The New York Times

Tottenham Hotspur striker Will Lankshear has completed a move to Championship side Middlesbrough.

Lankshear has signed a five-year deal with his new club.

The Athletic reported in June that there was significant interest from Championship teams in the 21-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Oxford United in the second tier.

Lankshear recorded 11 goals and four assists in 44 appearances for Oxford, who suffered relegation back to League One. Among his notable contributions was the winning goal against relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion in a 2-1 win in February and a double against Sheffield Wednesday in the penultimate match of the season.

The England under-20 international was named Oxford’s young player of the year following his first full season in senior football, having spent the second half of the 2024-25 campaign on loan at West Brom, where he failed to score in 11 appearances.

“Middlesbrough is such a massive club over the years; I deem it to be a Premier League club,” Lankshear said, via Middlesbrough’s website.

“The project here really excites me. I can’t wait to get started and be part of the journey, and get this club back where it belongs.”

Lankshear played six times for Tottenham’s first team — three of which in the Premier League — scoring once, in the Europa League against Galatasaray in November 2024. He was later sent off in the match.

Middlesbrough missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season after a 1-0 defeat by Hull City in the Championship play-off final. Oli McBurnie scored the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to consign Boro to a 10th successive season in the second tier.

Boro were defeated by Southampton in the two-legged semi-finals, but were reinstated in the Wembley final after Southampton admitted to spying on other clubs’ training sessions, including Boro.

Middlesbrough had money to spend this summer following the departure of star midfielder Hayden Hackney to Everton in a deal which could rise to just under £25m ($33.3m) if all clauses, which are based on appearances, England selection and Everton’s qualification for European competition, are met.

Lankshear is the second striker to join Boro this month, after they completed a deal for Hull City forward Kyle Joseph. They have also signed attacking midfielders Myles Peart-Harris and Jeremy Sarmiento.

It’s a sweltering day in south-east Spain and around 100 children are queuing up to meet a local hero.

Xavi Simons was born in Amsterdam but grew up in the quiet village of Rojales in Alicante. The Tottenham Hotspur attacking midfielder is here to open a football pitch next to the school he attended before a life-changing move to Barcelona’s academy at the age of six.

Despite the oppressive heat, Xavi signs every single shirt and takes photos with members of the Johan Cruyff Foundation. Since 2003, the Cruyff Foundation has presented an award for the Dutch Talent of the Year. A pitch is then built in honour of the winner in a location of their choosing. Simons received the award three years ago, and this is the spot he chose.

Xavi is only 23, yet it feels like he has been in the public consciousness forever. Video footage of a small figure with blonde curls gliding past defenders went viral before he was a teenager. Xavi was part of a formidable generation at La Masia, Barcelona’s renowned academy, which included future first-team stars Alejandro Balde, Fermin Lopez and Gavi. He starred in an advert for Nike when he was only 15 alongside Ronaldinho, Andrea Pirlo and Kevin De Bruyne.

A year later, he joined Paris Saint-Germain, where he rubbed shoulders with Argentina captain Lionel Messi, Brazilian icon Neymar, and the rising star of world football, Kylian Mbappe. Following an impressive loan spell at PSV, he made his debut for the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup at the age of 19. He then excelled across a two-year spell in Germany with RB Leipzig, prompting Spurs to spend €60million (£51.8m; $70m) on him last summer.

Xavi should have played a key role for the Netherlands at this summer’s World Cup but suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in April that means he is unlikely to play again until 2027. The setback has provided Xavi with the rare opportunity to spend more time with his family, including his grandmother Rinia, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease around five years ago.

Xavi speaks six languages and has lived in some of the world’s most iconic cities. Rojales is not particularly glamorous but it holds a special place in Xavi’s heart, despite the difficulties his family faced while they lived there. His long-term goal is to buy his former home, but for now, he lives in a multi-storey apartment about half an hour’s drive away.

“When I come back here I’m far away from reality,” he says. “People see me like the little Xavi that they always saw, not the Xavi from Tottenham and the national team. It makes me happy, feeling that the people are proud of me. I can walk down the street without any problem. I’m in peace here.”

