Tottenham suffer World Cup hangover
With nine players involved in semis, a depleted Tottenham not ready for EPL start
Daniel Levy lives for the thrill of the chase on transfer deadline day. Year on year, as the clock ticks down, Tottenham's chairman invariably enters from stage-left.
He has become as synonymous with football's biannual circus as the luminous yellow tickers on 24-hour sport news channels and the overly excitable people found presenting them.
But aficionados of "Levy time" are becoming increasingly short in supply this summer. With 20 days remaining of the current window, Spurs remain the only side within the English Premier League's top six who are yet to make a signing.
Barely 12 months ago, that lack of activity was considered a signal of strength for Mauricio Pochettino's burgeoning side.
Progress of Tottenham players at the World Cup already became a vindication of the Argentine coach's ability to nurture and enhance some of the game's most promising talents; no other team had more players in the semi-finals than the nine hailing from north London.
That all bar one of the Lilywhites' 12 players reached the latter stages in Russia is another feather in their cap, as does the fact that they outlasted any other EPL players involved in the Finals in distance covered, minutes played and goals scored.
Yet those same exploits now risk becoming more of a bane than boon in the new season.
Juergen Klopp has already cast doubt on how Spurs will handle clashes against his Liverpool side and Manchester United as well as two London derbies, all before September is out.
Uncertainty also continues to hang over the futures of several players, with Toby Alderweireld's repeated public discourse appearing increasingly part of an exit strategy that would reduce a currently formidable and well-stocked defensive line into a house of cards.
Compatriot Mousa Dembele, similarly, has already consulted his globe-trotting Belgium teammates about the prospect of joining either the Chinese Super League or Major League Soccer while Danny Rose's days of needing to Google his teammates may soon be at an end.
Beyond potential defectors, Pochettino may have to contend with unwelcome advances as Christian Eriksen continues to be widely touted for a prospective move to Barcelona.
A risk of Harry Kane's inability to score in August continuing into the new season, on the back of his route to the World Cup's Golden Boot, has only added to Spurs fans' anxieties.
Maintaining a highly competitive squad, however, is proving an increasingly difficult task.
Pochettino's penchant for a tight-knit collective acts as a barrier to any stockpiling, while the additional pressure of meeting Uefa's squad criteria for the new Champions League campaign has been complicated by Eric Dier and Ben Davies failing to qualify as home-grown players.
Levy has been reluctant to join the EPL's cabal of heavy spenders and pontificated just last summer about how a new wave of heavily inflated transfer fees would not be sustainable.
Playing catch-up to the likes of United, Liverpool and Manchester City is unlikely to enter Tottenham's thought process, but the risk of falling behind at least deserves serious thought.
Leaving it late again could carry consequences that Levy's deadline-day gimmick cannot fix.
EPL PLAYERS INVOLVED IN WORLD CUP S-FINALS
MAN CITY (7)
France: Benjamin Mendy
England: Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Fabian Delph
Belgium: Vincent Kompany, Kevin de Bruyne
MAN UNITED (7)
France: Paul Pogba
England: Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones, Ashley Young
Belgium: Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini
CHELSEA (7)
France: Olivier Giroud, N'Golo Kante
England: Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Gary Cahill
Belgium: Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard, Michy Batshuayi
LIVERPOOL (4)
England: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson
Belgium: Simon Mignolet
Croatia: Dejan Lovren
LEICESTER (2)
England: Harry Maguire, Jamie Vardy
ARSENAL (1)
England: Danny Welbeck
EVERTON (1)
England: Jordan Pickford
BURNLEY (1)
England: Nick Pope
STOKE CITY (1)
(relegated)
England: Jack Butland
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (1)
(relegated)
Belgium: Nacer Chadli
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