The New York Times

Former Tottenham Hotspur and England forward Martin Chivers has died at the age of 80.

Chivers is Tottenham’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time with 174 goals, behind Harry Kane, Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith and one goal ahead of Son Heung-min.

In a statement on Wednesday, Spurs said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our legendary former striker, Martin Chivers.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Martin’s family, friends and former team-mates at this incredibly sad time.

The club also confirmed that they would wear black armbands during their Premier League visit to Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Chivers began his professional career with Southampton in 1962 and spent just over five years with the south coast club, scoring 108 goals in 189 games. He then joined Tottenham in January 1968, where he featured alongside Greaves and Alan Gilzean in attack under legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson.

He scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the 1971 League Cup final and also scored twice in the 1972 UEFA Cup (now known as the Europa League) final in the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as Tottenham won the inaugural edition of the tournament. He also helped Spurs win the League Cup again the following season.

After making 367 appearances for the club over more than eight years, Chivers joined Swiss club Servette, where he spent two seasons before returning to England with Norwich City in 1978. He also played for Brighton & Hove Albion, Dorchester Town, Norwegian club FC Vard and Barnet.

He was capped 24 times by England, scoring 13 goals.

Jermain Defoe, an icon for Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland, was the guest attraction at Sunday’s match between the two sides, their first meeting since Defoe led the line for Sunderland in a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light in 2017. He was given a hero’s applause from fans of both clubs when he was invited onto the pitch at half-time.

Seconds into the game, Mathys Tel executed a move that could have come from a Defoe highlight reel. Having received the ball in an inside-left position near the edge of the box, Tel shifted it right and, in an instant, hit a powerful, driven, no-backlift shot that stung the palms of Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs. Like Defoe, who seemingly never skewed a shot off target, whatever the angle, Tel has the quick-fire shoot-on-sight quality of a natural goalscorer.

“Definitely. It’s an old saying that if you don’t shoot, you don’t score,” manager Thomas Frank said when asked whether Tel’s shoot-first instinct brings something different to the attack, speaking in his pre-match press conference for Wednesday’s game against Bournemouth. “So it’s probably pretty good to have players that can get a shot off. But Matty is a versatile player. So he can play to the left, he can play ‘No 10’ (attacking midfield). He plays striker. Probably his best is something between the three roles. And he’s young, so he’s not the first time (you have wondered with) a player, ‘Where will he actually end?’.

“In the past, I worked with Ollie Watkins. He came to Brentford as a winger, and I converted him to be a striker, and he’s quite a successful striker. Yoane Wissa came as a winger, and he ended as a striker. Is Mathys the same type, to start as a winger and end as a striker? I don’t know. No matter what, I’m pretty sure he can perform in both positions.“

For a while, it seemed as if Tel had been lost in the shuffle. As Frank experimented with different front lines, either due to injuries or lack of attacking chemistry, the 20-year-old remained on the fringes behind Wilson Odobert, Randal Kolo Muani and even Brennan Johnson, who was sold to Crystal Palace for £35million ($47m) on January 2.

It was effectively a continuation of the awkward circumstances that led to him signing for the club on an initial loan deal from Bayern Munich a year ago, with Tel failing to show much more than glimmers of his obvious talent under Ange Postecoglou. Tottenham making his move permanent in the summer in a deal worth €35million (£30m; $41m), plus €10m in potential bonuses, seemed to signal an investment in Tel, particularly after the departure of club legend Son Heung-min, but his status on the fringes of the starting XI has remained largely unchanged this term.

Frank’s comments allude to why that may be the case. Tel, who believes his future lies on the left wing, is one of the few people who seems to have a handle on which position he will make his own. It’s not uncommon to see young players trialled in several positions before nailing down their long-term role — Gareth Bale started as a left-back before becoming one of the world’s best right-wingers, for example — but it’s difficult to assess whether testing multiple roles in fits and starts will aid Tel’s long-term development. It will make him more versatile, but elite forwards tend to specialise in one position.

Like Odobert, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, the core of high-potential young talents Frank is investing in, there are no questions about Tel’s desire to reach the top. Bayern were always impressed by his dedication. An example of his attitude was on public display last season, when he spoke to frustrated fans in the away end after a miserable 2-0 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage. For a then-teenager who did not know whether he would be at the club the following season, assuming that responsibility speaks to his mentality, and frequent visits from his family in France to his new home in London help keep him focused and grounded.

So when Frank named him in the starting XI on the weekend, he was itching to go. He had not started a Premier League game since the 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa in October — he scored the opening goal in their previous fixture, a 2-1 win over Leeds United — and had not started a league match from the left all season. Within seconds, he had registered a shot on target, something Spurs only managed to do twice as a unit in the dour 0-0 draw away at Brentford on New Year’s Day. On reflection, had he been more up to speed, Frank believed he could have registered his third league goal of the season.

