Thierry Henry has warned Tottenham that if they want to be a big club, they’re going to have to act like it, even with their current financial constraints.
With Kyle Walker signing for Manchester City, and Danny Rose very publicly talking about the Tottenham players’ poor wages, Henry reckons that Spurs need to step up their game if they’re going to compete with other ‘big’ clubs.
As he knows first hand from his time at Arsenal, while it’s not easy to compete with the richer clubs, particularly when building a new stadium, it has to be done or, as they did at his former club, players will jump ship.
“If you want to be a big club, you have to act like a big club,” Henry wrote in his Sunsport column.
“I know from my own experience it is so hard to compete financially when you are building a new stadium.
“But what happened at Arsenal? Everybody left!”
The former Invincible continued, “Signing Davinson Sanchez from Ajax is a start, but only a start… there are other areas that need improving.
“Kyle Walker is already gone, Danny Rose has talked about it (leaving) … Eric Dier never denied anything about Manchester United.
“At some point if you don’t match the wages on offer at other clubs or bring titles it’s going to be difficult to keep Rose, Dier, Harry Kane and Dele Alli.”
Danny Rose, who complained about his wages in a recent controversial interview, reportedly earns £65k-per-week. The left-back has been at Spurs for a decade and is 27 years old. Compare this to Arsenal, for example, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has only just turned 24, has been a Gunner for six years, and is allegedly set to be offered £125k-per-week.
Totteham’s highest paid player is supposedly Hugo Lloris on £120k-per-week. If Mesut Ozil extends his deal with Arsenal, the German will be earning almost double that.
Arsene Wenger learned that you have to dish out competitive wages if you want to keep your top players the hard way.
Tottenham lost their second Premier League game of the season 2-1 at ‘home’ (Wembley) against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.