Jose Mourinho has only been in charge of Tottenham Hotspur for a few months, but he’s already found himself in a situation where he’s got a lot more on his plate than first anticipated.
There are on-pitch issues, with Spurs dropping out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage and playing catch-up in the race for a spot in next year’s competition, but there’s plenty of off-field and longer-term stuff too.
Before the ill-fated second leg of Tottenham's Champions League tie against RB Leipzig, Mourinho promised to end the club's trophy drought, by declaring that his tenure in north London would not finish without silverware.
“I believe Tottenham is not going to be my only club without silverware,” he declared. “I won it at every club and I believe I am going to do it also with Tottenham.
“So far I am here for three or four months. I got the team in very difficult situation and now even it is more difficult.
“But I believe in me, in the players, in the club and I believe that during my contract I will help the club to do it.”
We’ve taken a look at the key challenges the Portuguese manager must address if he is to deliver on his pledge.
Settling Harry Kane’s future
This is the big one. Kane has revealed Spurs will need to meet his expectations and ambitions if they want to keep him on board, and it’s hard to imagine a Tottenham team without the man who has scored more Premier League goals for the club than any other player in the competition’s history.
Either he finds a way to get the team to a level where Kane is satisfied enough to stick around, or he finds a replacement for Spurs’ main man, and that’s something you can’t afford to get wrong.
Resolving the outstanding contract issues
Spurs appear to have dealt with the most immediate contract issues, with football.london understanding the club has exercised an extension option in Japhet Tanganga’s deal and tied Toby Alderweireld down to a new deal before Christmas to ensure the pair aren’t out of contract in 2020.
However, Mourinho will still need to determine whether to keep Jan Vertonghen around - his deal expires at the end of the current campaign, as well as that of backup goalkeeper Michel Vorm - and decide what to do about Tanganga, Eric Dier and Oliver Skipp with the trio out of contract in 2021.
Finding a way to make Tanguy Ndombele work
Ndombele looked like the perfect midfield solution for Spurs when he joined from Lyon, but things have been tough for the Frenchman since Mourinho took over.
Spurs’ manager has publicly hit out at the club record signing, but it’s hard to conceive of any club effectively writing off such an expensive investment. Mourinho will ideally need to find a way to incorporate Ndombele back into his first-team setup or else get him off the books without incurring a huge loss.
Dealing with an ageing squad
The average age of Spurs’ starting XIs this season has been 26.5 years old, but their squad contains long-serving players whose peak may have passed.
Even if Jan Vertonghen leaves when his contract expires, and if Danny Rose makes his loan move to Newcastle permanent, they’ll be left with seven outfielders who made their Premier League debuts for the club in 2015 or earlier.
A lot will rest on how Mourinho is able to use younger players like Tanganga, Skipp and Ryan Sessegnon to help his team transition and begin looking to the future.
The roles played by 23-year-olds Davinson Sanchez and Giovani Lo Celso is a start, but he can go further.
Finding a long-term solution to the goalkeeper situation
Hugo Lloris is a World Cup winning goalkeeper who has done a lot for Spurs, but he’s also 34 in December and some cracks are beginning to appear.
An extended run for Paulo Gazzaniga has brought doubts about the Argentine’s status as a long-term heir, and Mourinho will need to determine how many more years Lloris has ahead of him.
Adapting the Mourinho style of management to the current era
We’ve already seen some suggestions that Mourinho’s methods just aren’t applicable to elite football in 2020, and the criticism began earlier when he appeared to lose his way at Manchester United.
The onus is on him to demonstrate he’s not yesterday’s man, whether in relation to an ability to change things on the field of play or the ability of his comments to have a positive impact off it.
While this is crucial for Spurs’ future, it also has a big part to play in determining Mourinho’s own future.
