Tottenham's talents were once cherry-picked by Manchester United but now Spurs can stand firm

In the summer of 2006, Michael Carrick left Tottenham Hotspur to join Manchester United for an eyebrow-raising £18.6m. Two years later, Dimitar Berbatov followed him to Old Trafford for £30.75m, in turn becoming United's most expensive signing ever. Tottenham, meanwhile, won their last piece of silverware - the 2008 League Cup - in the season between those two departures.

While Mauricio Pochettino was right to say earlier this week that another League Cup triumph would not “change the life” of Tottenham, it is worth observing just how much has changed around the club since, if not because of, Carrick’s departure, Berbatov’s departure and that 2008 victory.

At that time, Tottenham were lesser relations to the old ‘Big Four’, capable of occasionally threatening United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool’s dominance, but too inconsistent to make good on their potential and establish themselves among the leading pack.

Carrick and Berbatov both realised this when offered the opportunity to play their football at United and, more importantly, so did Daniel Levy.

Though the Tottenham chairman did not wish for either player to leave, even complaining to the Premier League over the “disgraceful” pursuit of Berbatov, there was a sense he could not obstruct a move at the right price. Simply because of United’s allure, financial muscle and more realistic promises of success, those deals could and eventually would be done.

United have bought from immediate rivals in the years since, namely Chelsea and Arsenal, but Chelsea have only ever sold on Chelsea’s terms, while the capture of Robin van Persie would have been impossible without the leverage provided by the Dutchman’s dwindling contract.

The Carrick and Berbatov moves, on the other hand, were straight-forward examples of the transfer market food chain, with a bigger and stronger club ‘swooping in’ on the best players at a lesser rival. Standard and acceptable practice at White Hart Lane then, but things have changed.

Now, there is not a ‘Big Four’ but a ‘Top Six’. A Tottenham manager can talk of winning “real trophies” like the Premier League and the Champions League without provoking a snigger and when United show an interest in one of their best players, that interest is firmly rebuffed.

Eric Dier could have been a United player this season. His conversations in Portuguese with Jose Mourinho down the Old Trafford tunnel after last November’s 1-0 defeat there unsettled Pochettino, as the Tottenham manager admitted earlier this week.

United, he said, ‘destabilised’ Dier but once the summer came around, he, Levy and the club stood firm. Dier would not be sold, as they insisted throughout the most recent transfer window, and instead, he will walk down the same tunnel in a Tottenham shirt again on Saturday.

That in itself is a marker of how far Tottenham have come. In terms of stature, historical honours and resources, United are still superior, but Tottenham have joined their gaggle of top English clubs and what’s more, can more than match each of those rivals on the pitch. The Premier League season is only nine games old, but the early indications suggest that Saturday’s match will be played between two of this season’s top three, even if the likely winners will not feature.

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With the road to Dier closed off, United ultimately went for Nemanja Matic, who has impressed in these opening months. A week prior to the midfielder's arrival though, Mourinho could not help but note Tottenham’s resilience in the market.

“Everybody speaks about the dimension of the investment at Manchester City but there is another team that I feel the dimension of their investment is also phenomenal – Tottenham,” he said in late July, during United’s pre-season tour of United States.

“Until now they spent zero pounds, right? They keep everybody they want to keep. They keep Dele Alli, [Harry] Kane and [Toby] Alderweireld, they keep Eric Dier, they keep everyone they want to keep. They sold Kyle Walker I think because they want to sell.”

These words were a recognition from Mourinho that Tottenham are no longer a club that can be cherry-picked by their domestic rivals. Their supporters are often exasperated by whispers linking Kane, Alli and Christian Eriksen with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the reality is that these are the only two clubs likely to persuade Levy to let his best leave.

That, nearly 10 years on from Berbatov’s departure, is where Tottenham find themselves in the aforementioned ‘food chain’ in terms of selling players: ironically, at the same level as United.