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Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Cristian Romero will miss Tottenham's game away at Manchester City on Saturday evening. Picking up a foot injury in the recent win over Aston Villa, the Spurs defender made his return to the team in the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town just prior to the international break.

Romero did go on to represent Argentina during the break but he would only play 45 minutes in their game against Paraguay as he was forced off through injury. Reports in his homeland appeared to indicate that he made way at the break due to feeling pain in the same foot he injured against Villa.

After confirming in an interview with Sky Sports on Thursday that Romero is a doubt for the match at the Etihad Stadium, Postecoglou has revealed that it could now be next week when the 26-year-old returns to the pitch for Tottenham.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon, he said: "Romero won't be right for tomorrow's game. We're hoping he'll be right for next week. Then sort of the main ones who were out before that are still out."

Micky van de Ven will also sit out Saturday's game in Manchester as he tries to work his way back to fitness from his hamstring injury. After a few hamstring issues for the Dutchman in his short time with Tottenham, Postecoglou was asked if the club have to be careful with the player to ensure it doesn't keep happening.

"You try to treat it as it is," he admitted. "We'll get the advice from the medical team and the people working with him.

"I think there's always a natural cautiousness with somebody who has a reoccurring problem but at the same time you don't want to treat him with too many kid gloves around him because otherwise he's still go to go out there and play at some point. But it's fair to say we're taking all the appropriate steps and Micky will be a good judge of that as well and where he's at."

Another player who will not be available to face Man City is Tottenham youngster Mikey Moore. The winger was absent just prior to the international break through illness and it hit him hard.

"Yeah he was and because he's young as well, we just need to be careful with these things," revealed Postecoglou. "He's back up and about, back in the building and everything, but we'll take our time with him."

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Ange Postecoglou is holding his press conference on Friday afternoon as Tottenham return to Premier League action with a trip to Manchester City on Saturday.

The final international break of 2024 is now over and Spurs will be looking to put things right after messing up the chance to go into it in third place in the Premier League table thanks to their dismal home defeat to Ipswich Town. To get back on track they will have to put in a positive performance against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side, who have lost their previous four matches but have been buoyed by their manager signing a new contract and having plenty of players back from injury.

In contrast, Postecoglou has an injury doubt over vice-captain Cristian Romero, will not have Micky van de Ven available from his hamstring injury until mid-December and is still without attackers Richarlison and Wilson Odobert due to their significant hamstring injuries, the latter requiring surgery during the break.

The Spurs boss is also without Rodrigo Bentancur, who received a seven-game ban from an independent regulatory commission for his comments regarding Son Heung-min, which contained a racial slur. The club have accepted the guilty finding but are appealing the length of the Uruguayan's ban and Postecoglou will be asked about that decision.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold is among those putting the questions to Postecoglou. Scroll down for his latest updates from the press conference at Hotspur Way.

Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham side are going to have to be at their very best on Saturday evening if they are to return to winning ways in the Premier League. Coming up against Ipswich Town in their last fixture prior to the international break, Spurs fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at home.

Tottenham now have the huge challenge of trying to put things right away at Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. The games between the sides at the Etihad Stadium have been rather eye-catching in recent seasons and goals and entertainment could once again be guaranteed.

There are question marks over Cristian Romero's fitness heading into this weekend's match after the Argentina international only managed 45 minutes in his country's defeat to Paraguay. Spurs will also be without Rodrigo Bentancur as he sits out the first of seven games due to suspension.

So who exactly should be in Postecoglou's Tottenham team to face Manchester City? Our Tottenham reporters at football.london have had their say below:

Alasdair Gold - Tottenham Hotspur correspondent

Spurs had to put together a makeshift central defence last season at the Etihad Stadium with Ben Davies and Emerson Royal pairing up and the former could be called on again with Radu Dragusin this time if Cristian Romero is not considered fit enough to start. The Argentine's foot injury flared up on international duty and he had to come off at half-time in the defeat in Paraguay and a couple of days later he became a father for a second time when his partner gave birth to a little girl named Lucy.

Everyone else appears to have got through the international break unscathed, including Dejan Kulusevski who was in pain with a shoulder injury late in a sparkling performance for Sweden. Postecoglou revealed on Thursday that Micky van de Ven will not be back and available from his hamstring injury until the middle of next month.

