Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has voiced his opinion that Tottenham should be retrospectively crowned Premier League champions for the 2016-17 season. This follows a Premier League investigation which found Chelsea made £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties for transfers between 2011 and 2018.
Pochettino, who led Spurs to a second-place finish seven points behind Chelsea that season, stated: "If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team." Chelsea has been fined by Uefa, the Premier League, and the Football Association for these breaches.
The transfers in question included players such as Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle, and Nemanja Matic. Four of these players – Hazard, Willian, Luiz, and Matic – were part of the Chelsea squad during the 2016-17 title-winning campaign. Hazard, for example, started 36 Premier League games, scored 16 goals, and provided five assists that season, with his contributions argued to be worth 10 points in four fixtures.
Willian, despite making 19 of his 34 appearances from the bench, scored eight goals and provided eight assists, with his attacking returns crucial in four matches, contributing to eight points. Matic and Luiz were also key players, with Matic assisting a goal in a 2-1 win over Tottenham in November 2016, and Luiz being named in the PFA team of the season.
While Chelsea won the title with 93 points to Tottenham's 86, Pochettino suggests that the attacking influence from players like Willian and Hazard, whose signings were linked to the secret payments, proved to be the difference.