As Tottenham Hotspur prepare to start 2025, they are dealing with questions and strategic choices they often seem to face.
Firstly, are they moving in the right direction in year two under head coach Ange Postecoglou?
Their 4-0 away win against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City last weekend certainly suggests that they are, as does their overall improved performance level in recent months. They are trending upwards, but still have a habit of switching off and losing games they shouldn’t. Spurs are still a team in development, which means they are a team in need of patience and trust.
Then there is the question of how to speed up and strengthen that improvement.
This is very much Postecoglou’s squad now — his players, all of them able to play his brand of football. The age profile of the squad has been transformed with a raft of younger signings but the first XI could possibly still do with some extra star quality, which is hard to buy. This was the situation Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs eventually found themselves in a few years ago, and they struggled to find that additional pizzazz in the market.
So, should Tottenham go big on a top-class winger this year? Is the move to reinforce positions that could do with some help? Not least in goal, now first-choice Guglielmo Vicario is facing a lengthy injury lay-off. Or do they patiently continue their policy of bringing in young players, trusting the process, and hoping it will all pay off for them further down the line?
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What positions will they be looking at in 2025?
The injury to Vicario, who had ankle surgery this week, could force a change in Spurs’ plans in the winter transfer window. Fraser Forster will have to come into the side now, but he has only played four first-team games in Postecoglou’s 16 months and as a player he is not as comfortable with the ball at his feet as Vicario is.
Tottenham have avoided buying a more like-for-like backup for Vicario in the past three windows but if 36-year-old Forster struggles — or gets injured himself — it could force them to go into the market in January for a short-term solution until the Italian recovers. Although, Postecoglou insisted in his press conference on Wednesday that Spurs would not be adding a currently unattached goalkeeper as a temporary solution. “That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I don’t think us signing a free agent now is going to help us.”
Beyond that, there are always questions about whether Spurs have enough depth at centre-back. With Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven currently injured, they are stretched to the limit, and have Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies starting in central defence at the moment. But with January signing Dragusin improving and summer addition Archie Gray also able to fill in there, they might be able to get through to the end of the season.
There are also questions about the squad’s quality in wide areas. They signed Wilson Odobert from Burnley in the summer but he has been unfortunate with injuries, has only started three games for the club and hasn’t played for a month. But Tottenham do need players who can beat full-backs one-against-one, so there may be a need to look at their firepower out wide again next year.
Postecoglou admitted in a press conference last week — before Vicario’s injury — that Spurs’ winter-window activity could be dictated by player availability going into the second half of the season. Especially given the injuries to Odobert and forward Richarlison.
“January is always a tricky one,” Postecoglou said. “You don’t really plan for significant things in January. But a lot of that will be dictated by how we are at that time. We’re a little bit short there (in wide areas) but it just depends. If by January we get two or three back, we may not need to. But we’ll see as it goes.”
Are there players they are already looking at?
Tottenham have worked hard over the past year to do their transfer business in more secrecy than it was previously conducted with, so few names have emerged yet in terms of who they will be targeting next year.
Again, Postecoglou did say clearly on Wednesday that Spurs will not be going for a free-agent goalkeeper in January. If, for whatever reason, that policy changes and they do look for a short-term cover in goal, then attention will naturally turn to Keylor Navas, 37, and 31-year-old Loris Karius, the two highest-profile keepers who are currently free agents. If Tottenham could agree a deal for either of them, they could quickly slot in while Vicario continues to recover from his ankle operation.
Who will they be looking to sell?
Tottenham made big progress over the summer in terms of moving on those players in the squad who were not part of Postecoglou’s plans. Assuming Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s season-long loan to Marseille is, as previously agreed, made permanent when that deal ends, the most sellable asset the club have left is Richarlison.
The Brazil international forward has only scored 12 Premier League goals since joining from Everton for an initial £50million ($63.4m at the current exchange rate) ahead of the 2022-23 season. He was linked with a big-money move to an unnamed Saudi Arabian club in the summer — which could have seen Spurs make their money back — but he decided to stay. Since then, Richarlison has worked hard on his fitness but has only started once, against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League a month ago. He broke down again during a brief substitute appearance in the Aston Villa match on November 3, and Postecoglou said that he will now be out for a “significant amount of time” with a hamstring injury.
Richarlison, 27, will still have two years left on his contract come the summer. If he can regain fitness over the second half of the season, it would not be a surprise to see him back on the market again later in 2025.
There has been plenty of interest in Dragusin from clubs looking to take the former Juventus and Genoa defender back to Italy — especially Napoli — but there is no prospect of Spurs letting him go in the coming window. The 22-year-old Romania international wants to stay to fight for his place and continue his development under Postecoglou.
What moves have they made already?
Yang Min-hyeok will join in January. The 18-year-old South Korean winger was signed from Gangwon FC in July but stayed to complete the K League season, which ended last weekend with his club finishing as runners-up. Yang played all 38 league games, starting 37, and scored 12 goals with six assists. Depending on how he adjusts to English football, he could add to Postecoglou’s options in wide areas in the second half of the season.
Last year, Tottenham agreed a deal to sign Luka Vuskovic from Hajduk Split. The Croatian centre-back is currently on loan from Hajduk to Westerlo in Belgium’s top flight. He is still just 17 but has a reputation as one of the best young defenders in European football. Once he turns 18 in late February, he will be able to join Spurs, and, along with Yang, he represents the next stage of the club rejuvenating their squad for the future.
Who will make the key decisions over the year’s two windows?
Postecoglou is given a big say in transfer activity and works closely with Johan Lange, the technical director who joined the club in October last year, and with chairman Daniel Levy. Since Lange’s arrival, Tottenham have worked to try to update and modernise their recruitment process.
Which players’ contracts are expiring? Who is expected to renew?
Tottenham’s two longest-serving players, Davies and Son Heung-min, are on deals that expire after this season. But in both cases, the club have an option they can trigger to keep them on for 2025-26. And in both cases, the club intend to do so, meaning 31-year-old Davies and Son, 32, will still be at Spurs this time next year. Given how much experience has been lost from the squad in recent windows, the pair are crucial to the dressing-room balance, and have important roles in helping to settle the next generation of Tottenham players.
Timo Werner’s second loan from RB Leipzig in as many seasons runs until the summer, and Tottenham have an option to turn it into a permanent transfer for £8.5million.
Forster’s contract also runs until the season’s end, although his future may be tied to whether the club sign another goalkeeper in January, and Sergio Reguilon’s deal is another to expire then. The 27-year-old Spain international full-back is unlikely to be offered a new one, having not played for Spurs since April 2022 and spent the past two completed seasons out on loan, although he was on the bench for September’s Carabao Cup tie against Coventry City.
What is their PSR position?
Tottenham have always had significant PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) headroom as they run themselves in a sustainable way, rather than relying on a benefactor’s financial injections. They have some of the highest revenues in English football since the opening of their new stadium five years ago, but their wage bill was just the sixth-biggest for the 2022-23 season, meaning they do not necessarily have to sell players just to scrape through the PSR restrictions.
(Top photos: Getty Images)