With Rodrigo Bentancur suspended and Yves Bissouma likely to start, the main midfield decision will come with either Pape Matar Sarr or James Maddison starting and the Spurs boss might just need the Senegal international's energy and defensive work against the champions.

Gold's team: Vicario; Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Kulusevski; Johnson, Solanke, Son.

Rob Guest - Football writer

It's hard to see Ange Postecoglou tinkering with his Tottenham team too much despite the defeat against Ipswich Town last time out. The head coach is rather limited at present because of a handful of injuries, with Rodrigo Bentancur now joining the list of absent players because of his seven-match domestic ban.

The big question heading into Saturday's game now revolves around Cristian Romero as Postecoglou admitted that the 26-year-old is definitely a doubt for the game in Manchester. Romero starts if in a position to do so, but it will be Ben Davies who takes his place alongside Radu Dragusin if the World Cup winner misses out.

It's an easy pick when it comes to Bentancur's replacement as Yves Bissouma gets the nod in midfield with Pape Matar Sarr and Dejan Kulusevski. That means James Maddison has to contend with a place on the substitutes' bench to begin with once again.

Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min enjoyed good international breaks and the hope will be that they can take their form into the Man City game. The duo will start either side of Dominic Solanke at the Etihad Stadium.

Guest's team: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Dragusin, Udogie; Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski; Johnson, Solanke, Son.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Cristian Romero is "definitely" a doubt for Tottenham's game against Man City on Saturday evening. It means that Spurs could possibly be without first-choice centre-back duo Romero and Micky van de Ven for the game at the Etihad Stadium.

Romero did come off in the recent 4-1 win over Aston Villa with a foot injury but managed to return to action the following weekend for the home defeat against Ipswich Town. Heading off on international duty to represent Argentina, the World Cup winner only played 45 minutes of last week's 2-1 defeat to Paraguay as he was substituted at half-time.

Reports in his homeland claimed that he went off with pain in the same foot that he injured in Tottenham's match against Aston Villa. The 26-year-old, who this week became a father for the second time, was subsequently not available for Argentina's 1-0 win over Peru on Wednesday.

Romero is now a doubt for Saturday's trip to Man City, thus possibly leaving him in the treatment room with Van de Ven at present. The Dutchman last featured for Tottenham in last month's Carabao Cup win against City but was only involved for 14 minutes of the contest after sustaining a hamstring issue.

Postecoglou indicated in the days after that his centre-back would make his return after the international break, although no date or game was set in stone for a possible comeback. Heading into this weekend's showdown against Man City, Postecoglou has revealed that Van de Ven is still "a couple of weeks away" and that his return could possibly come in the middle of December.

“Happy for Cristian and his wife on the birth of their baby girl," said Postecoglou in an interview with Sky Sports. "He is still not 100 per cent so he is a doubt definitely for the weekend. Everyone else from the internationals got through well.

“Micky is still a couple of weeks away. He is on the grass training but he is still a couple of weeks away. We’re hoping by the middle of December he is back and available to play.”

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Ange Postecoglou has stated that he "fully supports" Tottenham's decision to appeal Rodrigo Bentancur's seven-match ban. Earlier this week, an independent regulatory commission gave the Spurs midfielder a seven-game suspension, a £100,000 fine and also ordered him to attend a mandatory face-to-face education programme for comments he made during an interview which contained a racial slur regarding Son Heung-min.

Tottenham released a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming that they have appealed against the length of Bentancur's suspension, something they believe is "severe". Spurs confirmed in the statement that they do accept they guilty finding against Bentancur by the independent regulatory commission.

Bentancur will now miss Tottenham's next seven domestic fixtures but he will be able to feature for the team in their upcoming Europa League ties against Roma and Rangers. Speaking to Sky Sports about Bentancur's ban and Tottenham's appeal, Postecoglou admitted that his player, who he has described as an "outstanding person" and "unbelievable teammate," is prepared to accept whatever penalty comes his way.

"It's disappointing because he's been great for us this year," said the 59-year-old. "He's one of the ones whose football has gone up a level. But we understood this was kind of coming and there was an acceptance from everyone that whatever the sort of penalties were… I fully support the club's decision to appeal the severity of the ban, but ultimately we know it's going to be for X number of games.

"We will work with Rodrigo through that and make sure within that time he has all our support in all the right ways so when he is available again he's ready to go.

