Tottenham may have to lower expectations

Tottenham may find they have to scale down the £10m they will reportedly seek as compensation if their director of football, Frank Arnesen, moves to Chelsea.

Arnesen has two years of his contract to run, but Chelsea seem to take the view that the issue is merely one of compensation and are considering £5m.

A problem for Tottenham in any court action would be to prove Chelsea actually induced a breach of contract. They would then have the harder job of proving actual loss. While Arnesen has a fine record of uncovering talent, he has not been at Spurs long enough to show that the same alchemy can work in London.

Chelsea would be entitled to argue that such loss, as Spurs may claim, is wholly speculative, and contingent upon Spurs showing that Arnesen could source young players to join Spurs and who would then have a resale value in excess of their initial transfer fees.

The writer is a media and commercial solicitor and a partner at Ross & Craig in London