EXCLUSIVE
Jermaine Jenas would like to see Tottenham Hotspur break their wage structure in the next few seasons so they can keep hold of a unique group of players including Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Hugo Lloris.
Spurs have a salary cap currently imposed on their squad of £100,000-a-week with Lloris and Kane as the two highest earners, while Danny Rose came out and said that his club don't pay their players enough in a recent interview.
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Jenas played 155 games for Spurs and is now a BT Sport expert. He believes that Spurs are risking losing more star players in the coming season than just Kyle Walker, who left the club for £50 million to join Manchester City.
"I think the one thing that will always hold them back is that wage structure," Jenas told Goal. "Until they break that wage structure they will never be a super-club. Manchester City will pay £200,000-a-week, Manchester United will pay £200,000 to £250,000-a-week to their players.
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"Right now, Harry Kane is one year away from being worth that, if already not being worth that. He could probably go to Man United and collect £230,000 or £250,000-a-week already and quite easily.
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"Are Spurs going to break their wage structure? Maybe for one or two and I hope they do. As a football club, I think if the players are performing and getting you into the Champions League year-in, year-out, you invest that money in your best players.
"You hope players like Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld, who has not signed his deal yet, get rewarded with the deals that they deserve because that group of players are some of the best in Europe right now. You hope they keep them."
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Spurs have come close to winning the Premier League title in two successive seasons only to fall short against Leicester City and Chelsea. They also got the semi-finals of last year's FA Cup but lost out to Chelsea in a 4-2 thriller at Wembley Stadium.
Mauricio Pochettino has been hailed by the football world for his exciting brand of football and Jenas thinks that his former club is still going in the right direction, despite issues emerging from their tight wage structure.
"It is an exciting football club to play for, it really is right now," Jenas added. "There’s so much happening. The training facilities are state of the art. You turn up to training every day and look at your surrounding thinking 'thank god I am at the football club'.
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"The thought of walking into that new stadium, with the manager that they have got, there are so many positives that outweighs money at that club. The players get paid well but not what they deserve, in terms of their market value.
"But they are happy, they live in London. You add these things up, your family are happy living in a lovely area in London, you are at a good football club and you are becoming a better player.
"I think that is the biggest thing as a player, you see your own game improving, you are moving in the right direction, you are challenging for trophies all of a sudden. That makes you stay. I think that’s what’s happened with these players.
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"In saying that, one or two might leave in the next couple of seasons. I think essentially, they as a club as players, certainly the ones I have spoken to, the majority of them are happy."
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