"I haven't spoken to him since it came out. He's been away with Uruguay and he's not quite back yet. I'd spoken to him in the lead-up to it. As I said at the time, he understands he has made a mistake, he's prepared to accept whatever penalty comes his way and we as a club are going to support him.

"The one thing that's undeniable to me, because I know him, is he's an outstanding person. He's an unbelievable teammate. He's a person of the upmost character that has made a mistake. I think when that happens our role is to support him in any way we can."

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Luka Vuskovic suffered penalty shoot-out heartache on Tuesday evening but there is an upside for Tottenham Hotspur as the talented teenager will definitely now be able to join the club from the first day of pre-season.

The big centre-back is one of the most highly-rated young talents in the European game and will be joining Spurs this summer after turning 18, which he does in February. Vuskovic is a Hajduk Split player although he has spent recent seasons on loan at first Polish side Radomiak and this season at Belgian club Westerlo.

The 17-year-old has started every match for Westerlo this season and has scored four goals in his 14 appearances as well as providing one assist. He currently has a team-mate from Spurs in midfield Alfie Devine who joined the Jupiler Pro League club in September.

Vuskovic has been on international duty this week with Croatia U21s as they took on two qualifying legs against Georgia to decide which country made it through the European U21 Championships this summer.

Croatia lost the away leg 1-0 last week and then on Tuesday evening won 3-2 at home. That forced a penalty shoot-out, with Vuskovic putting away his spot kick. However, it was Georgia who won the shoot-out 7-6 and will take their place at the tournament in Slovakia next summer.

The knock-on effect for Spurs is that the tournament next summer runs from June 11 until June 28 and had Vuskovic and Croatia qualified then he would likely not have been ready to arrive at Tottenham's pre-season training when it begins in early July at Hotspur Way. That is due to the amount of time off that players are required to have after an international tournament - normally a minimum of three weeks.

However, the teenager will now be available to start his first day at his new club the moment the training ground doors open to the first team.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Teddy Sheringham believes that Tottenham supporters should get behind Ange Postecoglou because he's bringing something exciting to the club.

Spurs are the Premier League's top scorers and would have gone third in the table had they beaten Ipswich in their last game, while they are also in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and have won three of their four Europa League ties so far in the big group stage. However, a dismal defeat to Ipswich and a poor away record has affected the mood during the international break with a trip to the champions Manchester City on Saturday.

Sheringham, who played 268 times for Tottenham and scored 117 goals, likes what he's seen of his old club under Postecoglou.

"Everyone at the club has bought into it completely, without a doubt, and I think Tottenham fans should as well, because they must be more excited in this last season and a half than they have been for the last five years under Mourinho and Conte where you’re watching a team hoping to get a breakaway goal and nick a result against Norwich at home, Southampton at home," he told Best Offshore Sportsbooks.

"Now Tottenham are creating at least 10, 12 chances in every game they play. You’ve got to be happy with that. He’s getting bums off seats, you’re up, you’re excited. You’re optimistic, you’re gonna get a chance, you’re gonna score. Alright, sometimes things don’t go your way, and I don’t know what the atmosphere was like against Ipswich, but the vibe in general is great. I go there thinking I’m going to see excitement, chances, goalscoring opportunities, so I’m optimistic."

He added: "Without a doubt, the objective for Tottenham is to win something this season. They've got to win something. Postecoglou told us that he always wins something in the second season and I'm fully behind him. They've got a team that is inconsistent. They’re in for three – the cups – and you can afford to be a bit inconsistent in those because its game-to-game.

"The cups represent a great opportunity for Tottenham to put some silverware in the trophy cabinet. You can be inconsistent and still win something. Man United showed that last season with Erik Ten Hag. Hopefully they can win games at the right times because they've got the right firepower to win a cup this season.

"Ange obviously said that he always wins something in his second season, which if he doesn’t them I’m sure people will ridicule him for saying that. However I think he has been a touch misquoted as what he was saying is that he's done that at previous clubs and that's what he hopes to do again. It's all the outsiders that are ridiculing him. If you listen to what he actually said, he didn’t come out and say I’m going to win a trophy at Tottenham this season."

Postecoglou has dropped James Maddison to the bench in the Premier League in recent weeks with Dejan Kulusevski as the team's main playmaker. Sheringham likes the Swede and backs the Tottenham head coach's decision when it comes to Maddison.