“It was a positive performance from Mathys,” Frank said on Monday afternoon. “He did some positive things and got into good situations.

“He had one where he bent it to the far corner, where he’s probably the best finisher from that position. He is a little bit disappointed in himself. It’s fair, he’s young. It’s not like he played five games in a row. I hoped he could do it and we’ve seen it. So that was good.”

Since joining Spurs, Tel has often felt slightly out of place. He was brought in mid-season with a plan to develop him as a wide attacker and asked to lead an attack in an unfamiliar striker position. Then he signed permanently under a different coach, who later omitted him from the Champions League squad. Compared to Odobert, who was a long-term target before signing from Burnley in 2024, the vision for his France Under-21 team-mate has been blurry.

Johnson’s departure and a leg injury to Mohammed Kudus have left the Tottenham squad even shorter on attacking players, and Tel can stake his claim. Frank said there’s “no one who’s really grabbed that shirt” on the left wing. When asked if Tel will remain at the club in the face of loan interest from around Europe, the head coach responded “hopefully”, after saying, “We are maybe a little short on offensive options.”

Desperate for a run of games in his favoured position for the first time in his short career, a depleted forward line presents Tel with the opportunity he has sought since leaving Bayern in search of more first-team minutes. Starting against Bournemouth, the onus is on him to take what’s “up for grabs”.

Tottenham Hotspur winger Mohammed Kudus looks set to be unavailable for their Premier League fixture away to Bournemouth with a leg injury, said head coach Thomas Frank.

Kudus was substituted in the 19th minute of Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Sunday after going down injured. In his pre-match press conference ahead of Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, Frank said the Ghana international winger had a scan on Monday afternoon, and the club is awaiting the results.

“He’s going for a scan here, one o’clock, to clarify the issue,” Frank said. “So unfortunately I don’t have a big update on it.

“Most likely he will be out for Bournemouth, yeah.”

Kudus was replaced by Randal Kolo Muani on the right wing, a natural striker who has played across the front line in recent weeks. Brennan Johnson had previously been the most likely candidate to step in for Kudus in the event of injury or rotation, prompting questions on why the Wales international was allowed to depart for Crystal Palace in the thick of the dense fixture list during the festive period.

“Brennan has made himself a club legend in some ways,” said Frank. “Scoring the winning goals in Bilbao, winning the fantastic Europa League trophy. Done well with the top scorer last year I think in all competitions, doing well.

“Then Mo Kudus came in, playing in the right wing, which is also Brennan’s best position, not that he can’t play to the left. And then for the long term plans, there was an opportunity to sell Brennan now and give him an opportunity to try something else, so that was the right decision.”

Mathys Tel came in to the starting line-up against Sunderland and impressed, offering a goal threat from the wings and could be set to see more game time in Kudus’ absence.

“I think it’s pretty fair to say that we are maybe a little bit short on offensive options,” Frank said when asked if Tel is likely to remain at the club through January. “Hopefully. I think also it’s fair, there’s no one who’s really grabbed that shirt on the left-hand side. So I think that’s definitely up for grab. I think it was a positive performance from Mathys. I think he did some positive things and got into good situations.”

However, while Dominic Solanke has returned to first-team training, he is still not yet ready to be involved in matchday squads. Frank described the England international striker as looking “a little bit rusty”, and it will “take some time” before he can contribute on the pitch.

“Today you could see in training that he’s nice and composed on the ball,” said Frank. “Good decisions, good touches. A little bit more competitive(ness) in the small-sided (games), he looked a little rusty, which is completely normal. Now he’s unfortunately been out for what, at least six months. So of course, it will take a little bit of time.

There has been precious little to be positive about at Tottenham Hotspur this season.

In the same pre-season game Son Heung-min, a bona fide club legend, pulled on the club’s shirt for the final time, James Maddison, arguably his successor as the face of the club, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out for most, if not all, of the campaign. After that, there were bright sparks against Paris Saint-Germain and in the August wins over Burnley and Manchester City, but since then, the results, performances, and atmosphere around Spurs have largely been dire.

After the 0-0 draw away at Brentford, a performance so poor it would typically rank among the worst of the season had there not already been at least three worse already, boos were directed towards Thomas Frank. The expression of frustration was not so much about the result as about the protracted lack of ambition and invention by a side seemingly content to play boring, marginal football decided by box scrambles and set pieces.

Against Sunderland on Sunday, for Frank to have any chance of easing the pressure on a fanbase that seems to be losing patience, they needed to be significantly better. And from the opening whistle until play resumed in the second half, they were.

Tottenham came out flying, with Mathys Tel, starting his first league game since the 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa in October, registering a shot on target within 20 seconds. Tel seemed symbolic of a rejuvenated side, joining in with a rampant forward press from the left wing that frequently disrupted Sunderland’s attempts to play short from the goalkeeper, creating chances from high turnovers.