The Athletic visited Xavi in his hometown to learn more about his incredible journey.

Xavi was born on his brother Faustino’s seventh birthday, whose Barcelona-themed party was due to take place at the family home but there was a late change of venue.

“The night before I felt something,” Peggy, Xavi’s mother, tells The Athletic. “I called my mum (Rinia) and said, ‘You better go with everybody to a playground’. I gave birth in my room.

“I had a name for him but when we saw the baby I said, ‘It does not match.’ He was so white, no hair, ugly. Faustino was a beautiful baby. Everybody was a little bit shocked. I said, ‘I’m going to change the name, so just say baby Simons’. He had no name for five days. Then I watched Barcelona playing, and I saw Xavi Hernandez on the screen.”

Xavi Simons quickly proved he was worthy of being named after the midfielder who went on to win the World Cup and two European Championships with Spain.

“When he went to kindergarten, he went in full kit, boots and a ball,” Peggy says. “I have videos of Xavi when he is two, explaining technical details about the game. How can a boy of two understand this? He also knew all the badges of the clubs in Holland, the players and the coaches.”

Peggy’s parents, Rinia and John, were both born in the former Dutch colony Suriname on the north-east coast of South America. They moved to the Netherlands to study and pursue work. Peggy grew up in the Netherlands and worked as a check-in clerk for Suriname Airways but decided to move to Spain after regularly visiting a close friend in Barcelona.

Peggy tried to buy a house in the city, “but it was too expensive”, so she turned her attention to Alicante, which was “five times cheaper”. Even though “there was nothing, only orange trees” in Rojales, Peggy bought a small apartment with Rinia. Peggy officially moved in with her mum, younger sister Priscilla and two sons when Xavi was three. All five of them shared the same bed. Peggy wanted her children to experience a new culture and language, but the economic crisis that hit in the late 2000s had a significant impact.

“It was complicated,” Peggy says. “There was no work. I thought maybe I needed to go back (to Amsterdam) but if I go back I have failed, and I am not failing. My mum helped me a lot and my family sent money without asking because I wasn’t going to ask.”

Xavi was oblivious to the problems his family were dealing with. He would attend school each day until 3pm, eat dinner at home before rushing over to a concrete football pitch around the corner. He would spend a couple of hours playing with his friends and have a few scoops of ice cream before training at Club Deportivo Thader’s facilities in the evening.

“I spent the whole day outside and was happy with basic things in life,” Xavi says. “With time I have realised (the living situation) was not normal but my mum had to make sacrifices. I just want to thank her for not showing me how difficult it was. Giving her what I give her means the world to me.

“My mum never had any jealousy towards other people. This was her life and she was always happy. I only have memories of her smiling, even though she was not eating but made sure me and my brother were.”

Xavi’s father, Regillio, is a former footballer who played for Dutch top-flight sides Fortuna Sittard and Willem II. Regillio has not been present in his son’s life, which is why Xavi prefers to be referred to by his first name only. Instead, he looked to Faustino for guidance during his childhood.

“From a young age he had the responsibility of being a man at home and he still feels like that now,” Xavi adds. “I am the one on the pitch and who everyone sees on television, but the real MVPs are my mum, brother and my younger sister (Kenza). I’m really grateful for what they do for me.”

Another important figure from the beginning of Xavi’s life is his first coach. Marcelino played for CD Thader’s senior side and coached some of the youth teams in his spare time.

“From the first training session, I could see Xavi was different,” Marcelino says. “The way he struck the ball, his vision and understanding of the game stood out.

“He had a good relationship with his team-mates but in any exercise he wanted to be the one who scored the most goals or dribbled the best. He was a winner. He always wanted to improve. If he did something wrong, he would do it again until he got it right. If we were losing, he would say, ‘Give me the ball, and I will win us the game’.

“I just tried to keep Xavi as humble as possible. I would play him the same amount of minutes as everyone else and taught him how to be a team player.”

It did not take long for other people to notice Xavi’s ability. Elche, Alicante and Villarreal were all interested in signing him, and Barcelona organised a week-long trial. Peggy kept the trial a secret until she dropped her son off at Barcelona’s training ground.

