Jose Mourinho is in danger of being “left out to dry” at Tottenham, claims Jermaine Jenas, with the Portuguese lacking the backing he needs in order to compete with the Premier League elite.
Mourinho was acquired by Spurs in November 2019 after they took the decision to part with Mauricio Pochettino.
He has, however, already faced questions over his philosophy at Spurs and is not expected to be handed a transfer war chest in the summer window.
Jenas believes that will work against the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss, with expectations now about to be reined in despite the lack of boardroom support.
The former Tottenham midfielder told the Daily Mail: “It’s going to be really frustrating I think for Mourinho next year because he’s going to be the one left out to dry I think. Essentially he needs players and they are a team that I don’t see getting in the top four right now.
“They’re not better than Wolves, they’re about on par with Arsenal but actually I see what [Mikel] Arteta is doing and I think that he is just ahead of what Mourinho is doing with his team. I don’t see it being a very pretty season for Jose or Tottenham at all.”
Pressed on whether he expects Mourinho to see out the 2020-21 campaign still at the Spurs helm, Jenas added: “I'd like to think he will. I’m pretty sick of managers getting put in situations where everything is kind of against them and I think Tottenham is one of the clubs that do that in a way.
“If you look at what Pochettino did for that football club, to not back him at a time when he needed to be back seemed like a ludicrous decision.
“The team needed refreshing, they didn’t refresh it and off the back of it there was huge frustration from Poch and the team basically continued, even though they got to the Champions League final they lost 13 league games. It continued its form into this season which was poor.
“No managers walk anymore because there’s too much money involved, but obviously Jose has come in and taken the job so I would presume there was conversations that there would be investment.
“Granted, no one could have the pandemic and there was a new stadium and with that, Spurs are probably one of the richest clubs in Europe I think with the amount they make from people coming to games.
“I’m sure Daniel [Levy] will have said ‘this is the project, here’s gonna be the money’, but I’m also sure he’s now gonna come up with an excuse to say ‘there is no money so deal with it’.
“In my opinion, I will feel Jose’s frustration and have sympathy for him because his hands are tied.”