Tottenham may be forced to sell some of their leading players, including Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, due to the financial implications of failing to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Spurs have been one of the competition's most refreshing stories in recent years, using a gung-ho approach that until Tuesday had served them remarkably well and made them many friends across Europe.
Real Madrid, however, smashed their dreams to smithereens this week, running out 4-0 winners in the quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu. And with Tottenham's domestic form stumbling, a season that promised so much could end in despair.
A series of managerial catastrophes, each one backed as well the last, has left the club with one of the biggest squads in the Premier League, and with a restrictive wage bill.
Speaking to the London Stock Exchange following the publication of Spurs' half-year accounts to December 31, 2010. club chairman Daniel Levy admitted a a policy of streamlining the squad is likely to be undertaken in the summer.
'We have hosted one of the largest squads in the Premier League during this period,' he said in his chairman’s statement. 'It is important to create a healthy balance in any squad between competition for places and for players to play consistently.
'Whilst this large squad eased our progress in the Champions League, we shall continue to look to streamline our squad where appropriate.'
In an accompanying balance sheet, Levy reveals a startling reliance on Champions League revenue, despite this being their debut campaign.
Figures show Champions League-related income growth was ?22.9million, much of which was spent on an increase in operating expenses (?12.9m). The attached summary stated the increase in 'operating expenses were due in main to the costs associated with large squad size.'
On top of the usual costs of running Tottenham as a business, the club splurged ?40.7m in transfer and agents' fees, and recouped only minimal sums in return.
Prior to Tuesday's Champions League hammering in Madrid, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp suggested that only a world-record ?80m bid would be enough to tempt the club into selling star man Bale, who signed a new deal earlier this year. That would represent a remarkable ?75m mark up on a player who has only this season started to show anything resembling good form.
Van der Vaart is another who would likely fetch a significant amount in the transfer market having joined for a cut-price ?8m on the final day of the summer window. Luka Modric, too, a ?16m signing, is attracting interest from Manchester United.
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