“After one session, they said, ‘Xavi, you can stay’. So I did my job that day,” he says.

Xavi moved to Barcelona just before he turned seven, but it was not the end of his relationship with Marcelino. Xavi would call his former coach every Monday to discuss how he played on the weekend. They remain in contact and in February, Marcelino attended Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City as Xavi’s guest.

“He was one of the people always trying to supply my boots and helping my family,” Xavi says. “He bought them for me and that’s why I say my whole life I feel like I’m in debt with him because he saved my mum as well in different situations.”

Xavi returns to Rojales every summer. For the last two years, he has hosted a festival where families can take part in a range of activities. He wanted to give something back permanently to the community, which is why he asked the Cruyff Foundation to build a high-quality artificial pitch there.

“I never had that and nowadays (children) have a lot more distractions,” he says. “It’s easy to say, ‘No, I will stay at home on the PlayStation or watch YouTube’. In my time, everyone was outside. Creating good environments so they want to go to is important.

“What are the odds a little guy from Rojales makes it as a professional footballer? It’s really low. That’s the message I want to bring to the kids, even though living here you might not have the opportunities or the infrastructure in big cities like Barcelona and Madrid. Bringing that mentality, you have to work hard and believe. You will have people say to you, ‘No, it’s impossible, why are you going there?’ If you have a dream, go for it.”

For Marcelino, who describes Xavi as like a “little brother”, it makes him feel “happy and proud”.

“Some people, the fame goes to their head and they forget about people from home, but it wasn’t the case with Xavi,” he says. “It’s surprising but in a positive way.”

Barcelona helped Xavi and his family move from Rojales. A month before he joined La Masia in 2010, Xavi’s grandfather John passed away from a heart attack. A couple of years ago, Xavi gifted the rest of his family necklaces that contained a photo of John for Christmas.

“It was a blow, especially for my mum,” Xavi says. “He had a big role in our lives, for me and my brother. I know he is protecting us and is with us. When I put that (necklace) on going into games, he is giving me strength to be here and work hard.”

Xavi thrived at La Masia but it came at a cost. Videos of him playing racked up millions of views across YouTube and he was slapped with the ‘wonderkid’ label. He signed a deal with Nike and received 10 pairs of boots in different colours. Peggy ensured he shared the boots with the rest of his team-mates. By the time he turned 14, he had around one million followers on Instagram.

“They don’t prepare you to be famous,” Xavi says. “I had a lot of positive things but I couldn’t go outside to play with friends because people always wanted something from me or a picture. It was not normal. I had maybe more followers than first-team players but we managed it in the best way possible.

“I’ve missed a lot. When I talk to my sister, she plays tennis and hopefully will become one of the greats, I tell her, ‘Please enjoy that you can walk outside, drink with your friends and have fun because I never had it’.”

It seemed like Xavi was destined to become a star for Barcelona but he left Camp Nou at 16 without making a first-team appearance. In the summer of 2019, he joined PSG and was reunited with Neymar. The Brazilian forward had taken Xavi under his wing during their time together in Spain.

Xavi played regularly for PSG’s under-21s and took part in training with the senior squad. He made six Ligue 1 appearances in the 2021-22 season as PSG won the title under former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino. It would have been easy to allow the attention to go to his head and become complacent.

“You have good days and bad days but I never felt like I dropped my standards. They are non-negotiable and I know my brother will kill me.

“I was with Messi, Mbappe, Neymar, Thiago Silva and Marquinhos every day. I realised this is where I belong and what I need to do to be in the same position as them. Seeing them in the gym every day, not skipping anything: their food, sleep, recovery… it made things click.”

Xavi left PSG in June 2022 to join PSV and soon felt the benefit. Xavi flourished under PSV’s head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy, scoring 22 goals in 48 appearances. He made his debut for the Netherlands in a 3-1 round-of-16 victory over the USMNT at the last World Cup. He then spent two years with RB Leipzig before seizing the opportunity to move to the Premier League with Spurs.

