Tottenham Hotspur Women intend to learn from the release clause that recently allowed Celin Bizet to leave for Manchester United, says head coach Robert Vilahamn.
A popular player with supporters, Norway attacker Bizet had become increasingly key for Spurs last season, but with one year remaining on the three-year contract she signed when joining from Paris Saint-Germain in 2022, United signed the 22-year-old this month after meeting a release fee reported at around £60,000.
Spurs brought in Australia’s Hayley Raso at the start of September, following the ex-Manchester City and Everton wide player’s exit from Real Madrid.
In his press conference ahead of the Barclays WSL opener with Crystal Palace this Sunday, Spurs boss Vilahamn was asked by She Kicks whether they had been planning to begin this season without Bizet.
“When I came here and we knew about the contracts that the players had, when we realised that Celin had a breakout clause in her contract, that’s not what we want to do in the future,” he explained. “We will never sign that kind of contract any more, but when you knew that and you push really hard to renew that contract and she kind of doesn’t want to do that, then you realise you need to have a back-up plan.”
“So, no matter if Man United was in or not, we knew that it was a risk that we lose her, so we started to prepare for who we want in, and then Hayley came up. We had a plan in the beginning, and we actually get a player who wants to be here.
“We should never try to convince players to be here. If they don’t want to be, okay, leave then, it’s fine; there’s so many new players we can bring in.
“We had a plan and I think we actually look really good in those wide areas now.”
A deal similar to the one that saw Aston Villa lose midfielder Laura Blindkilde Brown to Manchester City at the end of January’s transfer window, such a release clause naturally gives the selling club no chance to negotiate with the interested club if the fee is met.
Vilahamn recalled a situation with a present-day Arsenal forward when asked if Spurs need to avoid agreeing to those clauses in future if they are to succeed in their plan to become one of the WSL’s leading teams over the coming seasons.
“Yeah, this is quite similar to what I had in Häcken. When I took over Häcken, I had Champions League group stage and I had Stina Blackstenius playing Benfica away, and then her contract was actually running out in the middle of November, so I couldn’t use her in the game afterwards.
“So, we had tough work the first two years to make sure the players had not only one-year contracts but two, three, four-year contracts, so when you develop a player, and if they want to leave, you get a benefit of money as well. Hopefully, you don’t want players to leave, but if they want to leave, you’re going to get money back from it.
“So, one thing is that, and the other thing is to actually get longer contracts for the players we think are going to be here for a while, because we want to work with them, but we also have an insurance if we want to sell them or if they want to leave; we actually get money for them. That’s obviously something we’re doing all the time and that’s something we’re fixing right now, but it’s an old-structure problem that we try to fix.”
Last season’s FA Cup runners-up begin the new campaign with increased optimism, off the back of a 6th-place finish in Swedish coach Vilahamn’s first year at the club.
As well as aforementioned Matildas star Raso, incomings this summer have included defenders Clare Hunt (Paris Saint-Germain) and Ella Morris (Southampton), with a long-term deal completed for left-back Amanda Nildén after the Sweden international’s half-season loan from Juventus.
With midfielder Kit Graham now expected to miss the season with an ACL injury, strengthening has arrived this month via Hungary’s Anna Csiki (BK Häcken) and Spain’s Maite Oroz (Real Madrid).
Among the attacking options at the club are exciting prospects Lenna Gunning-Williams and Araya Dennis, with the teenage duo making a strong impression during pre-season.
Both spent time away on loan in 2023/24, with Gunning-Williams at Ipswich Town, and Dennis, who joined Spurs in February, helping upcoming opponents Crystal Palace to promotion from the Championship.
“We see those two with really high potential, and during pre-season, both of them have been really good,” said Vilahamn when asked of the part they may be ready to play. “Especially Lenna has scored I think three or four goals in pre-season and actually showed that she can compete.”
“The plan is for them to stay and be part of the squad and compete for minutes, and when we end up at Christmas, if they don’t get the minutes they need, of course young players need to play. We will reconsider if we need to send one of them on loan, but right now, they are here to compete, and they’re actually competing very well.
“To see the development of Lenna, for example, is massive; she’s strong, she’s quick, she’s scoring goals, she’s taking in everything. She’s not a young player any more – she’s a senior player in my eyes.”