Tottenham have ripped up the Mauricio Pochettino masterplan of developing rising stars to embark on buying established ones, accroding to Football Insider.
Spurs' first two signings under Jose Mourinho were Giovani Lo Celso, 23, and Steven Bergwijn, 22, in January although the former was already at the club on an initial loan.
A Tottenham source has told Football Insider that Jose Mourinho is keen on recruiting more senior players this summer in a major move away from the Pochettino blueprint.
Agents will be told that the Portugese is keen to strengthen the squad with players who won’t need extensive settling-in periods like Lo Celso and summer-of-2019 recruits Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Jack Clarke required.
Spurs have set the balling rolling by making early moves to take advantage of Willian’s contract stalemate at Chelsea.
As reported by Football Insider, the Londoners are set to offer a lucrative contract to Willian, 31, before the next window as they look to make him their first recruit of the summer.
Mourinho has earmarked the winger as a priority target and others he has in mind fall into the same category of proven at the highest level.
This is a major step away from Pochettino, who was happy to go along with a transfer policy of buying relatively cheap players who could be developed into Premier League stars under the command of his coaching staff.
This reaped its rewards for most of his five-and-a-half year tenure, notably through signings like Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min, Toby Alderweireld, Eric Dier and Kieran Trippier.
There were also more expensive signings such as Lucas Moura, Moussa Sissoko, Davinson Sanchez and Serge Aurier, although none were older than their mid-20s when they arrived.
In other Tottenham news, it can be revealed that Mourinho has told friends 29-year-old won’t ever play for Spurs again.