In defence, Pedro Porro and Cristian Romero were dominant, stepping ahead of their markers and intercepting ground passes, before playing forward quickly and slicing through the Sunderland midfield. Tottenham’s midfield was improved, too, with Rodrigo Bentancur snappier in the tackle and more accomplished in possession than in recent games. Beside him, Archie Gray demonstrated his athletic and technical potential.

Most surprisingly, Ben Davies, given his first start of the season, opened the scoring from a set piece, and Tottenham fans went into the half-time break having seen their most dominant first 45 minutes in the league since the opening day win against Burnley. While Sunderland improved in the second half as Tottenham retreated, there were opportunities for the home side to extend the lead on the counter-attack.

In Frank’s view, their failure to make the most of their chances was their downfall.

“I think the big headline is we didn’t score the 2-0 goal,” Frank said in his post-match press conference. “We didn’t kill the game off: 2-0, then we are out of sight. We gave nothing away throughout the game.”

But against a Sunderland side significantly weakened by absences due to the Africa Cup of Nations, the game was there for Spurs to win, and they let it slip. Minutes before Brian Brobbey burst through the Spurs defence to find the equaliser, Sunderland fired a warning sign through midfielder Enzo Le Fee, who fired a header off the post. Spurs continued to invite pressure and were eventually, and predictably, punished.

“We have one bit where they do a top bit of play, and then it’s 1-1,” Frank said. “So for me, it was the 2-0 goal we lacked at. I think the first half was very good. I think we were totally dominant. Second half, not as dominant, but we still get into some very good situations, have some good counter-attack situations where we need to get more out of it. You can’t rely on, in the Premier League, just to win 1-0.”

After a first half that promised so much, the Sunderland game ended in a similar fashion to Brentford: with an underwhelming point and boos directed towards a coach who has lost the faith of many match-going fans. And unless Spurs invest in top talent in the January window, there’s little to suggest a convincing half of football every few matches can translate into something more consistent.

It’s symptomatic of the stark contradiction at the heart of the club. Tottenham play in the best football stadium in the country (maybe the best in the world) but the product on offer is mediocre. The expectation when fans pay for one of the league’s most expensive season tickets in one of the world’s most expensive cities is a premium offering, with brilliant attacking players thrilling the senses.

Dejan Kulusevski, Maddison and Dominic Solanke are three fine players but none have been available. Frank currently has three players who might expect to play regularly for the rest of the big six: two centre-backs and one right-back. Carrying the expectations of a ‘Big Six’ club with a mid-table squad is why many believe Frank’s job is among the most challenging in English football. This does not make the standard of performance any more acceptable, but it’s the sobering reality.

It begs the question of how under par this Spurs season truly is. Should a team missing three of their most established players be in the mix for the top six? Is the team available to Frank any better than most of the clubs around them, particularly when adjusted for the additional demands of the Champions League?

These are surely the considerations of the Lewis family and the club boardroom as they continue to back a coach who hasn’t yet demonstrated he’s the man for the job.

As he looked to the bench for somebody to score the crucial second or put their foot on the ball in midfield and ease the pressure, there was little to choose from. Ironically, Brennan Johnson, who started his first game for Crystal Palace at the same time, may have been that choice — though he likely will have come on earlier for the injured Mohammed Kudus. For the lack of options, or Frank’s failure to make do with what he had, Spurs crumbled.

The question is: how much of that, and a season which is falling into irrelevancy, is his fault?

Tottenham Hotspur have had an £8million ($10.7m) bid rejected for Santos left-back Souza.

Santos are hesitant to accept a bid for the 19-year-old whom they have high hopes for and believe his value may increase in the future.

In the Brazilian’s Santos contract, there is a release clause worth €60m (£52.2m; $70.3m) for Brazilian teams and a release clause worth €100m (£87.1m; $117.2m) for overseas clubs.

Souza came through Santos’ youth ranks and made his top-flight debut in May of last year. He made 24 Brazilian Serie A appearances last season and, alongside captain and team-mate Neymar, helped stave off relegation to the Brazilian second division.

Souza has also made 12 appearances for Brazil’s under-17 side and made five appearances during the Under-17 World Cup in November 2023, helping the team reach the quarter-finals.

Tottenham are looking to strengthen their full-back ranks. They are without starting left-back Destiny Udogie, who has been sidelined since December with a hamstring injury.

Ben Davies scored his first Tottenham Hotspur goal in more than two years to mark his first start of the season, but Thomas Frank’s side were frustrated by a late Sunderland equaliser.

Spurs had endured a disappointing goalless draw away to Brentford on Thursday but seemed set for a morale-boosting victory following the Welshman’s close-range finish after 30 minutes.

But a superbly-worked Brian Brobbey strike with 10 minutes of the 90 to play earned Sunderland a point and cost Frank a much-needed win, given the pressure that has been mounting on him recently. A first-half injury that forced Mohammed Kudus off after 19 minutes will be of concern for the home side, who will now wait to see the extent of his muscle problem.

