Mauricio Pochettino has done a fantastic job at Tottenham Hotspur so far.
Since leaving Southampton in 2014, the Argentinian has embraced the challenge of the project at White Hart Lane, building a side that is now renowned for it's structure,intensity and work ethic both in attack andin defence, while boasting the biggest group of young English talent of any side in the Premier League.
But still, despite his radical changes and new approaches to football matches, Pochettino appears to have made the same fatal mistakes in the transfer market like those who had come and gone before him. Spurs have simply been too naive, again.
After a steady and consistent season in his first campaign, the former Espanyol man found a system that worked, mounting an impressive title challenge, while at the same time getting the best out of the likes ofDele Alli, Eric Dier and Harry Kane in what could have been a season to remember.
Ultimately, it wasn't to be. A lack of experienced and world class figures in the side saw them slip away from the prestigious trophy. Nevertheless, Pochettino had achieved his goal in gifting the north London club Champions League football, and more importantly, a larger budget to attract the sorts of players that would make them a real force both domestically and in Europe.
Surely they would learn their lesson from the last time they had a sudden burst of income - Gareth Bale's sale to Real Madrid that pocketed them £80m - and sign less players but for more, focusing on their experience in winning titles and competing in Europe, rather than saving a few bob for a handful ofyoung unknowns.
It appears that they haven't, and it's beginning to show already.
Vincent Janssen, Moussa Sissoko, Victor Wanyama, Nathan Oduwa and Kevin Nkoudou. Not exactly a group of players you would call 'cream of the crop'. Once again, Daniel Levy has opted for saving pennies to sign good players this summer. Good players don't win you titles, nor do they make a significant impact against the best of the best in the Champions League.
And Levy knows this, otherwise he wouldn't have panicked and splashed out £30m on a French midfielder that was part of one of the most disappointing Newcastle United sides of recent times that saw them relegated to the Championship.
In the club's defence, the current transfer market is not full of availableworld class players, and if there are some, their market value has risen soastronomically that only a select number of sides can even afford the agent's wages, let alone the player's, but they have to make that gamble sooner or later.
They only need to look across to their neighbours to see the positiveresults of taking that jump, no matter how much they would hate to admit it.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger took just under 10 years to bow down to the modern game and fork out £42m on Mesut Ozil. Since then, the likes of Alexis Sanchez,Petr Cech and Shkodran Mustafihave followed, and after a worryingperiod of fanuproar and disappointing league finishes, the club finally look strong enough to challenge on all fronts.
It's the snowball effect - make one world class signing, and you send a message, not just to rival teams, but world class players who may be more inclined to join a project that is ambitious, rather than one looking to save some money and balance the books with cheaper alternatives.
Pochettino's charisma and managerial potential is already turning the heads of world class players across Europe, but he needs to go against his philosophy of youth for just a season or two and go big, as well as have the backing from the Spurs hierarchy, or see his side drift off the pace and fall behind when it really matters.
Pochettino @SpursOfficial: "We need to be positive. It's in our hands to go to the next round. We have 3 games to play. It's up to us" #UCL pic.twitter.com/KCSDdOXCjC
Tottenham's goalless draw to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night in the Champions League, a side currently 10th in the Bundesliga, shows just how inexperienced and lacking in real quality they really are, which will eventually have an impact ontheir domestic endeavours.
If Pochettino wants to take his team to the next step, he needs to break the bank, as well as the mould that former managers and inadequate signingshave left on a club with so much potential.