"I really like [Kulusevski] in that position. He comes in and takes Maddison’s spot, although I think you can play both of them at times, especially at home. Maybe he's looked and thought that you can't. I like Kulusevski in that 10 position, but I also like Maddison playing alongside him as well. I thought they perform nicely together," he said.

"I think Postecoglou has made a couple of big calls, and I'll stand by him and what he's doing. Recently he took Maddison off when the team got back to 1-1 just before half time, and he took him off when the team were playing really well. I was actually at the game. He took Maddison off at half-time and then the team ended up beating West Ham 4-1. Then he did the same thing with Son, his other top player and his captain. He took him off at 1-1 in the same game and the team went on to beat Aston Villa 4-1.

"So, it was obviously the right decision at the time. When you take your top players off, it kind of rocks them, when you look to them for leadership to get you back into the game. They were obviously the right calls at the time for the team to go on to win, but you've got to manage those two big egos very well as well, and you need to let them know that it was just a one-off or whatever, because Maddison was playing quite well in that particular game and I was surprised that he took him off in the manner that he did, but obviously the team won."

Sheringham believes Dominic Solanke should be aiming for 20 goals this season after his positive start to life at the north London club after a £60million move from Bournemouth.

"Solanke leads the line. It's not easy to play that centre-forward role, bringing other players into play, holding the ball up and running in behind to score goals," said the former England international. "You need to be able to do all of those things and he can do that. I think he's done really well.

"He obviously had a great season last season and he's been operating in the Premier League now at a very, very good level for a while. He got 19 goals at Bournemouth last season. He's got four so far [in the league] this season for Spurs. He's been a centre-forward. He knows how to score goals. You can tell that with the goals that he scored.

"Twenty goals will be his target again and if you get off to a good start and on a good run early, then the targets change. If you have a couple of injuries, you're out of the team, then your targets change the other way."

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

The rebuild at Tottenham Hotspur in 2024 has been a major one with 16 players leaving the club over the past 12 months and it's time to check in on how they're getting on.

Ange Postecoglou has overhauled his Tottenham squad and it has been one of the largest turnover of players in Spur ' recent history with many long-serving members of the first team leaving, while the club's U21s development squad have also had some notable exits in the past 12 months.

football.london has taken a glance across England, Europe and also America to catch up on exactly how all of the former Tottenham first team players and a couple of notable U21s have got on since stepping through the exit door on a permanent basis in 2024.

Giovani Lo Celso

The Tottenham hamstring curse reaches far and wide and as the most recent player to leave Spurs, Lo Celso has not escaped it.

He missed much of October and six games with a hamstring problem and that paused some fantastic form on his return Real Betis. The Argentine enjoyed his own Brennan Johnson-like run with goals in four consecutive La Liga games - five scored in total across those games - and he returned with an assist in his first game back after his injury, in the 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo.

The 28-year-old exited Tottenham after five years in a deadline day transfer that will net the club £8.4million plus add-ons with a sell-on clause as well as an agreement to sign midfielder Johnny Cardoso for a cheaper fee in the future or get a sell-on fee of sorts for the 23-year-old USA international.

Troy Parrott

Troy Parrott has continued to show his shooting boots in the Netherlands since he joined AZ Alkmaar in July in a £6.7million deal which also includes a 20% sell-on clause for the north London side.

The 22-year-old Republic of Ireland international has started every single game up front for his new club. AZ have been rewarded with eight goals and two assists in his 16 matches so far in the Eredivisie and Europa League. Four of those goals came in a huge 9-1 victory against Heerenveen and his Europa League goal was the winning one from the spot against Elfsborg.

Parrott has played a lot of football for the Dutch side with 1279 minutes of action across those 16 matches and one of them brought a reunion with Spurs as Alkmaar travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month on October 24 and lost 1-0 in the European game.

The young Irishman spoke ahead of that game about his time in the Netherlands, after a successful loan at Excelsior Rotterdam last season.

"There is something about the air over here. I don't know, it is like a feeling. I just enjoy it. If you asked me two or three years ago where I would be now, I would have never said here. That is something that kind of excites me. I am getting to live in new places," he said.

"It is just about experiencing new things. There are not many people that do it. So, to try something new, it is exciting for me. It is a short life that we have. And I am not even just talking football now. It is something you cannot get back. To be living that, it is nice."