For the second game in a row, Spurs fans booed at the full-time whistle.

Elias Burke analyses the main talking points from the 1-1 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

How well did Davies do?

Since Destiny Udogie picked up a hamstring injury in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle United in early December, the load has increased significantly on fellow Tottenham full-backs Pedro Porro and Djed Spence, both of whom have barely missed a minute over the past month. After all, who would come in to replace them?

Well, in his first start and just third appearance of the season, Davies proved there was a capable alternative all along. The 32-year-old, who has played more in central defence for Spurs than his more familiar position of left-back in recent seasons, stepped in on the left side of defence for Spence, who was rested for the first time since that December 2 trip to St James’ Park.

From his first touch, Davies looked comfortable and assured in the position, providing balance as a natural left-footer. His tendency not to push too far forward also put the impetus on Porro to attack down the right, something he did well.

Then, in a moment which surprised everyone at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Davies popped up in the box to turn home Micky van de Ven’s shot from a corner, scoring his first goal since a late consolation in a 4-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on December 28, 2023. “Davies again! Olé, olé!” rang around the stadium, a nod to the song they sang about his recently-sold countryman Brennan Johnson.

He was not far away from adding a very unlikely second early in the second half, heading into Robin Roefs’ hands from a corner. Minutes later, he was on hand to spare Cristian Romero’s blushes after a miscued pass back to Guglielmo Vicario, sliding in front of Brobbey and deflecting his shot from inside the box into the side netting.

He could do nothing to prevent the same player’s powerful late strike, and was substituted after 88 minutes to a standing ovation.

How damaging might Kudus’ injury be?

Without a like-for-like replacement on the bench, striker Randal Kolo Muani came on for Kudus, with Wilson Odobert continuing in the central No 10 position.

Kolo Muani was involved immediately, contributing to a fast transition attack — a positive trend through the first period from a Spurs perspective — but ultimately failing to find Odobert, who had drifted into space in the box, with a delicate through pass.

Given the number of matches over the festive period, and that Kudus has started all of them, the chances of him picking up an injury increased — putting the decision to sell Johnson at the height of such a fixture list in question.

Without knowing the timeline of what appears to be a muscular injury — and their long-term need for starting-quality wingers — the pressure is now on the Spurs hierarchy to find an alternative in the winter transfer window.

Was this an improved performance from Spurs?

Above all, the questions around Frank’s coaching centre on a perceived lack of attacking direction.

For Tottenham fans, who associate with ‘To Dare Is To Do’ perhaps more closely than any other Premier League club does with their own mottos, Frank’s proud pragmatism can be jarring. The boos directed towards the head coach after that 0-0 at Brentford three days earlier were less about the final result, more about the lack of ambition Spurs showed in getting it.

Against Sunderland, however, Frank’s side found an intensity and urgency in the first half that the fans have been wanting. Pressing was at the heart of the positive change, with attackers and midfielders hassling the opposition into awkward decisions, leading to high turnovers. That edge carried over to the defenders, with Porro and Romero stepping ahead of their men to cut out long passes along the ground.

While there were opportunities to widen the margin of victory on the counter-attack in the second half, Tottenham frustratingly reverted to form, dropping deeper into their own half and inviting pressure. Shortly after midfielder Enzo Le Fee hit the post with a header, he played a one-two with striker Brobbey, who smashed a shot into the top corner, drawing Sunderland level.

Overall, this performance was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but with points on the board a priority, that late equaliser begs questions as to why Spurs could not have continued in the same vein in both halves.

What next for Spurs?

Souleymane Coulibaly was a last-minute addition to Ivory Coast’s squad for the Under-17 World Cup in 2011. It was an unexpected opportunity which he did not waste.

Coulibaly scored nine goals in four games at that tournament, held in Mexico, and earned a life-changing move to Tottenham Hotspur from Italian side Siena. He played for the reserves alongside Harry Kane and trained with Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, under then manager Harry Redknapp.

It should have been the start of a glittering career, but Coulibaly never made a senior appearance for Spurs.

Now, after playing in six different countries, including Egypt, where he dramatically fell out with employers Al Ahly, the striker represents Pickering Town in English football’s ninth tier, where he is the league’s joint-top scorer this season with 20 goals.

“I’m trying to finish my career peacefully,” Coulibaly, who turned 31 on December 26, tells The Athletic. “I got a lot of offers from Italy and Iran, but I don’t want to go. I’ve been abroad for seven years. I bought a house in Hull, and I want to stay close to my children. I don’t need to prove to anybody who I am.”

Coulibaly grew up in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, but moved to Italy in 2009 at age 15 to live with his father.

Coulibaly left his West African homeland due to the political unrest caused by the civil war between President Laurent Gbagbo’s government and rebel forces led by the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI). Fighting broke out in September 2002, and a peace agreement was not reached until May 2007. Tensions remained high, and the conflict was briefly reignited by a presidential election in October 2010.

