Tottenham: Daniel Levy 'seriously underpaying' £360k per-week duo at Hotspur Way | OneFootball

Highlights

Tottenham Hotspur are somewhat of an underdog in terms of the Premier League’s big six. The north London side has been operating over the past decade on signing young players for below market value before turning them into gems and this has pushed them into regularly competing for UEFA Champions League qualification.

Their recent success has helped them move out of White Hart Lane and into the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which set them back a jaw-dropping £850m. All the recent investment into Spurs has all been down to how they manage their finances and the Lilywhites do it better than most in the Premier League.

The London giants spend £115m a year on their first-team players' contracts. In comparison, north London rivals Arsenal are splashing out £166m annually. So who are the best-paid players at Tottenham? Thanks to data from Spotrac, we've taken a look at Tottenham's top earners and ranked them from 'waste of money' to 'seriously underpaid'.

We will rank the top 10 earners at Spurs and judge whether they deserve their lucrative contacts or if it is time the recruitment team decide to cut ties with the player. Players will be placed in one of five categories, ranging from "waste of money" all the way down to "underpaid".

6 Who are the top 10 highest-paid Tottenham players?

Unsurprisingly, Heung-min Son is the highest earner at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium taking the spot away from former £200k-per-week talisman Harry Kane. The South Korean international takes home a very healthy £9.9m paycheck every year. Eric Dier and Pedro Porro are bottom of the list with the defenders making half the amount of money that Son earns in the same time frame.

5 Waste of Money - Eric Dier

Dier has been a very good servant for Tottenham as the Englishman has now played in over 350 games for the Lilywhites. However, the 29-year-old has fallen towards the bottom of the centre-back pecking order. With Romero's impressive performances and the recent signing of Micky van de Ven, it doesn’t look like Dier will be seen as first-choice anymore.

The former Sporting prospect is now burning a £4.4m-a-year hole in Tottenham’s pocket as they could invest that money elsewhere. Dier looks like he has been frozen out by Ange Postecoglou and there are reports that Daniel Levy has spoken to the centre-back over where his future lies with Spurs.

4 Overpaid - Richarlison, Hugo Lloris, Ivan Perisic

If Richarlison was paid more than £100,000 per week then he would have been selected for the waste of money category.

Dubbed the “flop of the season” by former Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara - it’s fair to say the Brazilian hasn’t impressed too many fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. If it wasn’t for the eye-watering £60m price that came with the former Everton attacker then the expectation for Richarlison wouldn’t be so high.

The Brazilian international has been deployed as a striker very frequently during his time in north London but scored just once in 27 Premier League appearances last season. Any £90,000-per-week striker has to be classed as overpaid if they're scoring just one goal during an entire season - especially when Kane and Son were playing next to you.

Lloris has been a very good shot-stopper over the past decade - after all he did hold down France's number one spot for a number of years. Over the past year, the Frenchman has struggled to keep the ball out of his net and now finds himself pushed down the pecking order.

Perisic being Tottenham's second-highest earner is crazy - only Son gets paid more than the European journeyman which suggests that the

Croatian is overpaid.

3 What they deserve - Pedro Porro, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Hojbjerg may see his minutes decrease vastly over the coming months with Yves Bissouma forging a solid partnership next to Pape Matar Sarr.

Last season Hojbjerg was one of Spurs' star players - when compared to his teammates last season the Danish international ranked first for accurate long-balls per 90 (4.5) and second for accurate passes per 90 (57.4) showing his importance in the middle of the park.

Porro has looked fantastic in recent months with the dynamic wing-back showing both his attacking and defensive capabilities in both halves of the pitch. Last season the Spaniard registered an impressive six goal contributions from 15 matches, so we will have to see how good the defender is when is given more playing time in the Premier League.

2 Value for money - Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski

Following the match against Ecuador in a CONMEBOL 2026 World Cup qualifier in September, Messi said: “For me, he [Romero] is the best defender in the world right now.”

So if arguably the greatest player of all time says you are good a football it may be an indication that you’re doing something right on the pitch

Romero was Tottenham’s Argentinian rock at the back last season, leading the way with the most interceptions (1.7) and clearances per 90 (3.7) in the entire Spurs team. The 25-year-old joined the north London outfit from Serie A side Atalanta for a fee in the region of £42m and earned a place in the Tottenham faithful for his consistent performances on the pitch.

The 6 foot 1 centre-back has already tasted victory with his native Argentina as he featured in his nation's FIFA World Cup victory over France last year. He will now be hoping he can earn some silverware in the near future under Postecoglou.

Kulusevski may have not been at the level of Son or Kane during his time in north London but that's not to say he hasn't been impressive. The Swede has demonstrated that he is more than comfortable playing in the Premier League and under the guidance of Postecoglou it looks like his ability is on an upward trajectory.

1 Seriously underpaid - Heung-Min Son, James Maddison

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy may not like to hear it, but Son is criminally underpaid. The South Korean may be the Lilywhites' highest-paid player but his wage is nothing compared to the players around him. Todd Boehly is paying Raheem Sterling £325k-per-week at Chelsea, while out-of-favour Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho is seeing £350k enter his bank account every week.

Labelled as “one of the best in the world” by former boss Antonio Conte, the former Bayer Leverkusen winger has been the standout performer along with Kane at Tottenham for a few years now.

Son took home the Premier League Golden Boot in 2022 when he racked up an impressive 23 goals from 35 games. The explosive winger is now one of the long-serving players in the current Spurs squad having played over 300 games while totalling more than 200 goal contributions in all competitions. It’s time Levy pays Son fairly before he starts thinking about a move elsewhere like former teammate Kane.

Maddison has only been in north London for a very short time but it's already clear that Postecoglou has a wizard under contract that can create chances out of thin air, being joint-leader of the Premier League for assists after eight games. If the Coventry City academy product can stay fit then Spurs have a very good chance of finish high in the Premier League for a number of seasons, which in the current climate makes his £170k per-week earnings an absolute steal.

For reference, 40 Premier League players earn more than Maddison currently, including Marc Cucurella, Darwin Nunez, Antony, Thiago, Thomas Partey, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Enzo Fernandez to name a few.