Xavi endured a difficult debut season in north London. He started on the left wing under Thomas Frank before he was slowly trusted to play in his favoured ‘No 10’ role. A red card against Liverpool for accidentally catching his international team-mate Virgil van Dijk forced him to miss three games but he was one of the only in-form players towards the end of Frank’s reign. Xavi’s minutes dropped under Igor Tudor and he only made three appearances for Roberto De Zerbi before injuring his ACL in a 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Xavi recorded two goals and five assists in 28 top-flight matches as Spurs finished 17th for the second successive season. The club have responded by spending over £250m ($330m) on improving their squad this summer, twice breaking their transfer record with the signings of midfielders Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali.

“This season taught me a lot, especially when things were not going well,” he says. “I never experienced this situation. For everyone, it was a wake-up call that things have to go better. More beautiful stuff is waiting for us in the future.”

Xavi ruptured his right ACL in a duel with Wolves defender Hugo Bueno. He tried to continue before being stretchered off the pitch. He says he broke down in tears when the diagnosis was confirmed, knowing he could not help Spurs in their fight against relegation — and would miss the World Cup.

“I called my mum and said, ‘Maybe it is like (Cristian Romero’s) injury where it was only four or five weeks’, but the next day when I did the test I couldn’t walk,” he says. “I received the call from the club and that was the moment everything was sinking.”

Xavi has a date in mind for his return but is trying to stay busy during his rehab. After our conversation, he visits CD Thader’s facilities to do strength and conditioning work. When France beat Morocco 2-0 in the World Cup quarter-finals, he missed the game because he was watching a local youth-team tournament. He has started studying a latte art class, hangs out with his childhood friends from Rojales and plays dominoes.

He plans to watch The Odyssey, this summer’s blockbuster directed by Christopher Nolan. Before every game, Xavi calls his mum and listens to the theme song from Nolan’s 2014 Oscar-winning film Interstellar, which was composed by Hans Zimmer.

“She just tells me to smile. Inside of me, I still have that little kid who loves football and that fire keeps me going. (That theme tune) relaxes me before going onto the pitch. With my style of play, if you put some of my highlights over that song, it will go along well.”

Most importantly, he spent more time with his family who were all in attendance for the launch of the Cruyff Foundation pitch. At the beginning of July, he appeared on Dutch TV with Rinia to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s.

“She forgets a lot of short-term stuff,” he says. “She doesn’t know what she ate today or yesterday but she still knows who we are. At the start it was hard but now we are in a good place. She is happy and gets to spend time with her grandchildren, which is beautiful.”

“I almost want to cry if you ask me this because he is the sweetest one,” says Peggy. “He is very polite and loves people. Everything is the opposite — people think he is arrogant but it’s passion.”

Xavi is enjoying being surrounded by friends and family in Rojales but when he returns to full fitness he should play a big role for Spurs. Earlier this year, De Zerbi described Xavi as a “leader” because he has “the right character to receive the ball when it is hot”. Xavi believes this can be traced back to playing with Faustino and his friends. He would be kicked and fouled by opponents twice his size but it made him stronger.

“De Zerbi told me he wanted to buy me at Brighton,” Xavi says. “The confidence he has given me from day one, that is what I need to be at my best. I know with him I can really achieve the level that I want to.

“I’m not scared of who’s in front of me. I’m not scared if we are winning or losing. I always want to have the ball. I will never hide from it. I always want to make that pass, score that goal, help the team.

“I was scared when I was playing against my brother but now it’s like this is what I was made for. Pressure is what my mum had in her life.”

John White was struggling to find a partner for a round of golf one afternoon in July, exactly 62 years ago, after he had finished a morning of pre-season training at White Hart Lane.

He tried to persuade some of his team-mates in a Tottenham Hotspur side who, three years earlier, had become the first team in the 20th century to win the league and FA Cup double, and the previous year had become the first English side to win a European trophy — the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Cliff Jones, his close friend and partner in crime with practical jokes that would annoy legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson, declined as storm clouds were gathering around north London. Terry Medwin and White’s fellow Scot Jimmy Robertson also didn’t fancy it.