On whether he had regrets in leaving Tottenham, he responded: "No, I don't think I have any regrets. I am grateful for how the club treated me, helping me to grow up as a person and a player. I can't really look back. This is the position I always wanted to be in, playing professional football. I understand that I am on my own journey.

"Those expectations are hard for any young player. I'm speaking like I am old, I'm still young now! It is just the experience I had, being out on all the loans and stuff, is more than what I should have at this age. But it is something a lot of young players go through. I believe for me I've learned to just put that to the side. It does more harm than it does good. Just to block all that out. I am happy now, being able to showcase what I can do week in and week out at a big team playing in Europe. It is what I wanted when I moved here."

Tanguy Ndombele

Tanguy Ndombele went down as Tottenham's biggest ever flop after arriving from Lyon for a club record fee and playing just 91 times over half a decade before having his contract mutually terminated in the summer.

He then joined Nice and after years of misstarts and loan spells without much playing time, the 27-year-old is finally getting minutes under his belt again, albeit around a troublesome hip injury that kept him out for a run of games last month.

Ndombele has played 703 minutes across 11 matches with a goal and an assist and has earned plaudits along the way for his performances under new Nice boss Franck Haise. He has started seven of the eight Ligue 1 games he's been available for with the one substitute appearance in the league coming after his return from that hip injury. In the draw against PSG last month, Ndombele was named man of the match across the board by the media.

"He is someone who needs – and he isn't the only one – a climate of trust and that is what we are trying to bring to him," said Haise. "But beyond the atmosphere around the club that has been put in place, it is Tanguy first and foremost who is ensuring that it is going well."

He added: "Little by little, we are re-discovering the player that we knew a few years ago. What I see from his matches, I think in terms of confidence, it is going pretty well. Confidence comes from working hard, through your investment."

Oliver Skipp

Oliver Skipp has found himself unused on the bench at Leicester City for the past three matches but on the whole he's mostly been picking up the minutes for the Foxes.

The 24-year-old left Spurs this summer after 18 years at the club and more than 100 first team appearances to his name to join up with fellow academy product Harry Winks at Leicester City. The transfer will bring the club more than £20million plus a sell-on clause.

Skipp has played 565 minutes across nine appearances in the Premier League and Carabao Cup since making the move to the King Power Stadium.

Emerson Royal

It wasn't the best start in Italy for Emerson Royal, who moved to AC Milan this summer in a deal worth £12.6million plus add-ons and has played 13 times for the Serie A side.

Italian football expert James Horncastle initially went in hard on the 25-year-old when he said: "Milan keep conceding the same goal too, down Emerson Royal’s side. His €15million signing from Tottenham Hotspur looks like the biggest donation in the history of Fondazione Milan as the club charitably tries to make his wish to become a footballer come true."

The Brazilian has started all but one game since with Milan winning the bulk of them with him at right-back and he has improved, although the club's fans appear yet to be convinced by the former Tottenham man, particularly with the player he replaced, Pierre Kalulu, impressing at Juventus.

Ryan Sessegnon

Ryan Sessegnon has been slowly working his way back to full fitness after so long out of the game and Fulham have been playing it cautiously with him. He hasn't played in the Premier League this season yet but has been on the bench for six of the 11 games in the competition.

The 24-year-old has got two 90 minute-stints under his belt in Fulham's Carabao Cup games, getting an assist in the third round at Preston before a penalty shoot-out defeat, scoring twice during that shoot-out including his team's penultimate penalty. His appearance against Birmingham in the previous round was the first time the left-back had started a match since January 2023, before the hamstring problems really began to take hold. With operations on both legs, Sessegnon will be hoping for more fortune in his career from now on.

Spurs decided not to take up the option of the additional year on Sessegnon's contract in the summer and his return to Fulham meant that all of Tottenham's arrivals in the 2019 window went back to their previous side at some point after joining the north London club.

Joe Rodon

Joe Rodon has carried on where he left off with Leeds on loan last season and he's played all but four minutes of their campaign so far as they try to earn promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking.

The Wales international, now 27, moved to the Elland Road club permanently as part of the deal that brought Archie Gray in the opposite direction to N17 this summer and he has a Tottenham team-mate to look after after Manor Solomon joined up on loan in August for the campaign ahead.

