Mauricio Pochettino says the European transfer window closing two weeks later than in England has the potential to “create a mess” at Tottenham.
Spurs concluded their summer business on Thursday as they added Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso to their squad, having already broken their transfer record on Tanguy N’Dombele, but European clubs still have until September 2 to sign players.
That puts Pochettino in peril of losing a number of players, namely Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose, with Jan Vertonghen also in the last year of his contract, and being unable to replace them until January.
The 2019 #PL Summer Transfer Window is officially closed However, further #DeadlineDay deals could still be announced as clubs that have submitted deal sheets have until 1900 BST to finalise signings pic.twitter.com/O0o0XTTV7I — Premier League (@premierleague) August 8, 2019
The Argentinian did not discuss any individual situation, but criticised the Premier League’s decision to bring the deadline forward.
“All the personal situation, it is not right to talk,” he said. “There is a lot of rumours. We cannot waste time talking about every rumour that appeared on the news.
“That is another point to argue that we are at a disadvantage with European clubs because they have 20 days more, because I think it is a big mistake for the Premier League to allow that.
“In this situation we open the door for clubs in Europe to try and create confusion in the club. The Premier League cannot give this advantage to European clubs because we are going to compete with them.
“If you are not going to compete with these clubs in the Champions League then OK, but competing with European clubs, it’s a big advantage to them.
“They can create a mess in a club like us.”
Pochettino was otherwise in a chipper mood as he previewed the Premier League opener against Aston Villa on Saturday, given his club’s dealings in the transfer market this summer as they backed his calls for them to “act like a big club”.
The arrival of Lo Celso, N’Dombele and Sessegnon has left him “happy plus” with his squad.
“I am very happy, like I told you before I was happy with my squad and now to add some more players,” he said.
“You are always thinking that players can bring good energy and help us achieve all that we want.
“We will see what happens, but I am so happy with the way the squad is. I was happy before, I am happy plus. I am a happy man.”
The future of Rose remains uncertain after he did not go on Spurs’ pre-season tour to Asia in order to arrange a move away from the club, but it looks as if he has been reintegrated into the squad after Pochettino said he was a “very important part of my plan”.
He looks like initially being first-choice left-back after Pochettino put the reins on expectations over Sessegnon’s immediate impact.
“Sess is so young, 19 years old. He can potentially be a very good player, still not much Premier League experience,” Pochettino added.
“He was playing as a winger, not a full-back at Fulham. It’s about time. Ryan is maybe behind Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele, they are 23 and 22 (respectively) and have more experience playing at a high level.
“Ryan is injured for maybe three or four weeks and then we’ll see how he is going to adapt. The club signed the player, like Jack Clarke, for the future. Medium to long term.
TEAM NEWS: 🔹 @dele_official (hamstring) – progressing well with rehabilitation and not available this weekend 🔹 @Ben_Davies33 (groin) – returned to training with the squad and building up fitness 🔹 Heung-Min Son (suspended) – serving second of three-game ban#PL ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/MZZCowv2f9 — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 9, 2019
“We cannot expect for Ryan… Of course he’s going to have the possibility to play. Of course the player who shows their best is going to play but there’s no pressure on him or Lo Celso or Tanguy.”
Sessegnon joins a sizeable list of players unavailable for the Villa game.
Dele Alli (hamstring) and Ben Davies (groin) are injured while Juan Foyth and Son Heung-min are serving suspensions carried over from last season.
Eric Dier, Serge Aurier and Victor Wanyama are back in training.