The young Coulibaly played for an amateur side in the Tuscany region before he joined Siena’s academy — a year before future Spurs head coach Antonio Conte took charge of the club’s first team. Ivory Coast Under-17s head coach Alain Gouamene invited him to a trial in France a few weeks before the 2011 World Cup for that age group. He impressed, and Gouamene stuck him straight into the starting XI.

“Everybody wants to play for their country,” Coulibaly says. “I was happy. My team-mates were amazing, but it wasn’t easy coming in and taking the place of their No 9.”

Coulibaly started and scored in Ivory Coast’s opening game, a 2-1 loss to Australia.

Their next fixture was against Denmark, who had qualified for the tournament for the first time under now Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank. Coulibaly scored a first-half hat-trick and added a fourth in the 69th minute. Frank could not remember Coulibaly’s name when he was asked about the forward in a Spurs press conference this month, but recalled “someone physically strong” scoring all Ivory Coast’s goals in a 4-2 defeat that ended the Danes’ chances of reaching the knockout stage.

Coulibaly then scored another hat-trick, including an overhead kick, in a 3-3 draw with Brazil in the final group match. Paris Saint-Germain’s future captain Marquinhos was an unused substitute for Brazil that day. Ivory Coast were eliminated by France in the round of 16, but Coulibaly was again on the scoresheet against a side which included future senior internationals Sebastien Haller and Aymeric Laporte.

In a strange twist of fate, while Coulibaly has never played for Ivory Coast at senior level, Haller scored their winner in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final, having switched allegiances in 2020.

“When you come from Ivory Coast, you’re not scared about playing anybody,” Coulibaly says. “You’re small, but you play with big players and adults. In my mind, this was my first and last chance to show what I could do. Anytime I scored, I wanted to score more. My team-mates wanted to celebrate and dance but I said, ‘Let’s go and play.’

“That was my hunger because I came from a poor family. Everybody was rooting for (me). And the country wasn’t in a good place. Everything I did was for my family and Ivory Coast, to make peace.”

When Coulibaly first moved to Italy, he noticed one of his team-mates throwing their football boots in the bin. Coulibaly retrieved them. He had grown up playing barefoot on the sandy pitches scattered around Abidjan.

Everything changed after he won the Golden Boot award at that Under-17 World Cup.

“I told my agent I just wanted to play football,” Coulibaly says. “He took me to Real Madrid because (their manager at the time) Jose Mourinho wanted me and they showed me their stadium. I returned to Italy, and Tottenham visited me. They showed me their plan (for my development) and the new training ground, which wasn’t finished yet.

“I moved in July 2011, and played for the youth teams. My managers were Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand. Chris Ramsey helped me a lot, too. We had a lot of good players in the reserves: Kane, John Bostock, Andros Townsend, Alex Pritchard, Tom Carroll. Kane worked very hard. Nobody can deny that. He’s a good lad.”

Coulibaly started learning English and player liaison officer Roberto Balbontin, who still works at Spurs, helped him settle in.

He scored against Inter and PSV in the group stage of the Next Gen tournament, a cup competition for under-19s which was scrapped after two seasons, in 2011-12. He also got a stoppage-time winner against Stevenage in the third round of the FA Youth Cup and regularly trained with the Tottenham first team.

“Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Bale, Peter Crouch, Van der Vaart, Luka Modric — I learned from everybody,” Coulibaly says. “Sometimes I would speak to Younes Kaboul and Adebayor, because they knew French. Jermain Defoe helped me a lot. We would do finishing (drills) together.”

After 18 months, Coulibaly pushed for a loan move so he could experience senior football. He spent the second half of the 2012-13 campaign with Grosseto in Serie B, then joined Bari, also in Italy’s second tier, on a permanent deal.

“Spurs did everything for me,” he says. “I visited Africa on holiday and I was sick. I nearly died. They took me back and looked after me. They gave me another contract. The only thing I regret in my life is to not have given back to them for the first team.”

Coulibaly didn’t play a first-team match for Bari either, as he spent the 2014-15 season on loan with third-division Pistoiese before returning to England with Peterborough United, another third-tier side. A further loan followed, this time to Newport County in fourth-tier League Two, and then he joined Kilmarnock in the Scottish top flight. Coulibaly enjoyed the best period of his career in Scotland. He scored eight times in 21 league appearances for Kilmarnock, including a stunning long-range strike in a 6-1 defeat to Celtic.

“When we played against Celtic, you could never reach their box,” he says. “We had to defend in a low block. So when I got a chance, I put all my power into (the shot). As I shot, one of my team-mates said, ‘What the f**k?’, and when I scored he said, ‘Well done’.”

Coulibaly loved his time with Kilmarnock, based a short drive south of Glasgow, but was tempted by an offer to head back overseas.

