It is hard to know which phenomenon is the most surprising at Tottenham in this pre-season like no other. The list of startling occurrences that would previously have been unthinkable at the club is fairly long.
For years, fans, former players and managers such as Mauricio Pochettino had urged Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis to invest in the squad to consolidate on their strength, but it seemed that was just not their thing. They ran a tight ship and borrowing to buy players seemed anathema, even before they had £1.1billion of stadium debt.
But then in May came the entirely unexpected announcement that club owners ENIC — which is essentially Lewis and Levy — would inject £150m of equity into the club to boost the squad.