How will Tottenham’s lack of transfer activity look during the last days of August? Throughout the summer they have played the role of the only sane person in the room, preaching about sustainability and casting themselves as the sole voice of reason.
Perhaps not without cause. Daniel Levy is a shrewd businessman who, whether he’s liked by his club’s fans or not, has guided Spurs through some choppy financial waters. By the time the new White Hart Lane opens in a year’s time, he will have balanced long-term ambition with short-term competitiveness and, for that, he deserves great admiration.
Still, it feels as if the Tottenham fan base has spent the summer convincing itself of certain falsehoods. The greatest mistake, perhaps, has been to underestimate the size of Mauricio Pochettino’s achievement over the last two seasons and to fail to recognise the magnitude of his accomplishment.
Spurs have finished third and second in consecutive years and, based on the historical importance of clubs’ respective wage bills, they really shouldn’t have done. They deserved to, they placed that high on merit, but - still - it was a dramatic over-performance.
The assumption seems to be that this is the way of things now. That somehow the significance of vast transfer spending has been diluted forever and that, enraptured by Pochettino’s voodoo, Tottenham will just keep rising. It’s seductive logic, of course, and perhaps representative of the way we’d like the game to be, but it doesn’t seem very realistic.
At the time of writing, nothing is happening. Ross Barkley reportedly remains on the radar, blinking faintly in the distance, but isn't close to a move. Similarly, while names of desirable European full-backs are connected with the club on a daily basis, there’s scant evidence of progress.
The suspicion, unfortunately, is that there’s a wake-up call lurking in the near distance. Should, for instance, Tottenham lose at Newcastle on the opening day - entirely plausible given that Pochettino will likely be without Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele, and Victor Wanyama - and then be beaten by Chelsea at Wembley, what would be the reaction?
It’s accepted that the pool of potential targets for Pochettino and Levy is quite shallow. Improving the first team, while respecting the current wage structure, is almost impossible. However, the real objective this summer was to add depth to a squad which has almost none. Tottenham’s inability to complete that kind of deal is bizarre and extremely difficult to explain.
Being frugal is smart and resisting the temptation to over-spend is similarly so, but there surely comes a point at which the market’s state just has to be accepted. After all, there's no actual reward for austerity; there's no trophy, no European qualification, and even the self-righteousness that comes with not playing along will only last for a few months.
But what if that worst-case scenario comes to pass? If two or more of those opening games are lost, surely the overwhelming temptation would be to rush into a crazy market, desperation leaking from every pore? Maybe it would be more than a temptation, perhaps it would be a necessity?
After all, as easy as it is to dismiss the loss to Manchester City in Nashville, it seemed at least mildly instructive. Supporters are, under threat of excommunication, urged never to read anything into those games. Fair enough. But any fan who watched that match claiming not to have been worried by it is surely feigning indifference - City weren’t just better, they were embarrassingly superior. If not for some rather profligate finishing, the scoreline would have been humiliating. Tottenham looked like one of those local teams, served up as cannon fodder for a European giant. They were underprepared, understaffed and dreadful. Two teams, both supposedly in competition with one another and at the same stage of preparation, but a chasm between them.
Concern is entirely appropriate - and whether they acknowledge it or not - every Spurs fan now has his or her doubts. About the size of the squad, about Wembley, about the permanence of the recent progress.
Maybe those who matter will reach the same conclusion? In recent days, Pochettino has urged supporters not to panic and promised that reinforcements are on their way, but that seems a curious departure from the party line. Tottenham have portrayed themselves as measured and thoughtful, the team who won't be rushed into recklessness, but yet are depicting a race against time to be properly prepared.
From this point, there seem to be only two eventualities. Either the club are proven entirely correct in their decision to defer to the existing players and academy graduates jostling for opportunities, or they’re forced into the late-business-with-absolutely-no-value-for-money trap that they’ve been so bashful about their ability to avoid.
On the basis that such activity, other than the occasional Van der Vaart anomaly, is never successful, that would surely represent the kind of worst-case scenario that never needed to be entertained.
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