Daniel Levy has reassured Mauricio Pochettino that Tottenham Hotspur will finally splash the cash in the transfer market following the move to their new £1 billion stadium.
Tottenham announced a new eight-year shirt sponsorship deal with AIA on Thursday that is thought to be worth around £360m.
The £45m a year partnership - which replaces the previous deal with AIA, one of the world’s leading life insurers - is thought to be the third biggest in the Premier League after Manchester United and Emirates Marketing Project and follows the club’s long-awaited move into their new 62,000 capacity Tottenham Hotspur stadium in April.
Despite reaching the Champions League final last month, Tottenham have been unable to match the financial clout of Premier League rivals United, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and neighbours Arsenal down the years.
But Levy believes Tottenham - who also funded the move to a new £25m training ground, Hotspur Way, in 2012 - are ushering in a new era for the club and has vowed to provide the funds to help Pochettino compete.
“If I’m honest, we don’t feel the pressure,” Levy, Tottenham’s chairman, said at the launch of the new AIA deal in Shanghai ahead of their game against Manchester United at the Hongkou Stadium.
“Our view is wherever we can we will improve the team. We have embarked in recent years on two very major capital projects, which I think in the long term will be of great benefit to the club. We will continue wherever we can to improve the team.”
Tottenham’s capture of winger Jack Clarke for around £10m from Leeds this month ended a 517 day wait for a signing but the club have since smashed their transfer record to land France midfielder, Tanguy Ndombele, from Lyon for a projected £65m and are working on other deals.
Tottenham are closing in on a £20m deal for Swansea’s Ryan Sessegnon and Pochettino wants to bring in the £80m rated Juventus and Argentina forward, Paulo Dybala. The Spurs manager also hopes to sign Real Betis midfielder, Giovani Lo Celso, but his £67m price tag is so far proving prohibitive.
Levy believes Spurs supporters have a lot to be excited about going forward.
“I'd like to think we're going in a very positive direction and we will continue to do our very best to continue to grow, not just in Asia, but throughout the world,” he said.
“We've now met the priority of building the stadium and our training facilities and now it’s to continue to find ways to not only improve the commercial aspects of the club but also the football and continue to be a success.”
Tottenham’s previous deal with AIA was due to expire in 2022 but the new arrangement on improved terms runs until the end of the 2026/27 and is worth about £45m annually.
Although that is still below United’s £51m a year shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet and just below City’s partnership with Etihad, it is believed to eclipse the respective £40m a year shirt sponsorship deals Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have.
Levy would not rule out striking a naming rights deal with AIA for the stadium in the future in what would be another huge financial windfall for the club.
“Very simply, AIA and I have discussed all sorts of possibilities and at the present time we’ve decided to focus only on the shirt,” Levy said when asking about naming rights.
“We always look to come up with new ideas in terms of how we can improve and enlarge the engagement between ourselves and AIA and I’m sure our respective teams will continue to do that.”
Levy said the value of the AIA deal would not be hit if Tottenham fail to qualify for the Champions League. “Obviously the commercial aspects of the deal are sensitive and confidential,” he said. “All I would say is that when you are in the Premier League it is a very competitive league and AIA know there are no guarantees of finishing in the top four. We very much hope we will, however that is no impact on the deal.”
Levy took mild exception to the suggestion that Tottenham were a “top six” club looking to hit much greater heights. Tottenham have finished in the top four in the past four seasons.
“I actually thought we were a top-four club for the last four years?” Levy said with a smile. “But obviously as part of our strategy we want a leading global brand and AIA is a brand we’re very proud to be associated with.”
Pochettino said last week that he would have probably left Tottenham had they won the Champions League but that the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool had made him even more determined to bring silverware to the club.
Strangely asked by a Chinese reporter if he was looking to make any management changes, Levy said: “We are always looking to improve the performance of the club but at the present time there is no intention of making changes to management.”
Ng Keng Hooi, chief executive and president of AIA, said: “The enormous popularity of the English Premier League and Spurs across our markets, coupled with the ongoing success of the club on the field, which culminated in the Champions League final appearance, make this an ideal time to extend our partnership.
“Spurs are a team primed for future success and we look forward to the future together with great excitement.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...eight-year-shirt-sponsorship-deal-worth-320m/
