Tottenham and Liverpool are similar products made with very different building blocks - it will be compelling

Which club would a player choose if both were competing for his signature?

Sunday’s game between the two sides will be compelling (Getty)

Back in early 2015 when he was still a rising MK Dons talent, Dele Alli was given the grand tour of the Liverpool FC set-up, and seemed to be very impressed by it all. So impressed, those at Melwood thought that he was willing to sign there and then.

The details of what happened next differ depending on who you talk to, as Alli signed for Tottenham Hotspur within weeks. Some at Liverpool believe they were always the player’s first choice, and the deal just inexplicably wasn’t sanctioned.

When Brendan Rodgers spoke publicly about this last year, though - including how he had spent a couple of hours himself giving Alli the hard sell - Mauricio Pochettino was very quick to offer Spurs’ side.

“Do you know how many players in football are close to signing for many clubs?” The Argentine said. “It’s only one comment from some manager. Dele Alli now is here. In football, it’s always ‘if, if, if’ but in football it’s about reality. It’s not about maybe what could have happened.”

The contrasting details however do throw up a highly relevant debate about what is going to happen next with these two clubs, as they meet at Wembley this weekend, in their simultaneous attempts under similarly charismatic managers to try and undercut the bigger resources of the rest of the big six.

First of all, it is actually curious that Spurs and Liverpool haven’t competed for more players, especially since they are notionally scouring the same levels of the market. Willian is the only other one in recent years, and he ended up at Chelsea.

Secondly and more significantly, what would happen if they were in direct competition for such a player now? Who would he pick - and what would it say about their respective approaches, about the directions of either club?

Alli turned down Liverpool for Spurs despite the Reds believing they had him (Getty)

It could be said the question just comes down to who is the bigger club, but that isn’t really what this is about. Any such parameters usually just lead to pointing to the trophy cabinets, where Liverpool’s five European Cups and 18 leagues easily end any such argument, but it isn’t quite that simple - or, in truth, quite that relevant.

While a rich history obviously makes any club’s name and aura, it doesn’t necessarily carry the same sway in the present, since that’s really all about the likelihood of winning trophies in the future. The longer any club goes without winning one of the big pieces of silverware, too, the more the actual transfer market value of that history decreases.

As one agent put it to The Independent: “Players don’t really care about history. They just say they do when they join a club that hasn’t won anything for ages. It’s the same anywhere. If you’re joining AC Milan now, you’re going to bang on about history. If you’re signing for Napoli or Juventus, you wouldn’t even mention the history.”

That history can still influence in other ways, though. It has helped create a huge worldwide support for Liverpool, and thereby a global marketing force beyond Tottenham’s that has played into giving them money beyond Tottenham’s too.

The last available accounts show the Anfield club had a turnover of £302m, a wage bill of £208m and in the summer of 2017 a net spend of £42m, having also been more than willing to pay around £130m more for Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita.

Liverpool won two of their three meetings last season (Getty)

That is considerable power, also beyond Tottenham’s. They aren’t prepared to pay money like that, because they don’t have figures like that.

Tottenham have a turnover of £210m, a wage bill of £100m, and a net profit from the last transfer window of £10.2m as they resolutely stick to a rigorous budget that has seen some of their players complain about the level of both signings and wages.

And yet, while Liverpool’s figures allow them to pay those wages that many Spurs players would so want and give them a distinctive advantage in the market, there is another side to this specific case. Those very figures point to why Spurs are so attractive, why intelligent players like Fernando Llorente have joined them, because they are vastly out-performing such figures.

Compare their relentless forward motion with Liverpool’s erratic performances, despite such a contrast in resources.

Under Pochettino, Spurs have gone from fifth to third to second, accumulating 64, then 70, then 86 points. That is clearly a project to look out for, something that’s exciting. This is the Pochettino effect. Over the same spell, with that admittedly complicated by the change of managers from Rodgers to Klopp, Liverpool have gone from sixth to eighth to fourth, and accumulated 62, then 60 then 76 points. Further reflecting that is how they started last season so well, only to fall away, with this campaign already showing elements of both halves of 2016-17.

It is just as if Spurs have become supremely streamlined, performing to maximum efficiency, and that is just as well given the move to a new stadium.

That new stadium - and the financial power it will bring - is of course the one big positive on the horizon that tempers the potential negative on the horizon: the day when Pochettino ever leaves.

That is one other side to all of this, too. How much is connected to these specific managers, who are so special and so distinctive?

Klopp has after all been key in convincing players to come to Liverpool that they wouldn’t otherwise have got, Pochettino has completely changed Spurs’ very identity, to the point many believe his influence will last long after he’s gone. Building blocks are in place.

That is also why both clubs are looking to maximise these spells, why they are making changes like those to their very stadiums. The simple geographical fact that Spurs are based in London does remain a huge advantage, too, something that does balance things for many players. Some agents believe it can’t be underestimated, that it’s “huge”.

Either way, neither of these teams can be underestimated. Liverpool have the global reach and the money, Spurs have the sense of focus and location.

It will ensure this match is compelling. Three of the four meetings between Klopp and Pochettino in the league have ended in draws. It remains so difficult to choose between them.