily, but the thing I would say is that this time more importantly than any name, this summer has got to be about signing the players that the coach wants. That, for me, is the key thing. So this is difficulty, I could stay players I like, for example Alessandro Bastoni would be a brilliant centre-back. But obviously Inter having an amazing season, Champions League final, quite frankly why would he want to come to Tottenham right now? And he’s Inter through and through as well. But for me, I think the key is whoever comes in, the players that they see that fit their system, just let them just get them what they need. If it is Arne Slot, I know there’s a couple of those Feyenoord players that he really kind of has taken to new levels. Bring them in if that’s who he wants! - That’s the biggest issue for me with Spurs over the years, they’ve compromised on a lot of their recruitment and they’ve ended up not with players that don’t quite fit exactly how the manager wanted to play.

How is Harry Kane reacting to all this?

Harry Kane is very professional; he doesn’t really portray his mood in either way. He was interviewed after the game on Saturday and yeah, he wasn’t really giving anything away. He keeps coming back to this point that he wants to talk to Daniel Levy and find out exactly what’s going to happen and give his side of things and how he wants the side to improve. Like I say, he keeps saying that the club’s lost something since the Poch days. Personally, I would imagine he’ll probably stay for next season and then we’ll see what happens with his contract. If I’m Spurs, rather than being worried about him running out his contract, I’d see that as another twelve months to try and convince him to stay. Because, funnily enough, I was just writing a piece where I was saying that some people might see it as ‘oh, but you can’t let him go for free. You’re chucking away 80 million pounds’, or whatever it is you get through. Personally, I’d pay 80 million pounds for Harry Kane to play for Spurs next season. He scored almost half of their goals this season, and if they didn’t have his goals they’d be in a relegation spot! So I don’t think you can guarantee anyone you bring into replace him will get anywhere close to what he does. So, yeah, personally, I think maybe get another year out of him and then we’ll see what happens. My big fear is a certain Argentine going to Chelsea and maybe trying to convince him in a year’s time to come across with him!

What was the thinking behind Danjuma and why has he hardly featured?

Yeah, he’s another one that comes back to recruitment issues. They saw a really good deal, thought they could run in there and grab it, but actually didn’t think about the fact that he didn’t fit Conte’s system in the slightest - it was completely the wrong fit. He’s a guy that can either play wide left or as a support striker and Conte doesn’t play with either of those two positions! So, yeah, we’ve seen a little bit of him in recent games, but he’s clearly not fit, that’s the problem. He’s kind of been on the side-line so much that he hasn’t got that sharpness you need. So you never know, but I’d be surprised if his Spurs time is much longer than this loan spell to be honest.

What would Arne Slot bring to Spurs if he came in?

Yeah, well, if he does come in, (it looks like at the moment he’s the favourite candidate) he plays with a 4-3-3. He’s probably the closest you’re going to get right now to recreating what Pochettino did at the club. He likes to play free flowing, fast kind of football with lots of pressing, high up the pitch, and high energy staff. Uses a lot of younger players as well, which obviously is something that spurs like to do. He seems to be quite a character in a good way, not a crazy way. I think some Spurs fans might maybe kind of remember Martin Jol and see a little bit of him in him as well. Seems to have a good humour as well, from what I’ve seen of his press conference this week, where the English journalists have turned up and tried to trip him up a bit, and he’s handled it very well.

He’s just a young, up and coming manager who is very good at communicating with his players, gets his message across. Every good coach you ever talk to will always say: 60% of being a good coach is getting your idea across, it’s the other 40% of what the actual idea is. You can have the greatest tactics, information and plans and system philosophy in the world, but if you can’t transfer that to your players, it’s meaningless. And he seems to be a guy that is a very clear communicator, everyone that knows him says that the players would walk through walls for him. So, yeah, like we said at the start, Kane saying that Spurs have lost a lot of their values, Slot seems to be the kind of guy that would bring a lot of that back to your club. And as long as you get in the right director of football, then he’s got a chance.

If the club were offered £80- 100 million for Son, don’t you think now might be the right time to sell?

