TOTTENHAM have spent almost �150million on 21 new signings since June 2008, the club s financial statement revealed this week. Spurs' annual financial figures showed that the Lilywhites splashed out �148.7m since the start of last summer...

By Ben Pearce

TOTTENHAM have spent almost �150million on 21 new signings since June 2008, the club's financial statement revealed this week.

Spurs' annual financial figures showed that the Lilywhites splashed out �148.7m since the start of last summer's transfer window, when sporting director Damien Comolli bought 10 players for manager Juande Ramos. Since then Harry Redknapp has brought 11 players to the club.

The figures emerged just days after the Lilywhites announced that they will sell the naming rights to their new stadium.

Ironically, Tottenham are likely to cash something in the region of �150m for a sponsorship contract lasting 15 or even 20 years - it has taken the club just 17 months to blow that amount on new players.

Although executive director Paul Barber has refused to quote a figure for a naming rights deal, Chelsea are known to want �150m for the renaming of Stamford Bridge, and Barber believes that Spurs could get an even better "premium" deal for a new, unnamed and ultra-modern arena.

The Lilywhites have consequently spent more on recruitments than the traditional 'top four' over the same period, second only to Manchester City - who have been dubbed the richest club in the world.

However, Tottenham's revolving door has meant an equal number of departures, with �242m changing hands altogether across over 42 transfers.

The club's overall outlay - when the �93.3m of sales are taken into account - comes in at a more modest �54.4m.

Curiously, Spurs are claiming a 'player trading profit' of �56.5m between June 2008 and June 2009, and consequently an overall pre-tax profit of �33.4m - a club record.

However, their own figures state that, within the financial year, the total cost of the 15 incoming players was �119.3m, while the 15 outgoing players had a combined sale price of �72.5m - seemingly producing a �46.8m deficit rather than a �56.5m surplus.

Regardless, most Spurs fans will see their club's expenditure as a small price to pay for the dramatic upsurge in fortunes on the field.

Chairman Daniel Levy will surely see it as a bargain when he looks back to the club's precarious situation last November, when big-money signings like Luka Modric, Heurelho Gomes, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Giovani Dos Santos also looked questionable to say the least.

And Levy is confident that Tottenham have taken giant strides behind the scenes, as well as shooting up the Premier League over the past year.

"We have made significant progress in delivering on our long-term vision for the club," he said. "We have always had three key priorities and you will have heard them oft repeated - investment in the first team, a new training centre and an increased capacity state-of-the-art new stadium.

"We have assembled what we believe to be one of the most talented squads we have had during our time in the Premier League, the ground is being turned and pitches laid for the new training centre at Bulls Cross in Enfield and we have submitted a planning application for a stunning new stadium on a site next to our existing stadium."

The latest figures have, however, highlighted some of the more bizarre movements at Spurs over the last three transfer windows.

Robbie Keane, Pascal Chimbonda and Cesar Sanchez all appear on both the 'ins' and 'outs' lists, while Chimbonda is in the departed section twice, having quit the Lane, re-signed and left again in three consecutive transfer windows.