Jose Mourinho and Tottenham

How much money does Daniel Levy have in the bank or available to him in terms of a line of credit?

The reason I'm asking is that Tottenham has not spent a ton of money on the transfer market, especially when compared to the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United.  Of particular interest is that recently United spent a lot of money after it hired -- you guessed it -- Jose Mourinho -- as its manager.  That hire did not work out for either party.  United continues to search for the magic after the great reign of Sir Alex Ferguson, and Mourinho is looking to attain the glory that he achieved in Spain and in West London and that eluded him in Manchester.

What's curious is that Mourinho likes to spend on transfers.  Historically, Spurs have not.  And Spurs have to pay off their stadium, and they had to pay a tidy sum to Mauricio Pocchetino as an exit payment and a good deal of money to bring Mourino to the lane.  So what happens next?

Mourinho recently said that he doesn't need more players, he just needs to see what he can get out of the players at Tottenham.  Fair enough, but this is a fourteenth place team, a team that has four veterans who might want out, and a team that might have more veterans wanting out should the methods of Mourinho not suit them.  Atop that, Poch did magic with the squad, given that most pundits did not believe Spurs to be deep enough to make deep runs in Champions League or for cup trophies.  Poch got Spurs close to Champions League glory.  Now the roster is even older.

Did Poch lose the locker room?  Or did the locker room lose belief because they started to feel that last year was as good as it was going to get -- not necessarily with that manager, but with that squad?  To me, the answer to the latter question is the most compelling, as the consensus of the pundits seems to be that the team hit a wall, that Poch is a great manager, and that Mourinho is a great manager but that hiring him is a risk, as he seemingly has gotten battier as he has gotten older.

All of this seems to suggest that Spurs might overhaul the roster after this season.  It could be that Christian Eriksen and Danny Rose exit in January, and who knows what the fates of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld will be?  This is where Mourinho comes in -- he likes to acquire, and he might have some leeway to do so.  That explains why Daniel Levy hired Mourinho to begin with.

Spurs should elevate in the standings with a new manager, at a minimum because the squad has to be embarrassed that their play managed to get a great manager sacked.  And it could be that Mourinho unlocks some problems in the lineup and strengthens the attack.  But the risk also is there that he goes to war with a key player or too, creating more disharmony.  Whatever the case, it all should be good theater.

Meanwhile, Poch now is the best manager available.  It was surprising that Arsenal did not grab him, but then again, they should have changed out Arsene Wenger years before they did to get the red-hot Juergen Klopp.  Their ownership is not decisive or that insightful, so they remained sentimental and loyal to Wenger.  Now it appears that they are just plain stubborn.  They missed out on Klopp, and it could be that Poch is at the Theatre of Dreams come this summer.  The odds, though, suggest that Poch will end up at Santiago Bernabeu, and enjoy lovely Madrid and taking that team back to winning Champions League trophies.