Jose Mourinho admits that it was made very clear to him how different Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer funds would be compared to the likes of Saturday’s opponents Manchester City.
Spurs have struggled with individual mistakes in their defence under Mourinho but whereas City can throw hundreds of millions at new defenders, including £65m on Ruben Dias this season, the north London club’s reality is very different.
Tottenham were interested in Inter Milan centre-back Milan Skriniar last summer but would not meet the Italian club’s £44m valuation of the Slovakian.
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Instead Spurs turned to more of a project in Swansea defender Joe Rodon, with the then 22-year-old Wales international signed for £11m.
Mourinho has watched the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool solve problems with money while Tottenham attempt to build towards that kind of financial platform.
“Pep and Jurgen are, of course, two of the best coaches in the world and the Premier League. They are in two clubs that want to win everything, they want to win everything, and to win everything, you need to have top players in every position,” he said.
“A team is a puzzle, and that’s what they did and if Pep thought in a certain moment that he needed to spend that money in defenders, he did it, and Jurgen he felt the same with Van Dijk and then when Van Dijk was not enough because he was feeling another fragility, they got Alisson.
“You know, I think that’s a thing that the big clubs with incredible economical possibilities, they do it. Lucky them, good for them.”
The Spurs boss was asked if he thought he would have big transfer funds to improve his defence next summer.
He said that the club’s hierarchy had always been clear about the club’s finances from the first moment he spoke to them.
“No, when I came to the club, the club was very open and very honest with me,” he said. “I’m not going now to try to compare my situation with other clubs because the club was very open with me.
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“I knew that I was going to come to a different reality. A big club, no doubt about that, not one second, but a club with a different profile in terms of being or not being a candidate to win competition A or B, a club not being able to resolve problems with a cheque.
“The club made the possible efforts in the summer to improve the team and I’m not complaining about anything, I just do my work the best I can and that’s it.”
Some Tottenham fans have been critical of some of the performances under Mourinho, citing defensive tactics and a reliance on counter-attacking.
The Portuguese made it clear though that he does want to win games with aplomb.
“I want to win matches and I want to win matches with style,” he said. “Yes, I do. I do want.”
Tottenham will play City again in April in the Carabao Cup final and some rival fans have been mocking the north London outfit’s merchandise that has already gone on sale ahead of the match.
Mourinho was asked whether he felt that the cup final merchandise showed that Spurs are at a different stage in their development compared to their rivals.
“I didn’t know [about the merchandise]. I think we have a marketing, merchandising department that is responsible for that and I presume that their job,” he said.
“I don’t know, maybe I am saying something silly, but I imagine that a very important thing in their job is to make money, right? It’s to make money. So if you can make money selling anything, just make money.
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“If you ask me if am I going to buy anything, I am not going to buy anything. If you tell me if you lose the final, what are you going to do with your silver medal, I am going to say first of all I think I am going to win the final and secondly if you want my silver medal I give to you because I don’t want to keep it.
“But I think marketing and merchandising is about making money. Sell anything you can sell. You go to Manchester United matches and, if you realise well, even on TV, how many sponsors they have around the pitch, they sell everything, they sell mattresses, they sell pillows, they sell shoulder supports or neck supports, they sell everything.
“So probably they are doing very well. We have empty stadiums, incredible stadium always empty. How many millions is Tottenham losing every match we play at home?
“How many millions is Tottenham losing per month? We have to make money so we go to a final, try to sell some pins, some shirts, key-rings, anything. So well done.”
