Pochettino’s Claim: Were Spurs the True 2016-17 Champions?
Mauricio Pochettino has never lifted the Premier League trophy. He now thinks he should have.
The former Tottenham manager believes Spurs ought to be retrospectively crowned champions for the 2016-17 season, after Chelsea admitted to making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties between 2011 and 2018.
"If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team," Pochettino said.
In 2016-17, that “second-best team” was his Tottenham side, seven points behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. The gap suddenly looks very different when framed against a financial investigation that has already brought fines from Uefa, the Premier League and the Football Association – but no sporting punishment for the titles Chelsea won in that era.
Between 2011 and 2018, Chelsea claimed two Premier League titles (2014-15 and 2016-17), two FA Cups (2011-12 and 2017-18), the EFL Cup (2014-15) and the Europa League (2018-19). Four players linked to the secret payment arrangements – Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic – were all at Stamford Bridge in that 2016-17 title-winning campaign.
Pochettino is one of the first heavyweight figures to say out loud what many have muttered for months: a fine alone feels lenient.
Everton and Nottingham Forest fans have been quick to highlight the contrast. Their clubs have taken points deductions for comparatively minor profit and sustainability breaches, while Chelsea used undeclared payments in the pursuit of elite talent. At the same time, the Premier League has yet to deliver a verdict on Manchester City’s 115 charges for alleged financial rule breaches.
So does Pochettino have a case? And how much did those four Chelsea players really tilt the title race?
Hazard: The Face of a Tainted Era
If there is a symbol of Chelsea’s financial breaches, it is Eden Hazard.
Chelsea beat a host of European giants to sign him from Lille for £32m in 2012. The Premier League investigation found that between May 2013 and August 2016, seven payments totalling £5.6m went to an unregistered agent “for the benefit of the club in connection with Hazard’s transfer”.
Pochettino’s logic is simple: if Chelsea bent the rules to land a player of Hazard’s calibre, what might Spurs have done – or who might they have signed – had they chosen to ignore the regulations too?
Hazard’s impact in 2016-17 was enormous. He started 36 Premier League games, scored 16 goals and added five assists. Only Cesar Azpilicueta played more league matches; only Diego Costa scored more league goals (20).
He was Chelsea’s player of the year, made the PFA Team of the Year, and reached the shortlist for PFA Player of the Year. That’s the headline influence. The finer detail is even more striking.
Look at four specific fixtures.
- He scored the opener in a 2-1 win over West Ham in August.
- He scored and assisted in a 2-0 victory over Southampton in November.
- He again struck first in a 2-1 win over West Ham in March.
- He scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Manchester City in April.
You can reasonably argue those contributions were worth around 10 points. Ten points in a title race decided by seven.
Hazard was not a new signing in 2016-17 – this was his fifth season at the club – but the investigation makes clear his arrival, and the advantage it gave Chelsea, was rooted in rule-breaking.
Willian: The One That Got Away From Spurs
If Hazard is the poster boy, Willian is the sorest point for Tottenham.
The Brazilian joined Chelsea from Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013. The investigation found transfer-fee payments totalling £19.2m to two unregistered entities linked to his move and that of Samuel Eto’o.
Spurs fans remember this one. Willian was on the verge of signing for Tottenham before Chelsea swooped in at the last moment. Pochettino and Spurs supporters can now argue that Chelsea only pulled that off thanks to the secret payment structures.
Willian was not a guaranteed starter in 2016-17. Nineteen of his 34 league appearances came from the bench. But he still delivered: eight goals, eight assists, and a knack for decisive moments.
Again, four matches stand out.
- He assisted the only goal in a 1-0 win at Sunderland in December.
- He scored twice in a 4-2 win over Stoke later that month.
- He netted the opener in a 2-1 victory at Stoke in March.
- He set up the winner in a 4-3 thriller against Watford in May.
Those contributions helped secure eight points. Eight points in a season where Chelsea finished seven ahead of Spurs.
