Mauricio Pochettino reveals players may want to leave Tottenham
Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose are the two players most likely to make their way out of the club.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he is alive to the idea that certain players may want to leave the club to challenge for trophies and earn a better salary in the future as Spurs' model does not allow for spending beyond their means.
For all of Tottenham's success under Pochettino, they are yet to win a trophy and are without any silverware in their last nine years. They are already 18 points behind Saturday's opponents Manchester City in this season's Premier League title race.
Spurs are well acquainted to the idea of selling their leading players, having already sold the likes of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric to Real Madrid, and embarked this summer by making Kyle Walker the first high-profile departure under Pochettino, who joined City for a fee that could be worth in excess of £50m ($66m) — a record for an English player.
Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose are the two players most likely to make their way out of the club after refusing to sign new deals. Rose is a transfer target for Manchester United, who want to bring him to Old Trafford to replace Luke Shaw and strengthen their backline.
The Daily Mail reports that a £50m fee should be enough to complete the deal for a player who has questioned the club's wage structure and admitted that he would consider a move away if an opportunity arises at the slightest. Pochettino revealed that he is aware of the possible discontent among players but he cannot change the way Tottenham function.
"Exactly, that is the problem. I agree with you," Pochettino said, as quoted by ESPN. "Maybe some players are not agreed in this plan and this strategy, and of course they are right to complain, to talk and in the end to want to move or have another challenge for different reasons, because we are all different and we all have different challenges, motivations, roles in our life.
"That is normal. The most important thing is to talk, to design the plan for everyone and then be happy because life is about enjoying and being happy. It's not about wasting time in a bad way, because life is so short.
"It's human nature that the players always want to improve, and have different challenges and ideas. But I am not worried, because in the end it's always three parts in all the situations in football — the players, the club that owns the players, and if another club want some players, and in the end it's to be agreed on different things and try to make everyone happy with the decision. We're not worried."
