Spurs got rinsed by Poch’s “hero” who cost them £4.7m in wages last season

The difference between Tottenham Hotspur this season compared to the 2022/23 campaign is absolutely crystal clear.

From the playstyle and approach of the team to the entire atmosphere surrounding the club, it’s an exciting time to be a Spurs fan.

The introduction of Ange Postecoglou is one of the main reasons for this development as a whole, utilising his entire squad to put them in the driving seat of a Champions League spot for next season.

However, the Lilywhites missed out on Europe all together last campaign, with certain individuals costing the club millions despite barely playing.

What Spurs paid for Lucas Moura

During the 2016/17 campaign, Lucas Moura was on fire for French outfit Paris Saint-Germain, scoring 12 goals and providing four assists in 29 starts.

With those performances fresh on the mind, Spurs selected the Brazilian as the best choice winger to cement himself as a key player for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, forking out £25m to acquire his services in January 2018.

It took the speedy ace a while to settle in the Premier League, playing only six times for Spurs in his first campaign. However, Lucas really began to show his true ability in his first full season, scoring ten times across 25 league starts.

Unfortunately, that would go on to be the versatile attacker’s best record in a Spurs shirt, despite giving the club their most memorable moment in recent years.

Wage Burners

Football FanCast’s Wage Burners series explores the salaries of the modern-day game.

Lucas Moura’s salary in his final season at Spurs

The 8th of May 2019 will be a date that both Lucas and the Spurs faithful will never forget, with the former PSG ace becoming a “superhero,” as per Pochettino, for his second-half hat-trick, which saw Spurs beat Ajax in the Champions League to send them to the final.

Lucas’ career at Tottenham well and truly peaked at this moment, and because of that match he will always be remembered as a hero at the club, but his final years at Spurs failed to match the standards set after that tie.

The “ridiculous” ace, as dubbed by journalist Josh Bunting, dealt with a few injuries over the past two seasons in particular, missing five games in the 2021/22 campaign and eight matches last term due to a calf injury.

This meant that during his final season at the club, before moving to São Paulo last year, Lucas didn’t start a single Premier League game, picking up the same number of red cards as goals, which certainly doesn’t justify being paid £90k-per-week.

Across the campaign, Lucas earned a whopping £4.7m according to Capology, which is nowhere near the highest at the club, but it’s a rather hefty amount for a player who failed to have any positive impact on the team, especially in his final spell.

Despite that famous night in Amsterdam, it’s clear to see that Lucas cost Spurs a great deal more than they hoped for his overall output, especially during last season. Indeed, it was a rather disappointing ending for a player who provided one of Tottenham’s best moments in recent years.