Luiz and Matic: The Spine Under Scrutiny
The investigation also uncovered £5.1m in payments between 2012 and 2015 “to provide talent identification services in certain European countries”. These were linked to the registrations of Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
By 2016-17, Matic and Luiz were both in their second spells at Chelsea. The 2011 swap deal with Benfica involving Matic and Luiz was examined. Matic later returned in 2014; Luiz came back from Paris St-Germain in 2016. The subsequent deals were not explicitly charged, but the association was clear enough for investigators to flag.
On the pitch, both were central to Conte’s system.
Matic played 35 league games, starting 30, with one goal and seven assists. Only one of those attacking returns directly affected a result – but it came in a huge game: he assisted Chelsea’s first goal in a 2-1 win over Tottenham in November.
Luiz, restored at the heart of a back three, started 33 league matches and scored once – the opener in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool in January. He was steady, authoritative, and good enough to be named in the PFA Team of the Season.
This was not about volume of goals. It was about structure, control, and the platform that allowed Hazard and Willian to decide matches at the other end.
Spurs’ Nearly Season – And the Fine Margins
Strip away the controversy and 2016-17 was one of the finest seasons in Tottenham’s modern history.
They finished on 86 points, winning 12 of their final 13 league games. They were unbeaten at home in the last season at the old White Hart Lane. Best attack. Best defence. Fewest defeats. By many metrics, the most complete team in the division.
It still wasn’t enough.
Chelsea matched their relentlessness, winning 11 of their last 13 to close on 93 points and the title. Spurs’ 86 would have won the league in 2015-16, when Leicester took the crown with 81, and in only two seasons since 1999-2000 would that total have been enough to finish top.
The issue for Tottenham came early. An 11-game unbeaten start contained just five wins. Too many draws while Chelsea were racking up victories. Chelsea actually lost more matches – five to Spurs’ four – but they won 30 games to Tottenham’s 26. That was the difference on paper.
Pochettino would argue that the attacking edge Chelsea enjoyed through Hazard and Willian, both tied to secret payment arrangements, swung the title. Between them, they produced decisive attacking contributions in eight separate fixtures that led directly to points.
Then there is the longer arc of sporting advantage. Sign Hazard, win trophies, qualify for the Champions League, attract more elite players, repeat. The financial breaches didn’t just affect one season; they helped shape an era.
Spurs Fans: Justice, Even a Decade Late
For many Tottenham supporters, Pochettino remains a beloved figure. His single season at Chelsea, ending in a sixth-place finish in 2023-24 and a mutual parting of ways, did little to change that. His five years at Spurs, by contrast, are still cherished: a Champions League final in 2019, a club-record 86 Premier League points, and a style of football that re-energised the fanbase.
So when he says he feels he should have a Premier League title, plenty of Spurs fans are inclined to listen.
"Of course I do," said Chris Paouros, co-founder and co-chair of Proud Lilywhites and Women of The Lane. "He could tell me the moon was made of halloumi and I'd nod along.
"The Spurs 2016-17 team was the best in the league by most measures: best attack, best defence, fewest defeats, unbeaten at home in the last season of the old White Hart Lane.
"If the playing field was tilted, the least you can do is ask the question."
Paouros accepts Spurs will not be handed the title, but insists the “rules have to mean something, whoever benefits”.
Others agree that even a retrospective decision would still matter emotionally.
"It would still be something that Spurs fans would celebrate," said Tristan Foot, secretary of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust. "A victory over Chelsea, albeit 10 years after the event."
But the grievance stretches beyond north London.
"It means that to an extent crime does pay in football," Foot added. "And that's the serious underlying part of all this.
"During the transfer window they were signing players that we had no chance of winning, the obvious example being Willian.
"The Premier League has got to be better about imposing sporting sanctions and making sure that its rules actually have teeth."
What Happens When the Next Verdict Lands?
The Chelsea investigations are over. Fines have been issued. Trophies remain untouched. Pochettino will not get a medal. Spurs will not stage a delayed title parade down the High Road.
Yet the argument he has sparked will not vanish quickly, especially while the sport waits for clarity on Manchester City’s 115 charges.
If Chelsea’s punishments stop at financial penalties, and City’s case ends the same way, how many clubs will look back at lost seasons and wonder what might have been?