Leeds sit third in the table and Rodon has played 16 games for them so far in all competitions.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

We're including Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg even though he's on loan at Marseille as he technically joined the Ligue 1 outfit with an obligation to buy.

Like Rodon, the 29-year-old midfielder has played all but four minutes of his side's season and he captained the French side three times this season, having also been named as the new skipper of Denmark, taking on the armband from Simon Kjaer ahead of previous vice-captains Christian Eriksen and Kasper Schmeichel.

Hojbjerg scored against Montpellier and against Strasbourg had to play as a centre-back due to injuries for Roberto De Zerbi's Ligue 1 side. Back-to-back home defeats to PSG and Auxerre, combined with a draw to Angers in the previous home game have brought some disgruntlement among fans despite Marseille's third place position in the table.

Japhet Tanganga

Japhet Tanganga has played every minute for Millwall in the Championship that he's been available for after missing the first couple of games through suspension.

He's played in 13 games and scored the winning goal against Rodon's Leeds this month, just before the international break and Millwall sit eighth in the table.

As with Sessegnon, Spurs did not take up the option to extend Tanganga's contract by its final year. Instead the 25-year-old signed on a free transfer for Millwall after impressing for the Championship side on loan last season.

Ivan Perisic

Ivan Perisic stopped being a Tottenham employee this summer, having already joined Hajduk Split in January on loan until the end of his contract and he agreed a deal to then play for the Croatian side this season. However, the arrival of Gennaro Gattuso altered the outlook on his future at the club and the 35-year-old's contract was mutually terminated.

He is now trying out yet another new league in his career after moving to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. There he has made six appearances and contributed one goal and one assist, his goal coming in the top of the table clash against Ajax.

Perisic has a one-year contract for the Eredivisie leaders, but will miss out on Champions League football in the league phase at least after signing after the registration period closed.

Eric Dier

Dier has had to make do with minutes here and there this season under Vincent Kompany. He's played just 43 minutes across four substitute appearances in the Bundesliga, 21 in one cameo from the bench in the Champions League and had one start in the German Cup.

The 30-year-old joined Harry Kane at Bayern Munich on loan earlier this year with an option for the Bundesliga club to sign him permanently, which was triggered before last season ended and he moved officially when his contract ended this summer.

Jude Soonsup-Bell

Jude Soonsup-Bell has had to be patient since moving to Spanish second division side Cordoba in a deal that came with no fee but a 40% sell-on clause instead.

The 20-year-old has made five appearances in La Liga 2, all from the bench and totalling 43 minutes. However, he grabbed his first goal for the club in a Copa Del Rey defeat in lower league side UE Olot, coming off before Cordoba lost on penalties.

Soonsup-Bell had a great season before leaving Spurs U21s and helped them to the Premier League 2 title and play-off trophy. However, a first team breakthrough wasn't on the cards in north London and the 20-year-old instead departed for the move to Spain.

Yago Santiago

Another former Spurs player now in the Spanish second tier is Yago Santiago and he's been getting more game time with Elche and has responded with creative displays.

The 21-year-old Spanish winger left the north London club after half a decade and has picked up three assists in his past five matches in La Liga 2.

Nile John

Nile John, one of Soonsup-Bell and Santiago's former Spurs U21s team-mates, is in Portugal having joined second tier side Feirense after eight years and two first team appearances for the north London side.

The 21-year-old midfielder has played in six games in the league and has mostly found himself playing a role from the bench in recent months.

Charlie Sayers

Sayers left Tottenham in the summer and signed for Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle. The 20-year-old defender joined Spurs from Southend in 2021 and was involved in the first team pre-season tour to South Korea two years ago. However, an eye injury and further injury woes interrupted his progress and he was released by the club this summer.

Sayers has so far made one nine-minute league appearance for his new club, among a long string of unused substitute roles but did play the full 90 minutes in the third round of the Scottish Challenge Cup as Thistle lost 3-1 at Alloa.

Hugo Lloris

Tottenham's former captain left in January for a new adventure in MLS with LAFC after 11 years in north London and has already won silverware.

The 37-year-old World Cup winner has played 45 times for the Los Angeles side across league and cup matches, keeping 18 clean sheets and conceding 50 goals in the other games.