So White decided to play on his own and left his home in Winchmore Hill for the Crews Hill course in Enfield despite the protestations of his wife Sandra who told him “you’re not going golfing” before relenting and dropping her husband off “just for a few holes”.

White never returned home. One of the best footballers in England and the man Nicholson planned to build his ‘new’ Spurs team around was struck by lightning as he sheltered under an oak tree on the ninth fairway when storms hit. He was killed instantly.

Spurs had lost their star inside forward and Sandra, at 22 and with two young children, two-year-old daughter Mandy and son Rob, just five months old, had lost her husband.

“There are so many ‘if onlys’,” Rob White, who has spent the 62 years since discovering as much as he possibly can about the father he never knew, tells The Athletic.

“Cliff Jones hid my dad’s trousers in the dressing room after training, which was an everyday prank for them, but it delayed dad’s world by 10 minutes while he looked for them. Then there was sheltering under the tree. Why did he do that? You can look at it and say ‘how many red lights did he miss?’ Everything could have turned out differently that day.

“I’ve actually played golf a couple of times at Crews Hill. As kids we went to garden centres near there but never to the golf course because it was the stuff of nightmares for me. But when I eventually did go there it was quite peaceful and I definitely felt a sense of closure.”

In 2010, Rob White, together with Julie Welch, Fleet Street’s first female football reporter, wrote a moving book about John called ‘The Ghost — In Search of My Father The Football Legend’ (The Ghost was John’s nickname, derived from his ability to float into space unnoticed by the opposition). Two years ago the story was turned into a brilliant play by writer and director — and huge Spurs fan — Martin Murphy.

On Tuesday, 62 years to the day after the tragic accident, The Ghost of White Hart Lane will be staged for the first time in John’s home town of Musselburgh, just outside Edinburgh.

Actor Callum Lewis Newman puts in an extraordinary performance, playing 31 different characters in this one-man play, principally John and Rob White. “At times it’s as if Callum is my dad,” says Rob. “It’s incredibly emotional for me to watch it. I’m able to get close to how he might have been.”

It is a play that tells an extraordinary story of a superstar cut down in his prime and one that remains largely unknown to a legion of younger football followers, even Spurs fans.

“There was always a silence around me growing up, probably because of the magnitude of the situation,” continues Rob before heading to Scotland for the big night in Musselburgh. “Mum would never talk about Dad. There were no pictures of him at home. I grew up knowing it was too painful for my mum and nan to tell me all about him.

“There was also this weird thing that I felt everybody knew the story apart from me. It would frustrate me. I’d think, ‘It’s my dad, my grief, what’s it got to do with you?’. Funnily enough the other week I bumped into somebody I was at school with and he said something about my story.

“I said, ‘I didn’t think anybody knew about it’ and he said, ‘We all knew about it and were all talking about it but we didn’t talk about it with you.’ It blew my mind there was this chatter going on but I wasn’t aware of it.”

In modern parlance, John White was an attacking wide midfielder on both the right and left, ‘ghosting’ around the pitch. It is difficult to exaggerate just how good a footballer he was, or how shocking his loss was in such freak circumstances at the age of just 27.

Rob’s book carries a quote on its cover from the great Jimmy Greaves that says: “Had John White lived he could have been one of the greatest footballers of all time.” It is not sympathetic hyperbole because it has been echoed by so many to John’s son.

“One of the frustrations for me being a football obsessive was trying to find out just how good my dad was,” says Rob. “Was he Johan Cruyff? George Best? Denis Law? I didn’t know. I talked to Jimmy Greaves for the book and Luka Modric had just joined Spurs.”

“I said to Jimmy, ‘I really like Modric, is he like my dad?’ and Jimmy just started laughing and saying, ‘Nowhere near as good as your dad’. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“So many important people in football who were around at the time rated him so highly. I met Alex Ferguson and he said so many beautiful things about my dad.

“As Spurs fans there’s no way we can disregard the opinion of Bill Nicholson, who was our finest manager of all time, and he was definitely going to build his next team around my dad. He had just given him a pay rise and apparently had intimated that to him.

“Denis Law was adamant if Dad had lived England would never have won the World Cup in 1966 because Scotland would have done it instead. Imagine that!”

