Tottenham Hotspur could struggle to finish in the top four next season, says Jermaine Jenas

Jermaine Jenas believes his former club Tottenham Hotspur could find themselves crowded out of the top four next season, despite challenging for the Premier League title for the past two years.

Jenas, who played for Tottenham between 2005-2013, is a huge fan of manager Mauricio Pochettino. But he has identified the temporary move to Wembley Stadium, Daniel Levy’s lack of activity in the summer transfer market and the strengthening of their rivals as significant factors as to why they might struggle next season.

The BBC pundit also said that the club will miss the influence of Kyle Walker next season, a player that Jenas believes “strengthened them defensively as well as in going forward”.

He told The Independent: “The disappointing thing from a Spurs point of view is that Walker has gone to Manchester City, and in doing so he has massively strengthened a competitor for that Premier League title.

“The other side to that is that Spurs were always going to sell to the highest bidder, and the clubs in the Premier League have the most money.”

Nevertheless, the former Spurs player has urged fans to unite behind the manager after the sale of one of the key members of his team.

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“From the club’s perspective they should trust the manager. He has gone way over and above in terms of being able to earn that trust from the fans. If it was his decision to sell Kyle then I’m sure he has a plan in place.

“He has nurtured Kieran Trippier into a position where he will play a number of games this year, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t bring in someone with more experience to help out”.

Jenas also admitted that the financial problem associated with the club’s wage structure “will always be there” and could lead to certain players deciding to quit the club in the future.

“There will always be the odd player that will say ‘I’m a better player than that player sat across me in the England dressing room, and he’s getting double the amount of money as me'. Some players reach a certain stage in their careers where they feel they need to earn more money.”

However, he does not expect an exodus of star players in the immediate future and believes the club will be able to hang onto the likes of Harry Keane and co.

“Tottenham have got a younger squad, players such as Dele (Alli), Harry Kane and Eric Dier are younger players with time on their hands and on good money,” he added.

“So I think the majority of the players there are content as long as the club is seen to be trying to win trophies. The moment Spurs start settling for getting into the top four is when they will start to encounter problems.

“I just don’t see Harry Kane leaving any time soon. I think he is very happy at Spurs and they are showing enough ambition, they’ve reached the Champions League for the last three years.

"He’s also the England captain as it stands right now, and he’s gone from strength to strength because he is the main feature at Tottenham Hotspur. If he goes to another club all of a sudden he just becomes another player.”