Tottenham have future Ballon d’Or winners in their squad — it’s down to Pochettino to nurture them
Gareth Bale's rise through good management at White Hart Lane shows avenue for major success available to our star players
SPURS? Ballon d’Or?
Admit it, you didn’t expect to be reading that combination today.
Recent weeks aside, the Tottenham we’ve seen over the last season isn’t far away from such claims. They’re simply crying out for adjustments.
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Luckily, Mauricio Pochettino is the man to deliver these high demands and with a new deal for Harry Kane completed, fans can begin to plan for the long-term.
Cast your mind back to a 2013 version of the North London club.
Gareth Bale’s remarkable rise to the top is something that to this day unites British football fans. He is after all the most glowing success story we’ve seen come from these shores.
During his time at Real Madrid, he has been crafted into a world-beater — a Ballon d’Or winner.
Credentials we saw at Spurs.
We now have two more players capable of such lofty ambitions.
Had Kane not been at the club everyone loves to hate, he too would be receiving the plaudits he so richly deserves.
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Admittedly, an underperforming Euros at the hands of Roy Hodgson has gone against him in his hunt for praise.
But this hasn’t stopped him becoming an incredible force in the Premier League.
He was after all the Golden Boot winner last season, an award fans mistakenly attribute to one-season-wonder Jamie Vardy.
Dele Alli also is not far off such approval from Premier League supporters.
His Golden Boy nomination and influence at the club at such a young age is nothing to be ignored.
Pochettino must get it right with these two, and so far he seems to have done so.
The bite and tenacity that we’ve seen in Alli’s game could have unravelled rather quickly.
But the Spurs gaffer successfully channelled this for the better — and we now see a more polished product of the Football League.
The gaffer appears to have cracked the mentality his players need to succeed. In the case of Alli, a new contract was a welcome reward for his journey from MK Dons.
The club have now supported Pochettino with a new deal for Kane.
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A player of his calibre and stature had to be the highest paid player at the club — a label he remarkably took from the disappointing Moussa Sissoko.
So where does this leave the club?
The next few months are essential in not only keeping these players at White Hart Lane, but to invite stronger talent to the club that can boost the foundations for success already in place.