Lloris lifted the US Open Cup In October after LAFC's extra-time win against Kansas City as the Frenchman added another trophy to his CV and the goalkeeper made headlines in recent weeks with the release of his autobiography.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Tottenham have explained the reason why they are appealing the seven-match ban handed out to Rodrigo Bentancur.

An independent regulatory commission gave Bentancur a seven-game suspension, a £100,000 fine, and ordered him to attend a mandatory face-to-face education programme for comments during an interview which contained a racial slur regarding Spurs captain Son Heung-min.

Now Tottenham have appealed the sanctions but not the verdict and in a statement explained their reasoning.

"We can confirm that the club has appealed against the length of Rodrigo Bentancur's FA suspension, issued earlier this week," it read.

"While we accept the guilty finding against Rodrigo by the independent regulatory commission, we believe the subsequent sanction is severe.

"Rodrigo will remain suspended from domestic competitions while the appeal is heard and the club will make no further comment during this time."

Bentancur denied the FA charge against him and claimed that his response to the journalist had been a sarcastic one and was meant to gently chide him for calling Son 'the Korean'. The commission believed that the Uruguayan's two public apologies, private apology to Son, his captain's own Instagram post speaking about Bentancur knowing he'd made a mistake and the club's comment on the situation suggested that the midfielder knew he had said something wrong.

Currently Bentancur will miss six Premier League games and the Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United, before being able to return to action on Boxing Day. He will be able to play in Tottenham's Europa League matches as it is a domestic ban.

It is the length of the ban that Tottenham will appeal, although with the minimum threshold being six games, it is unlikely that they could get more than one match taken off of it. If that was to be done successfully then Bentancur would be able to face Liverpool on December 22 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

There was plenty to provide Ange Postecoglou with optimism on Tuesday ahead of Tottenham's Premier League match at Manchester City this weekend but also one little worry.

City have been buoyed by the news that Pep Guardiola is set to sign a new one-year deal with them, with the option of a further 12 months after that. Spurs got their own different form of confidence boost with a day of real attacking quality from their players on the international stage.

Captain Son Heung-min started the day with a cool low finish into the far corner after a good build-up from South Korea to level their World Cup qualifier against Palestine and the game ended 1-1. Yves Bissouma picked up his second assist in as many games for Mali, setting up their second goal, scored by Nene Dorgeles, with 17 minutes on the clock of the 6-0 win against Eswatini.

With the score at 4-0 at half-time, Bissouma was brought off amid a triple substitution from the hosts, which will be a boost to Postecoglou in the wake of Rodrigo Bentancur's seven-game ban, the length of which Spurs are set to appeal.

The evening then brought a flurry of goals and assists. Brennan Johnson curled in a dangerous cross for Wales against Iceland which Liam Cullen headed home and then the Spurs attacker added his own goal with a trademark sprint into the box before burying a right-footed shot across the goalkeeper. It was a goal Tottenham supporters have seen plenty of this season and now means Johnson has scored nine goals for club and country during this campaign.

Ben Davies skippered Wales yet again, in his 92nd appearance for his country, and the 4-1 win secured top spot in League B, Group four.

Dejan Kulusevski put on an attacking masterclass as Sweden captain in their 6-0 victory against Azerbaijan. He opened the scoring with a low finish between a defender's legs just 10 minutes in and then set up Victor Gyokeres for his first of four goals. The Spurs man then fired home Sweden's fourth goal of the evening to continue his fine performance as the team's number 10.

Lucas Bergvall came off the bench midway through the second half and pulled off one stunning piece of skill to pirouette between two opposition players.

There was a scare for Postecoglou late on in the match though as Kulusevski was left in pain after going down holding his left shoulder. The Swede has had a few shoulder knocks in games for Tottenham in recent weeks but has always battled on and that was the same again on Tuesday evening with a grimace despite Bergvall signalling that he should go off.

Hopefully Kulusevski will be fit and available for Sunday's game at the Etihad Stadium, where the 24-year-old has often had a big impact. But Postecoglou will be awaiting the latest news on his most in-form player this season when he arrives back at Hotspur Way.

Elsewhere Will Lankshear played the full 90 minutes in England Under-20s' 1-1 draw away against Poland in the Elite League to continue the young striker's development.

Away from the football there was big news for Tottenham vice-captain Cristian Romero, as he was given leave by Argentina to be with his wife Karen for the birth of their second child, a daughter named Lucy.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.