Much has changed in 10yrs. We are no longer 11th or 8th. We are 3rd and 2nd, finishing above them 3 out of last 4 seasons. They have been trying to sign Bale, Lloris, Kane, Rose, Poch, McDermott, Dele in the past and have failed, now it's Dier they crave, another season will go by with these players continuing to bang in the goals past them.
We didn't accept their bid for Bale even though it was more that Madrid's. If we have a player that is wanting out I'm confident they will not go to a rival.
They also had Fergie back then, and when Carrick signed for him it was guarenteed he'd win titles, guaranteed, and in reverse that Spurs would not. He was also obviously more talented than others in our team, a lot of our players were mediocre at best back then. We weren't even qualifying for the Europa League back then. Now we're the second best team in the league.