Arsenal spending spree shouldn’t prompt Tottenham to press the transfer panic button

As club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette smiled for the camera and held aloft his new Arsenal shirt, thoughts in the white half of north London will have turned to their own lack of transfer activity. The second highest scorer in Ligue 1, and the Bundesliga’s outstanding left-back last season, have both moved to the Emirates even without the carrot of Champions League football, while Tottenham do not appear close to any deals whatsoever.

Regardless of whether Alexis Sanchez leaves or not, Arsenal have strengthened two problem positions with genuine quality and there is a real sense that Arsene Wenger – who has even been trying to convince Kylian Mbappe to join – is preparing for one last big title push. But while the Gunners have dropped £52m on Lacazette, there is a growing fear of stagnation at Spurs.

There have been no new signings yet, the likely departure of Kyle Walker – and the lack of a replacement – hangs over the club’s summer plans and the prospect of a season at Wembley is a daunting one. At a time when the club should be building on their second-place finish and continued participation in the Champions League, a perceived lack of ambition is instead causing unrest.

It is something that will not be lost on the squad, with Danny Rose underlining the need for ‘one marquee signing that can help us push forward’ during a candid interview at the close of the season. It is an opinion that many fans will share.

But such a signing may not be possible, or even necessary. Arsenal have spent double Tottenham’s own record transfer fee on a player who would only make the Spurs bench – the Frenchman netted 18 league goals from open play last season, compared to 24 for Harry Kane – and the amount of money needed to sign a player that can instantly improve an already strong starting XI may be beyond Tottenham’s current budget.

The summer has not been one of inactivity, though. All that remains of White Hart Lane is the steel shell of the Park Lane after the old stadium was gutted; a lucrative new sponsorship deal was announced with Nike, one that has already given the club far more presence in the capital’s high streets; and contracts are being worked on for both Kieran Tripper and Toby Alderweireld, with most of the squad already tied down for the long term.

Moreover, Spurs’ priorities are very different to those around them. Depth is what is required most: cover for Christian Eriksen, an heir to Mousa Dembele, a pacey wing option – preferably not another mediocre wide-man from the French league – and perhaps a new centre-back if Kevin Wimmer is to be offloaded.

The marked difference in quality between Spurs’ squad and those of their rivals was highlighted in the FA Cup semi-final, where Chelsea could bring on Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. The latter was a key cog in their title win despite starting just 13 league matches, providing 12 assists – incredibly, he scored or assisted every 78 minutes last season.

Tottenham have no-one of that ilk, but signing quality players specifically as cover is no easy feat. Spurs discovered that last summer when Vincent Janssen – who had to wait until April to score his first goal from open play – was the best available player that ticked their very specific boxes. Happy to play second fiddle to Kane? Check. Young enough to improve? Check. Reasonably priced? Check.

Mauricio Pochettino will expect more from the Dutchman next season now that he is fully integrated with the squad and has had a full season to adapt to the pace of the Premier League and the demands of Spurs’ high-intensity style. In fact, the Argentine will expect more from every member of his squad.

One of the great strengths of this Tottenham side is how young they are, and how much room they have for improvement. At 25.3 years old, Spurs had by far the lowest average age in the Premier League last season – over two years younger than champions Chelsea – while only Manchester United named a younger starting XI all season, when Jose Mourinho omitted all his stars for the final match of their campaign.

It is genuinely scary to consider how far away from their peak some of Tottenham’s players are. Yet Kane has already scored 78 Premier League goals in 116 games (a goal every 1.48 games), more than record scorer Alan Shearer had at the same age (70 – a goal every 2.55 games), and is only now reaching his prime goalscoring years. If he maintains or improves his strike rate from an injury-hit 2016/17 campaign, he could easily break the record for goals in a single season.

Dele Alli, meanwhile, has already scored 28 goals in his first two seasons in the Premier League. By the age of 21, and despite plenty more appearances, Frank Lampard only had 17 goals, Paul Scholes 15 and Steven Gerrard 11. The Chelsea and Liverpool icons’ goalscoring exploits exploded from their mid-20s onwards. Similarly, Christian Eriksen – still only 25 – is only now entering the peak years for a playmaker, when the very elite begin pulling strings for fun and dominating matches.

The core of Spurs’ starting XI, then, is as good as any other team in the Premier League. But more is needed from the fringe players. Erik Lamela has the potential to make a big impact, assuming he has recovered fully from the injury that derailed his season, but Janssen, Moussa Sissoko, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Josh Onomah, combined, only contributed six goals and assists. It is not good enough.

So while Tottenham may not need to be linked with big-money transfers and star names, they do need to replace deadwood. The worry is that much of that was signed under the current leadership, who are now being linked with underwhelming signings like Sporting skipper Adrien Silva and Nice winger Vincent Marcel.

But the sort of players Tottenham will target generally only become available later in the window. So many clubs now will not permit players to be sold until they have already secured their replacement, while there has been such a huge turnover of managers across the past 12 months many will be using pre-season as a chance to evaluate their players for the first time, or as a last-chance saloon.

The key for Spurs is to resist the urge to panic. Fans crave rumours, and the perceived absence of any movement on the transfer front has made supporters restless. But they need not be. Tottenham have a superb grounding and an excellent starting XI with no obvious weaknesses; Arsenal, and others, are playing catch-up. Depth is needed, but it is easier to acquire than the sort of marquee names other clubs require. What they must not do, above all else, is get suckered into another Sissoko-style panic buy.