EPL 2016/17: Tottenham Hotspur's wage ceiling conundrum
Tottenham Hotspur Chairman Daniel Levy faces a stiff challenge to renegotiate the club’s wage structure as he had declared a ceiling on the club’s wage limit for a player that stands at a reported £100,000-a-week. Levy is to known to have increased the figure from £80,000-a-week in February after renegotiating talisman Harry Kane’s contract, by tying the winner of last season’s Golden Boot down until 2020 on £60,000-a-week-deal.
England internationals Eric Dier and Dele Alli were also handed new deal earlier this year in January with new contracts keeping the duo at the club for five more years.
However, Kane has indicated he would like an increase in his salary to a reported £120,000-a-week-deal, claiming he would love to continue to play at Tottenham for a long time. Daniel Levy, known to be a shrewd businessman, negotiated contracts with current Spurs player leaving out a bonus for the players provided they qualified for the Champions League, like United for example who hand out a 25 per cent bonus to the players for a spot in the top four.
Spurs number one Hugo Lloris and Moussa Dembele are the clubs' current highest earners with the two key players already earning a reported £80,000-a-week. With the club’s fantastic performance and third place finish last season, the big players at the club feel they should be entitled to a higher salary just like the rest of the top clubs who offer incentives for performance, something the players regards as fair.
Chelsea, United, City and Arsenal all pay their top players around £150,000-£200,000-a-week and over that mark for the elite few, with performance-based incentives handed out by the club as a sign of gratitude.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal along with a few large clubs in Europe are closely monitoring the developments at Tottenham as they face a tricky situation of losing important players provided the strict, rigid wage structure gets altered to the benefit of both the players and the club.
With Levy facing the music as players ask for a pay hike, the Chairman of the club needs to restructure the club’s wage bill and lift the ceiling imposed, with the Spurs faithful getting tense and worried about having to deal with a situation of mass exodus of top players at the club.
However Harry Kane has demanded a pay rise as the England international feels he has earned it like his national teammate Jamie Vardy, making a £100,000-a-week since his blistering rise to the top, last campaign.
"I am happy," Kane told reporters. "I think it [speculation] shows that I am doing well. A lot of people are going to speculate about contracts, but I am happy here. We are in talks, and I'm sure we will get something sorted. I'm not panicking. We are having a conversation, and I have no doubts that we will get it sorted.
"I am happy at the club and want to be here for a long, long time. I'm fully concentrated on playing for Tottenham and winning for Tottenham, and I think there are no doubts that my mind is anywhere else.”
Kane issued the statement post the dramatic late win at White Hart Lane, warning potential suitors to forget about scouting the player. However, with Levy still holding onto the wage structure, Kane might be forced out of the club as he looks for an increase in salary for the superb displays he puts in every week.
During the summer ahead of the start of this Premier League season, the club signed Vincent Janssen as a cheaper alternative for Michy Batshuayi, as Levy refused to bring down the club’s wage ceiling, resulting in Spurs losing out to Chelsea on the young Belgian coupled with losing the club’s head of recruitment Paul Mitchell, who was aghast by the club’s wage structure.
If the club Chairman Daniel Levy refuses to change the clubs’ wage structure, they risk losing valuable players to other clubs. Losing the balance and core of a squad who look to be in harmony is destroying any and all hopes of the Spurs faithful that were witness to and reenergized by the current crop of players who displayed the highest quality of fast, strong, dominating, attractive football last campaign.