In The Money: Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy must now surely be worried about £13.4m+ upfront payout
If Tottenham were not aware of it beforehand, a stunning win for Aston Villa over Manchester City means they are in for a serious battle for a top-four finish in the Premier League.
The Villans defeated the reigning English and European champions 1-0 on Wednesday (6 December) to move up to third in the table, now five points better off than Spurs having played a game more.
Given Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal are the other three sides that make up the top four, Villa are realistically Tottenham’s biggest threat right now of missing out on Champions League football next season.
That would have been the target for chairman Daniel Levy this season after missing out on Europe – and the riches it brings – entirely this campaign.
As confirmed by UEFA, via Sporting News, making it into the Champions League this season landed clubs a £13.4million upfront payment.
Add on top of that an additional £2.2m payment for every win, or £736,000 for a draw, and you can see why it is so important to finish in the top four.
That is not to mention the accumulative payments triggered for advancing in the competition beyond the group stage, from a £7.6m payout for reaching the last 16, up to £15.9m for winning the whole thing.
As pointed out by football finance expert Swiss Ramble on Twitter when Spurs reached the Champions League final in 2019, the Lilywhites earned a tidy sum of £88m that season.
The initial £13.4m payment, then, which is expected to rise next season anyway when the format of the competition changes, is just a small slice of a much larger pie that Levy will want a bigger slice of.
There is still the possibility of fifth place being enough to qualify for UEFA’s flagship club competition in 2024-25, but Tottenham will not want to rely on external factors.
Instead, it is down to the Spurs players to bridge the gap on the top four and hope that Villa – or indeed any of the others – slip-up in the coming weeks.
Being touted as outside Premier League title contenders early in the season was a nice thought, but right now the aim for Tottenham is simply to close the gap on the sides above them and qualify for the richest club competition of them all.
In other Tottenham news, the club’s production line could come to Ange Postecoglou’s rescue when Spurs take on West Ham.