The rest have gone for free, or in the case of Dele Alli, the most recent departure, on a deal that will only generate funds once performances kick in. As it stands, the rebuilding of a Champions League final team, overseen by chairman Daniel Levy, has generated less than £50 million in total. One could add the £11 million received for another major figure from that era, Mousa Dembele, who left in January 2019 but either way it does not feel like the work of a master strategist. And if those returns feel low, just look at what has come since then.

In the summer transfer window that followed defeat to Liverpool in the final in Madrid, Spurs signed Tanguy Ndombele for a record fee of £55 million, Giovani Lo Celso (£27 million), Ryan Sessegnon (£25 million) and Jack Clarke (£10 million). That rebuild is currently being rebuilt. All of them were available this January. Ndombele and Lo Celso departed. Clarke is on his fourth Spurs loan, this time in League One. That Champions League semi-final second leg in Amsterdam feels longer ago than three years.

Not, however, Pochettino’s warning from May 2019, when he could just have basked in one of the greatest achievements in the club’s history. Instead, his mood that day jarred with the expectation. One can only conclude that he could see what was coming, and that it was coming fast. The summer of 2019 may already have been too late to start replacing the side that had taken Spurs to within a game of being European champions but it still represented an opportunity that was squandered in spectacular fashion.

There is argument for saying that the last truly gold-plated signing at Spurs was Son’s arrival seven years ago. At right-back they began with Kyle Walker, a great success in terms of performance and fee gained, sold to Manchester City for £50 million in 2017. From there to Trippier, who is another England international albeit not quite the same level. From Trippier to the rather more problematic Serge Aurier, later released on a free contract when he became just too difficult. In came Matt Doherty, who was not really a right-back and so last summer £25 million was spent on Emerson Royal, whom Spurs tried – and failed – to replace last month with Adama Traore.

Of course, it is not all about spending more and often. Rather, in the way Spurs are operated by Levy and the club’s ultimate controlling power Joe Lewis, assets have to be traded shrewdly and their replacements well-sourced. Walker commanded a big fee for the market at the time, albeit he was sold to a rival. Later the peak of the market was missed with the likes of Eriksen, Dele and Danny Rose, another who left on a free transfer.

Three years ago, at the height of their achievements, Pochettino warned where it all might lead. Now Spurs find themselves in a version of that future, where another window closes in which another of the boys of 2019 have departed, and those who remain wonder how long they should do so.