He joined Al Ahly, the Cairo club who have won the Egyptian league title and African Champions League more than any other side, in January 2017 for £800,000. Coulibaly scored six goals in nine league games before his move turned sour.

He says he struggled to find a school for his children due to visa issues and describes it as a stressful time for him while his wife was pregnant. He also alleges Al Ahly withheld his passport. Coulibaly says of his exit from the club: “We played a game (abroad). When we came back, I had my passport and I just flew (to England). They told me to return, but I said, ‘I cannot be in a situation where you own my passport.’ It was good money, but it was tough.”

The Egyptian club has always strongly denied Coulibaly’s claims, telling The Athletic in a statement, “Al Ahly did not withhold the player’s passport at any time, which is how he was able to leave the country.”

Al Ahly sued for a breach of contract in June 2017. In April 2018, FIFA ruled Coulibaly was liable to pay his former club $1.4million, and that decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On the matter, Al Ahly told The Athletic: “Coulibaly was undoubtedly a very good player during his time at Al Ahly, and we had high expectations. The club fully supported him. The true reasons behind his decision to leave remain unknown to us, and only the player can explain. Had Al Ahly violated any regulations, the (FIFA and CAS) decision would not have been issued in our favour.”

“I thought I was finished and wouldn’t play football anymore,” Coulibaly says about his frame of mind when leaving Egypt.

He joined second-division Partick Thistle back in Scotland in August 2018, but the Egyptian Football Association refused to grant an international transfer certificate (ITC). FIFA granted a temporary ITC in October after a request from the Scottish FA. Coulibaly only made four substitute appearances for Partick.

A move to Tunisian side ES Sahel in May 2019 reignited his career.

Coulibaly scored 21 times in 52 appearances, form that took him to the brink of a senior debut for Ivory Coast — exactly a decade after his heroics at that Under-17 World Cup in Mexico. He was an unused substitute for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia in March 2021 and trained with Nicolas Pepe, Eric Bailly and Wilfried Zaha, who were all playing in the Premier League for Arsenal, Manchester United and Crystal Palace respectively at that time.

However, while he was performing well for ES Sahel, with his case involving Ah Alhy still being resolved, Coulibaly says off-field issues led to him moving on again. A 32-page document CAS released in 2023 provides the full picture of a complex situation.

According to the CAS document, in October 2019, ES Sahel agreed to pay Al Ahly the $1.4million on Coulibaly’s behalf across four payments, with the total amount due by July 2021. In January and March 2020, Al Ahly filed two separate claims with world football’s governing body FIFA, claiming ES Sahel had missed deadlines for instalments.

In July 2020, FIFA ordered ES Sahel to pay Al Ahly $1.4million plus interest and banned them from registering new players, with Coulibaly suspended until the payment was settled or for a maximum of six months. ES Sahel and Coulibaly appealed the punishment but it was upheld by CAS. In January 2022, ES Sahel agreed to pay Al Ahly $1.9m.

But still the drama was not over. The following month, Coulibaly said to ES Sahel that they had failed to pay him for three months.

Coulibaly terminated his contract and filed a claim with FIFA against ES Sahel for a breach of contract. The affair ended with FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) ruling in the player’s favour, but being suspended and spending so much time fighting in the courts disrupted his career. The Athletic has approached ES Sahel for comment on the case.

After leaving ES Sahel in summer 2022, he briefly played for Karmiotissa in Cyprus and Algeria’s ES Setif.

Coulibaly had come agonisingly close to achieving his dream of representing Ivory Coast. Instead, however, he will be watching them compete at AFCON 2025 from his sofa with his children — as long as none of their games clash with Pickering’s ones. The Yorkshire club are ninth in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division, 10 points behind Barton Town and Tadcaster Albion, who occupy the final play-off spots.

“My focus is to help the team get promoted, but the lower leagues in England are hard,” he says.

“A lot of clubs asked me to play for them, but I promised Pickering Town I would stay until the end of the season. I’m enjoying my football again.”

Just days after The Athletic reported that Tottenham Hotspur had agreed a fee with Crystal Palace for the sale of forward Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace, the forward’s move across London has been finalised.

The 24-year-old, signed from Nottingham Forest in 2023, has not scored in the Premier League since August, having been restricted largely to a bench role as Tottenham’s first season under Thomas Frank has unfolded. He started just three of Tottenham’s last 16 league matches, although he did start a further four matches in the League Cup and Champions League in that time.

Despite that, only Richarlison and Micky van de Ven have scored more goals for Spurs this season, with Johnson having been the club’s top scorer in 2024-25, a season that ended with him scoring the winning goal in the Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao.

Spurs are clearly in the midst of a rebuild, but was this the right time to sell?

The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke and Elias Burke address the two sides of the argument…

Yes, it was time to cash in

Thomas Frank knows the importance of selling well. His Brentford tenure was built in part on selling players for the right price at the right time, a lesson that Tottenham could clearly learn.

