Jose Mourinho’s time at Tottenham has already been mixed.
After he replaced Mauricio Pochettino, the man who led Spurs to a Champions League final, the 56-year-old settled in quickly, winning five of his first seven matches. However, he has failed to triumph in each of his last six matches, which suggests that the new manager bounce has already waned.
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In all fairness to the Portuguese boss, though, he is yet to have the chance to really put a stamp on this side since joining – he has only had the January transfer window to bring anyone in, which saw Steven Bergwijn and Gedson Fernandes arrive – meaning that his first real opportunity to do so will be this summer.
As per The Telegraph, one potential new recruit could be Willian. The Chelsea winger – who played under Mourinho during his second spell at Stamford Bridge – is out of contract in the summer, and Spurs are one of the sides interested.
However, there are several reasons why Tottenham and Daniel Levy must avoid this move.
Here, we take a look at three of them…
Age
As it stands, Spurs are already one of the oldest squads in the Premier League – only seven sides are, on average, older than their 26.4 years. Bringing in Willian, though, would only increase that.
The Brazil international is already 31 and will be 32 at the start of the next campaign.
So far, he has not really struggled with injuries, but that is only going to become increasingly more likely as he progresses into his twilight years. It would be a risk to bring him to the club, as such.
Wage structure
Despite being a regular Champions League competitor, Spurs do not spend as much on wages as six other clubs in the Premier League. The $4.95m (£4.1m) earned per year by the average Tottenham Hotspur player is lower than at Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Everton.
At Stamford Bridge, Willian earns £120,000 a week. For context, that would see him become the fourth-highest paid player at Tottenham, becoming only the fourth player to earn more than £100,000 a week in the process. Star names such as Hugo Lloris and Dele Alli would earn less – it would be a massive amount of money to spend on a player approaching the end of his playing days.
Steven Bergwijn
Bergwijn was one of two players to join Tottenham in January, making the switch from PSV for £27m. He has already made an impact at the club, scoring on his debut against Manchester City – all in all, he has two strikes in five games so far.
A left-winger, he will likely have to move more regularly to the right in the long-term when Son Heung-min returns from injury – after all, the Netherlands international has played 61 games there according to Transfermarkt.
However, Willian’s arrival would, at the very least, see his playing time reduced, and it could even see him have to play a secondary role. That is not what he will have been expecting when he made the move from the Eredivisie.