While chaos reigns in the Premier League transfer market as the top teams enter into deals on a daily basis, Spurs sit serenely back before making their move.
The transfer market closes on August 31st and not for the first time Tottenham Hotspur are sitting back and watching as their rivals make their summer signings.
Spurs 2016-17 season
Spurs manager, Mauricio Pocchetino, must be delighted that he has retained more or less the same squad as last season. His team finished runners-up to Chelsea and boasted the season's winner of the Golden Boot for the second time in Harry Kane.They also provided one of England's bright new stars in Delle Alli.
The only player to leave the North London team this season has been Kyle Walker, and the manager must be confident that Trippier can do as good a job as the England player.
Time to panic?
This is not the first time that Tottenham has allowed their rivals to scrap amongst themselves while they sit back. In the last few seasons chairman Daniel Levy has waited till the last days or hours before making his move. In 2016 Moussa Sissoko joined in the final hours of the window, and in previous seasons Hugo Lloris, Clint Dempsey, Son Heung-min and Eric Lamela have all joined in the last days of hours of the August window. So it would seem that Levy is playing his cards very close to his chest again.
Levy- hardball player
The Spurs chairman is notorious for his difficult manner in dealing with player transfers, and Alex Ferguson once remarked that dealing with Levy ( over the signing of Dimitar Berbatov) was "more painful than my hip replacement." But Levy runs a tight ship, and the wage structure at the club runs on a bonus system so players are not paid the hyperinflated wages that they may be at other premiership clubs.
Levy also has to contend with the construction of the new ground, due to cost around £750 million, and which should be ready for the start of the 2018-19 season. But with all this to deal with the club is in a strong financial position. It posted profits of £33 million last season and is now in with a realistic shout of winning silverware.
Spurs youngsters
Levy's reluctance to dive into the transfer pool could also be down to the phenomenal success of Tottenham's youth programme. Harry Kane was a product of the Spurs development scheme which has been likened to the Man United youth programme in the Beckham, Neville, Scholes era.
Maybe Spurs are slow off the mark in the transfer market, but then, who would be foolish enough to write them off. Levy and Pochettino have built a dynamic and exciting young team capable of challenging for the very top prizes in football.