Yet for all his undoubted ability, White’s death did not elicit the huge reaction that the closest modern equivalent tragedy, the death of Liverpool’s Diogo Jota at 28 last year, brought. Sandra White and her two children were left mainly to fend for themselves.

“I grew up with my mum and grandmother and I thought Bill Nicholson’s first name was ‘Bloody’ because it was always ‘Bloody Bill Nicholson’,” says Rob, always destined to be a Spurs fan and who now lives in Tottenham “seven minutes from my sofa to the stadium”.

“It was like my dad’s death was more a huge blow to Bill’s plans for his beloved Tottenham Hotspur than a tragedy, but now I think I can see how much it all hurt him.”

“(Legendary Spurs goalkeeeper) Pat Jennings told me his first official day at Spurs was the day of my dad’s funeral and he remembers Bill breaking down in tears in the dressing room and having to go into the showers to compose himself. So I think that’s an insight into how much my dad’s death shattered him as a person as much as a football manager.

“The players were paid a bonus at the start and end of the season, which I think was £1,000, and because my dad died when he did, in July the club used his money to start a fund for us and then there was a testimonial.

“We were also given a couple of complimentary tickets for games but my nan used to have to ring up and ask for them and it stopped around 1980. There was some money raised but the club could have done a hell of a lot more.”

Now that is all in the past and Rob, a former non-League footballer himself, is at peace with the club he has spent his life supporting along with Scotland — he now even plays for Spurs’ walking football side — and his lifelong search for his father is as complete as it can be.

“I think it’s definitely a sense of pride in him now and there’s a lot more of a settled feeling,” he says. “When I was younger there was that anger, the not knowing and the embarrassment because if I told someone who my dad was there would be this cloud of grief. I’d say, ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t know him’ but now I feel I did know him.

“There was a lightbulb moment when I was training to be a counsellor (Rob’s second career after photography) and I found out how important the first six months are in an infant’s development.

“So actually that thing about not knowing him was bull****. I knew him; I knew what he sounded like and smelled like and I knew he had this presence.

“It does make me sad that his presence just disappeared one day from my life and that’s why I’ve been so determined to get that connection. And I do feel more connected now than just this abstract dialogue I’d have with him in my head.”

“I don’t think my search will ever be totally complete, but in a good way now rather than a disoriented way. I have built the best picture I possibly can, with the help of the play, of my dad.”

The Ghost of White Hart Lane is at Musselburgh on July 21-22, in the West End of London from July 31-August 2 and then the Edinburgh Fringe from August 5-31

Roberto De Zerbi has added Brighton & Hove Albion assistant head coach Andrew Crofts to his Tottenham Hotspur backroom staff.

The two clubs have agreed a compensation package for the 42-year-old to join Spurs and link up with De Zerbi, for whom he worked previously worked under at Brighton.

Crofts initially joined the south-coast club’s coaching staff in 2019 and would go on to become Brighton’s under-21 head coach.

He was placed in interim charge of the men’s first team following the departure of Graham Potter to Chelsea in September 2022 and secured a permanent position on the first-team coaching staff of De Zerbi and his successor Fabian Hurzeler, who appointed him as assistant coach.

Crofts said upon his exit from Brighton: “I’m incredibly grateful to Tony Bloom and Paul Barber for the trust, faith and support they’ve shown in me throughout my time here.”

The former Wales international midfielder made 125 appearances across two stints at Brighton as a player, and is also part of Craig Bellamy’s coaching staff with Wales.

Spurs also confirmed the appointments of Ali James as head of medical services, Tom Tombleson as head of athletic development and Agostino Tibaudi as strength and conditioning coach.

Crofts has provided continuity in Brighton staff

Crofts’ reunion with De Zerbi is rooted in the Italian’s arrival as Brighton head coach in September 2022.

De Zerbi brought with him several of his countrymen to form the bulk of the backroom team, but he also wanted somebody who knew Brighton well and would provide continuity.

Crofts was a perfect fit. He stepped in as interim coach without taking charge of a game between Graham Potter’s move to Chelsea and the appointment of De Zerbi.

