Tottenham Transfer Talk on Monday with THBN

Our run in the Champions League showed just what is possible by a group of determined players, although we have to admit that they lost focus in the Premier League.

The secondary issue with the UCL is the associated income streams, bigger sponsorship deals, increased gate receipts, more expenditure in the ground, additional merchandising plus growing brand awareness throughout the world.

Daniel Levy has said that our business model deliberately does not rely on Champions League income.

That explains a conservative approach in the transfer market. The club remains on a sound financial footing. 

That is not going to be wasted by a gamble in the January transfer market where those few players that are available and more expensive than they would be in a summer market.

No team wants to weaken themselves mid-season so no team puts their better players up for sale, they wait until the summer usually before they consider a deal for players they can then more easily replace without upsetting a season.

Fans, unfortunately, assume new signings mean improvement, but that isn't always the case, not straight away anyway. It takes time for a player to adapt to a new manager, a new system of playing, new surroundings.

If the player is coming from abroad then it is even worse, they have to adapt to a new language, a new culture in a country where they don't have friends, new food, new weather, even a new style or passion from supporters.

A transfer is fraught with danger and it is common sense to minimize the risk factor as much as possible.

Our supporters seem to think Daniel Levy has to spend spend spend to back Jose, but that almost certainly isn't what they have agreed before he signed for Spurs.

Neither are fools. Jose Mourinho does not run the club and or dictate strategy.

Both know that transfers take place in the summer and few actually take place in January. They will not have agreed to wholesale changes in |January, but a rebuilding in the summer, particularly with Eriksen and Vertonghen in the last year of their contract.

There is the contract situation of other players to consider so we don't find ourselves in this situation again.

We know Danny Rose is running down his contract, he enters the final year of his contract next season, as does Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier, although I believe we are discussing a new deal with Dier at the moment.

Players who have two years left on a contract should be sold is they will not sign an extension as they then can command their full transfer fee, after that it starts dropping.

Paulo Gazzaniga, Juan Foyth, Serge Aurier and Hugo Lloris fall into that category.

That is 9 players in total whose futures we have to seriously consider in the summer. Of those Gazzaniga and Foyth are only on £20,000-a-week (€23,541 - AUS$37,996 - US$26,332) so running down their contracts isn't a financial issue.

That still leaves seven players to leave or contemplate selling in the summer. That is without the deadwood, players like Kyle Walker-Peters.

We clearly need a new right-back but Premier League strugglers Norwich City are not going to sell one of their best players, 20-year-old (21 next January) Max Aarons (if Mourinho is interested in him) in January while they are fighting to avoid relegation.

Neither are RB Leipzig going to sell us 22-year-old (23 in November) French U-21 right-back (6 caps) Nordi Mukiele while they sit top of the Bundesliga and are chasing the title.

Leipzig bought Mukiele from Montpellier in July 2018 for £14.4 million (€16.95m - AUS$27.36m - US$18.96m) and are reportedly negotiating with 22-year-old (23 in February) Monaco right-back Benjamin Henrichs.

Mukiele has started 15 of Leipzig's 24 games this season, coming on as a substitute in 5 more and missing one through injury. He has had 2 goals and 2 assists and is under contract until 2023.

I have had a few questions about 26-year-old (27 in March) Ajax winger or attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech.

CalcioMercato in Italy suggests he is worth £42.49 million (€50m - AUS$80.71m - US$55.93m) and that he is available in January.

He caused us problems in the UEFA Champions League semi-final last season but I have heard that he has an attitude problem that has stopped sides like Bayern Munich buying him.

Spurs interested in Hakim Ziyech

I told readers in the summer that Jan Vertonghen was likely to end his career at Ajax and Dutch newspaper De Telegraph are reporting that Ajax have been rebuffed in their attempts to sign him in January.

Clearly, with no backup and little chance of buying anyone in January, we want to keep him until the summer when he will be a free agent and replacements will be available.

The same thing is likely to happen to Toby Alderweireld in a couple of years.