Mauricio Pochettino is right about the transfer window deadline; it makes no sense to be three weeks out of step with the rest of Europe.
Given the way Romelu Lukaku has just left Manchester United in the lurch, basically forcing through his own departure with only time left for his club to make a half-baked and easily resisted attempt to sign the 33-year-old Mario Mandzukic as a new attacking figurehead, any manager in charge of a squad containing a player coveted abroad will not be able to rest easy until the beginning of September. Such players include Paul Pogba, Christian Eriksen, Morgan Schneiderlin and perhaps a few more whose amenability to a transfer overseas has not been flagged up all summer; as the Tottenham manager points out, it is “not common sense” to build that sort of crisis into your constitution when the earliest a replacement could be found is now around Christmas.
Related: Spurs ‘vulnerable’ to bids for players from Europe, says Mauricio Pochettino
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