Speaking at his press conference ahead of the Brentford game, Frank was asked about the importance of being “good sellers”. He could not have been clearer. “That’s key,” he said. “There are a lot of elements that we need to do well to be able to compete at the highest level. Part of it is being able to sell. The other top clubs… they are quite good at selling.”

Tottenham have rarely been good at selling. Traditionally, they have been good at extracting big fees in very specific circumstances: when they have a world-class player who is being pursued by one of the richest clubs in Europe. Take Dimitar Berbatov going to Manchester United in 2008, Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2013, Kyle Walker to Manchester City in 2017, or Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in 2023. In all four cases, they were able to negotiate a big fee.

What Spurs have struggled with is sales that are not like that: when they have a prized asset and all the leverage in negotiations. In recent years, they have repeatedly clung on to players for too long, missing the moment to move them on, leaving them with players who have lost their edge and their market value.

So much of Spurs’ struggles in recent years were down to the fact that they hung on to players such as Dele, Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Lucas Moura and Christian Eriksen for too long, rather than selling them when they were hot.

Which leads us to Brennan Johnson. He is a good player who has done well at Spurs. He joined at the age of 22, a few weeks after Kane was sold to Bayern. Johnson had big responsibilities from early on and scored five league goals in his first season. In his second year, he was the club’s top scorer, with 11 in the league, two in the cups, and another five in Europe. The last of those was the goal that will seal his legacy forever, turning in Pape Matar Sarr’s cross at the near post to win Spurs the Europa League.

But the fact is that Johnson has not been in the starting XI for much of this season. Mohammed Kudus is the clear first choice on the right wing. Johnson does not get much of a look-in on the left either.

Of course Spurs could have kept him and he could still have been useful when called upon, just like he was from the bench at Crystal Palace on December 28. But this is precisely the sort of situation where Spurs have tended to hang on to the player in the past, when they would be better off taking the money and reinvesting in someone better suited to their system. This time they have done well to take a different option.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

No, they still needed his goals

Brennan Johnson will not be easy to replace.

He’s the scorer of Tottenham’s most important goal in at least 17 years, and finished last season as the club’s top marksman across all competitions. While he’s not the same flying winger Spurs signed from Nottingham Forest in 2023, he’s developed into a reliable goalscorer with a rare and valuable ability to arrive in the right place at the right time in the box. In a squad short on goalscorers, Johnson’s ability to put the ball into the back of the net should not have been overlooked.

Having mostly seen him from the bench since the opening matches of the season, it’s easy to forget he started this term in a similar vein of form to that with which he finished the last. His goal on the opening day of the season, where he timed his run to perfection before calmly lifting his finish over Burnley goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, exemplified his progression into a bona fide goalscorer from out wide. The following week, he opened the scoring in the 2-0 win away to Manchester City, getting on the end of a wide cross from a quick attacking transition, the kind of football that suits him best, and that he will be hoping to play at Crystal Palace.

There has not been much to crow about for Spurs fans this season, but just the sight of Johnson has been enough to bring choruses of “Johnson again, ole ole”, including when he came on towards the end of Sunday’s win at Selhurst Park. In fact the travelling Spurs fans even sang his name (along with those of several former Spurs players) during Thursday evening’s 0-0 draw at Brentford as news of his imminent departure broke. The little reminders of that night in Bilbao may not put points on the board this season, but they are also not without merit.

With better squad construction, Johnson would have been an important squad player. He may not have played every week, but across four competitions, there would be plenty of opportunities for him to start and provide important contributions from the bench from both wings. He’d also be crucial injury cover for Kudus, who will now only be supported by Wilson Odobert (at least until Dejan Kulusevski returns from his long-term injury), a player who has produced his best displays from the left.

But with so many players in the squad capable of playing left wing (without entirely convincing), the evidence suggests Johnson, who is coming into his prime at 24, would not get the minutes he wants under Frank.

Unless Spurs invest in a top winger to immediately take the starting spot on the left, or Odobert translates his exciting cameos from the bench into consistent displays from the start, it could be a move that the club rues in the second half of the season. Having also lost Son Heung-min, Tottenham can ill-afford to not replace his goal threat.

Elias Burke

Tottenham Hotspur defender Kota Takai has joined German side Borussia Monchengladbach on loan for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.

Takai joined Spurs on a five-year contract from Kawasaki Frontale in July for a J-League record fee of around £5million, but he is yet to make his first appearance for the north London side having dealt with separate foot and knee injuries since the summer. He was included in the matchday squad for the first time by Thomas Frank as an unused substitute in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The 21-year-old returned to first-team training in November, and played 45 minutes in a behind-closed doors friendly against National League South side Dagenham and Redbridge in early December.

