In The Money: Tottenham may have themselves a £13.4m+ safety net as Manchester United development emerges
Tottenham were being talked about as possible Premier League title contenders this time last month, but the real target has come into focus in recent weeks.
After three defeats on the spin saw Spurs slip out of the top four entirely, it is clear that qualifying for the Champions League has to be the main aim this season.
Aston Villa currently occupy fourth place following their win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend, with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool seeming solid bets for the top three.
While the Villans must be considered a serious top-four rival, it is Manchester United that Spurs will be more wary of at this moment in time given the Red Devils’ recent run of league results.
However, even if Spurs finish just behind United in the battle for a top-four finish, they may have a safety net of sorts if a report in The Sun [29 November] is anything to go by.
According to Martin Lipton, Europe’s top clubs are split over whether to ban United from competing in the Champions League due to Jim Ratcliffe’s ownership of Nice.
Ratcliffe hopes to own a slice of United by next season, which raises questions over the integrity of UEFA’s flagship competition as Nice look great value to qualify for the competition proper.
That means even finishing fifth – or possibly sixth, depending on how English teams get on in this season’s competition – would land Spurs a place in the 2024-25 group stage.
As confirmed by UEFA, via Sporting News, merely reaching that round of the competition this season landed clubs a £13.4million payment. An additional £2.2m is added to that for each win, or an extra £736,000 for a draw.
If Tottenham’s record in their most recent participation in the competition in 2022-23 is anything to go by – three wins, two draws and a defeat – they would land just under £21.5m.
There would then be an additional £7.6m payment for reaching the last 16 – so £29.1m overall – a further £9.7m for reaching the quarters, £9.9m for making it to the semis, £12.3m finishing runners-up, and £15.9m for winning the whole thing.
Spurs may seem a far cry from Champions League finalists right now, but it was only four years ago that the club famously made it to that stage when losing to Liverpool.
It is worth noting that the format of the competition will change next season, but the prize payments are only likely to increase.
As per ESPN, UEFA expects revenue from broadcast and sponsorship deals to rise by 33% in 2024, meaning more money for those taking part.
“We are working on [both] conservative and more optimistic projections in a range I would say between €4.6billion and 4.8bn,” UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti said earlier this year.
Daniel Levy will need no telling that competing in the Champions League has never been more lucrative.
Finishing fourth would make for a nice payday, but it may well be that Spurs have a safety net to fall back on should United be blocked from competing.
In other Tottenham news, the Lilywhites may gamble on a 21-year-old defender following recent transfer speculation.