DANIEL LEVY has confessed Tottenham’s poor signings such as Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso are still hitting the club in the pocket.
Spurs recorded a £50.1million loss for their financial results ending June 30, 2022.
That was an improvement on the £83.8m loss from the year before, though the latest figures are from the first full season with fans back in the stadium after the pandemic.
Ndombele was signed for a club-record £65m in 2019, with fellow midfielder Lo Celso arriving a year later for £55m.
Both proved to be costly flops and, with Spurs unable to find buyers, are currently on loan at Napoli and Villarreal respectively, while £28m capture Sergio Reguilon has been farmed out to Atletico Madrid.
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Levy admitted the errors continue to harm the club financially but believes recruitment in recent windows, which has included splashing big money on the likes of Cristian Romero, Richarlison and most recently Pedro Porro, has been much improved.
In a statement on the club’s website, the Tottenham chairman wrote: “We have felt, and continue to feel, the financial impact of supporting player purchases which have not worked out as planned.
“We have taken steps to improve this area of operations and we believe the recent transfer windows reflect this.”
Amid fan groans of Spurs not spending enough, Levy pointed out that £500m has been invested into the first-team squad since the opening of the club’s new stadium in April 2019, “putting us in the top five of spending in the Premier League”.
He said the goal remains to have Spurs being competitive while being financially sustainable in the long term.
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That has been getting harder, he argued, over the last decade with the arrival of “increased sovereign wealth ownership” in the Premier League, following the mega-money takeovers of Manchester City and Newcastle.
City are in the dock for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and could even face expulsion from the Premier League as a result.
Levy added: “It is understandable that some fans call for more spending, much of which is unsustainable for many clubs.
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“We are competing in a league in which we have seen increased sovereign wealth ownership and consortia finance.
“And in a league where the spending power is now vested in the hands of a few who dominate and have the ability to distort the market.
“We welcome the changes to the governance of the game which compel greater financial sustainability and financial fair play.”
With fans returning, Spurs made £106.1m on match receipts for the results’ period - compared to a measly £1.9m from the year before when Covid-19 continued to deny supporters the chance to attend games.
Uefa prize money was down on the year before though due to an embarrassing group-stage exit of the Europa Conference League compared to competing in the Europa League the prior season.
Levy said “stricter control of our cost base, increased commercial and sponsorship revenues and consistent European qualification” would be key to continuing the club’s investment in the team.