I don’t if I’m going to be honest and purely because I think we’ve seen a very compromised Son this season. Conte’s tactics were not good for Sonny, they pushed him out wide at times where he was almost playing as the left wing-back with Perišić ahead of him. And I think we’ve just started to see towards the end of the season a little bit more of what Sonny can be. Remember, this was last year’s Golden Boot winner. So, yeah, I’d maybe see how Sonny is next season under a manager. Like I say, if it is Slot, his formation will absolutely suit Sonny down to the ground on the left of that front three. I wouldn’t be stunned if he gets up to the 20 goal mark again very quickly next season. So, yeah, maybe hold fire on Sonny, give him the benefit. He’s probably earned enough benefit of the doubt and see what he’s like next season, for sure. And when you’ve got someone like Sonny, who is a Premier League experienced man, is guaranteed as long as, like you say, it’s probably purely confidence thing. Get him playing in the right position and you’ve got a man that, you know, can score 20/25 goals a season. So, yeah, you chuck him out there and you bring in a player for similar money, you might not even get what he was bringing you in the first place. So, yeah, I would say he’s got enough credit in the bank myself to give him a little bit more patience!

Do Da vinson Sánchez, Ben Davies and Eric Dier have a future at the club?

I would say some of those players have been maybe lumped in together and they probably don’t all deserve to be in that bracket. I would say Ben Davies especially, I think he is the kind of squad player I think you do need in a good side. Sometimes people have this idea that every squad is going to be like a Man City elite one where you’re going to have 100-million-pound players in every single position. It doesn’t really work like that in football.

Eric Dier has had a tough season, started really well, funnily enough this season and it’s just kind of gone off a cliff ever since. If I am Eric Dier, then I would probably be thinking, is it time for a fresh start? Because I don’t think the Spurs fans are probably ever going to really take to him. He was incredible for the first three or four years at Spurs. as a defensive midfielder under Poch which people forget. Then he stepped back into the middle of a back three in his third year, where he played very well, but unfortunately just hasn’t really progressed since.

Davinson Sánchez I think really has wanted to go in the last few windows, probably about three or four windows to get regular football. But unfortunately the club have needed him there as a backup. He obviously had that really difficult day at the stadium with the fans, which was really horrible and uncomfortable to watch. Yeah, I think out of those three, what I would probably suggest is that Sánchez and maybe Dier are the more likely to head off, Sánchez especially this summer. I wouldn’t be stunned if Davies ends up playing the rest of his career at Spurs, maybe becomes a coach one day. He comes across as a very clever guy, he’s very intelligent, he understands tactics and formations, which is why they can play him in any position. And I think if you’ve got that ability, you probably are going to show a lot of elements of being a good coach, so it’d be interesting to see. I wouldn’t be shocked if he started to do his badges, actually!

Finally,

They’ve all been very good to me. Even Nuno (Espírito Santo), who always pretty much sounded disappointed with me! He used to use my name a lot, ‘Alasdair Alasdair’, whenever he was answering a question. But they were all good to me, and all tried to give me decent answers. Pochettino was the one I probably had the closest relationship with, because I worked with him for longer and he was a good guy. José Mourinho was always very interesting tactically. He would properly try to explain things, which was very cool. I had a funny incident with him once, which kind of went viral, where we were doing a zoom press conference and he couldn’t hear what I was saying. And that’s unfortunate timing with the way it worked. I said, ‘can you hear me now, Jose?’ And he went, ‘No’, put his headphones down and walked off! I’m told that it wasn’t because he could actually hear me and said no, I’m told that he was answering someone else, but it went viral anyway. Conte was good, I got on well with Conte. He’s a very passionate, honest man. Often would look out for Antonio Conte first and foremost, which is fine. A lot of managers kind of have that ego thing. But I wouldn’t say any of them I’ve had any issues with at all. Once in a while they won’t like a question, which is fine, that’s part of the job, but they always kind of respect that. You’ve got to ask it. Stellini and Mason, they’ve got their different things about them that’s quite interesting. Stellini, we did a really fascinating interview when he was young, way back about ten years ago, when he was coaching a refugee team, and he actually broke down in tears talking about it, which was a really lovely insight into his life. So, yeah, it’s probably my favourite bit of it all, really, is the interaction with the managers, I find them fascinating.