He joins the Bundesliga club until the end of the season, where he will be initially viewed as a back-up but should find opportunities in the German top-flight due to Gladbach’s lack of defensive depth. The four-time Japan international will be supported by countryman Shuto Machino, who will help him integrate into the squad.

Like with fellow Spurs central defender Luka Vuskovic, who signed for Hamburg on a season-long loan in the summer window, there is no buy clause in the agreement.

Tottenham remain fairly well-stocked in the centre-back department, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero arguably the club’s best and most important players. They’re supported by Kevin Danso, Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin, who has recently returned from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in January 2025.

There is a limit to what fans will put up with, and no one knows precisely what that limit is until it is reached.

On Thursday night at Brentford, that breaking point was hit. One thousand, seven hundred and 23 Tottenham Hotspur fans had travelled out to west London in the bitter cold. And they had watched Tottenham yet again do absolutely nothing, create nothing, threaten nothing, imagine nothing, score nothing, and achieve nothing but a clean sheet and a point that moves them up to 12th.

Speaking afterwards, head coach Thomas Frank hailed a “very, very strong defensive performance”.

This was not the first Tottenham attacking no-show under Frank. There have been far too many already, given he is only halfway through his first season. And so when he went over to the away fans to applaud them at the end, they could not hide their feelings about him. This was not just booing this result or this performance. It was specifically directed at Frank himself.

You could sense that a reaction like this was coming. All game, the mood of the away end had been bubbling, rising towards that invisible limit of patience. The fans had sung ‘Boring, boring Tottenham’ and ‘We want our money back’. They had pointedly sung the names of plenty of former players — including Brennan Johnson — warming themselves up around the glow of memories of happier times.

In the final miserable minutes of this appalling game, the end of their tether had been reached. They were increasingly aghast at every missed opportunity to make something happen, whether Richarlison bungling a simple pass or Guglielmo Vicario taking his time before launching it. And then Frank walked over and bore the brunt of it.

This was not the first time that Spurs fans booed this season. But it felt like the most pointedly personal booing so far. Nor can this be taken in isolation. This was not disappointment at a mistake, or frustration over another bad day at the office. There was nothing random or unfortunate about Spurs’ badness here. Because Spurs were bad in precisely the ways that you would expect them to be bad, the ways in which you have seen them be bad too many times this season already. This was some of the worst football you will ever see. But you could never call it a surprise.

The problem was that Spurs were set up with no capacity to move the ball forward. Frank reunited Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in the middle, but with the added twist of Archie Gray playing at 10. Spurs’ options for ball progression included Pedro Porro hitting the ball down the line and Spurs’ centre-backs going back to Vicario, who hurriedly hacked the ball downfield. That was essentially it. Their best moments were Gray having a shot blocked from the edge of the box and Richarlison swinging wildly at a volley from a difficult angle. After that, there was little.

Brentford shaded the second half and had chances to win it. But in truth, it would have been a travesty if either team had scored here or left with three points. Frankly, it feels a bit much that both teams went home with one point. This was a game to make you wonder what you are doing with your life, how many mistakes have led you up to this point. We must all hope that this is the worst game of football played in 2026. Anything worse than this would suggest that something, somewhere, has gone seriously wrong.

The highlight, the one moment that will stay with those who saw it, came when Vicario was booked for time-wasting with more than 20 minutes left of normal time. He had been taking so much time over a goal-kick, it was as if he thought it was added time in a cup final and his team was 1-0 up. Keith Andrews said afterwards that it was a sign of respect from Frank to his old team, because he was so desperate to stop their momentum.

Maybe that is right. When Frank gave his own post-match press conference, he explained how good Brentford have been at home, how they have already beaten Aston Villa, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle United here this season. Which is true. But probably not what Spurs fans want to. Fans prefer it when their team takes the initiative.

There is no question that Frank has tightened Spurs up, moving them away from the era of 22 league defeats, 17th place and all that. With 18 points from 10 games, they still have the best away record in the league this season. It was only on Sunday that Spurs went to Selhurst Park, kept it tight, scored from a corner and won 1-0. That did not feel like a classic at the time, but compared to this game, it was the 2022 World Cup final. That is the problem with playing this football, offering nothing in terms of entertainment. Your only option is to win. Fail to do that, and there is nothing for fans to invest in or get behind.

Frank admitted afterwards that Spurs still need to improve on the ball. “We need to add the next layers,” as he routinely puts it. And with Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison injured, and Xavi Simons suspended, this is a group short on attacking quality. There is more pressure on the January window than ever before.

The problem is that for this to work, fans have to believe in the direction of travel. They must want to be on the journey with Frank and the players. And that means aiming for some lofty goals, sharing the aspirations, if not the records, of great Spurs teams of the past. Tightening the defence, restricting Brentford’s shooting opportunities, and maximising set pieces — these alone will not cut it.

At some point, Frank has to offer something grander than efficiencies and marginal gains. Or else there will be more games like this. And more fan reactions like this, too.