There’s the faintest pang of jealousy from former Tottenham assistant manager Gus Poyet when he assesses the reign of Mauricio Pochettino.
Poyet speaks glowingly of his fellow South American, who over the past three and a half years has turned Spurs into a formidable force and arguably the Premier League’s most consistent side.
But he has done it in a financial climate the likes of which Poyet and his manager Juande Ramos could scarcely have imagined, where the financial might of Chelsea and Manchester United no longer allows them to leverage out the players they want.
Though Pochettino sanctioned the sale of an unhappy Kyle Walker to Manchester City this summer, using the £50million fee to fund an overhaul of his defence, he has not had to deal with a transfer saga as destabilising as the summer of 2008, when Ramos and Poyet had to watch as their star player Dimitar Berbatov tried to force his way out of the club.
"What has made Spurs so good? Two things," Poyet explained to Standard Sport. "One: having consistency with a very good manager in Mauricio Pochettino. Two: one of the greatest decisions Daniel Levy has made in the last 15 years is no longer selling the best players.
"I know it’s difficult, it’s easy to say you have to keep players but the one who runs the show [Levy] has to get the money and spend it. Everybody knew you couldn’t sell your best players every year because then there’s no way the team gets better.
"When Juande Ramos and I were there we did something unique by winning the cup [beating Chelsea 2-1 in the 2008 League Cup final]. Still the last cup, don’t forget that!
"The situation was after when we made the team for the following year, we bought fantastic players, maybe too many, but [Dimitar] Berbatov [leaving for Manchester United] destroyed the season. The story with him was a killer.
"We started the league and he didn’t want to play. That story went until 11:45pm on September 1. We needed to keep him. He put us in the final, he scored in the final. He had done so many great things for us, losing him hurt everything.
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"People think it’s not that big a problem but it is. Sometimes a manager can’t use it as an excuse but of course, it is. When you have so many players around who want to leave you have to be so special for it to not affect you. And it definitely affected us."
Poyet, whose most recent managerial stint came in the Chinese Super League with Shanghai Shenhua, is in no doubt that Pochettino is the right man to take Spurs forward and hailed the Argentine as an example for managers old and new.
“I can learn many things from him,” he continued. “Most importantly when he has a young player from the academy he just plays him. He doesn’t worry about the critics and makes strong decisions.
“Of course you need the backing of the board to do that, sometimes it’s a disaster for managers but it pays off for him.
“I think he has the most English of the big teams. In terms of top players, they have plenty who’ll be great for the national team. That’s fantastic for England.”
If Poyet believes a consistent side is helping to propel Tottenham to new heights how does that explain Arsenal?
Arsene Wenger had hailed the arrival of Mesut Ozil in 2013 as the end of an era when Arsenal would no longer need to sell their best players. That may be the case – though the German and Alexis Sanchez could well leave on a free this summer – but the consistency of selection has not borne fruit for the faltering Gunners.
“They’ve probably gone in the opposite direction to Tottenham,” Poyet adds. “Spurs are thinking ‘we are OK, we’re happy, we’re above Arsenal. What’s next? Winning titles.’ The players are enjoying playing there but they’ll eventually think about leaving, but not just yet.
“The problem with Arsenal is the opposite. They were winning titles and players joined expecting to keep winning. Now they have gone through a spell where they’re only winning the cups and there are players there who want to win the league. They’re getting tense.
“That’s not helped by what’s happening outside the club. When I was a player Arsene Wenger was God. Now there are so many rumours. He’s still a defining figure – there’ll be a before and after Wenger where Arsenal are concerned – but it has got to a point where his future is affecting the team.”
Gus Poyet has made the Big Call with online betting site BetStars. He is backing a 2-2 draw between Arsenal and Tottenham. #Callit at https://www.betstars.uk/en-gb/news/football/the-big-call-gus-poyet.shtml