The expertise added by Crofts during De Zerbi’s near two full seasons in charge at the Amex Stadium has led to them working together again.

Crofts was full throttle as a player and he brings the same level of commitment to his coaching career. He was a combative midfielder who played for Norwich City in the Premier League between spells in the second and third tiers with Brighton. He also won 29 caps for Wales across 13 years, the majority of them under the late Gary Speed, with Gareth Bale and Ryan Giggs as team-mates.

Coaching was always going to be his next step. He gained the UEFA Pro Licence (the top coaching qualification) in 2021, having returned to Brighton for a third stint at the club in 2019 as player-coach of the under-21’s. He became head coach of the under-21’s two years later.

Hurzeler followed De Zerbi’s lead in appreciating Crofts’ value when he was appointed in June 2024.

Crofts was promoted from first-team coach to assistant head coach alongside former Augsburg assistant manager Jonas Scheuermann. The departure of Crofts leaves a big gap in Hurzeler’s support staff.

Manchester United have completed the signing of 18-year-old winger Tynan Thompson from Tottenham Hotspur.

Thompson came through Tottenham’s academy on the left side of attack and is set to join Michael Carrick’s first-team squad.

United have agreed a deal worth £4million ($5.4m) in guaranteed fee plus a further £4m in add-ons, depending on the winger’s senior progress. Spurs also retain a sell-on and matching rights.

Thompson’s transfer draws similarities to Ayden Heaven’s arrival in January 2025. The centre-back joined United from Arsenal’s academy aged 18 for £1.5m and has since played 24 senior games.

Thompson is an England youth international who scored 13 goals and registered six assists across Spurs’ under-18s to under-21s last season, including seven goals in seven UEFA Youth League games.

He was named on the bench for senior Champions League matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund, as well as the Carabao Cup tie against Doncaster Rovers.

United are looking to the youth market in England for opportunities and are in talks to sign other teenage talents, including at Manchester City and Liverpool. City midfielder Karim Cassim, 16, is one such target.

If a week is a long time in football, two years is an age.

Since the summer of 2024, Tottenham Hotspur have had four permanent managers, won their first major trophy in 17 years, played in the Champions League and flirted dangerously with relegation.

At the start of that period, Pedro Porro was on the fringes of the Spain setup. After a good season with Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou, Luis de la Fuente somewhat surprisingly left him at home as his squad went on to win the European Championship. Now, 24 months on, he has emerged as a key member of the national team aiming to win their second World Cup, and should be considered among the very best right-backs in the world.

To explain his absence as Spain marched to victory in Germany at Euro 2024, we should start at the beginning of the Porro debate.

Like his club-mate Djed Spence, who often plays on the opposite flank to Porro at Tottenham, it has taken a stellar World Cup campaign for football to appreciate the extent of the Spaniard’s talent. Often characterised by his deficiencies, an attacking side which brings the best out of Porro has maximised his strengths in front of a global audience.

Ironically, one person who was under no illusions about Porro’s talent was previous head coach Thomas Frank, who was sacked in February after a nightmare seven-month period in north London. Above Micky van de Ven, Argentina’s Cristian Romero — whom Porro will confront in Sunday’s final — or last summer’s marquee signings Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, Frank believed Porro was the only player who could play for one of Europe’s truly elite clubs.

The evidence speaks for itself: Manchester City were among his suitors last summer as Pep Guardiola looked for a new starting right-back, and Real Madrid were among his admirers ahead of the World Cup. Yet there is a feeling that, perhaps until this summer, Porro was not wholly appreciated by club or country.

On the senior international stage, Porro’s introduction to De la Fuente could not have been more inauspicious.

The right-back had worked with Spain’s head coach at under-21 level and was handed his first start of De La Fuente’s tenure against Scotland in March 2023. Seven minutes into the game, Porro slipped on the ball near the right touchline, allowing Andy Robertson to claim possession and square to Scott McTominay, who put Steve Clarke’s side in front.

Porro was substituted at half-time for the more experienced Dani Carvajal, and Spain went on to lose 2-0 — still their last competitive defeat. Porro failed to win his place back from Carvajal, who won the 2024 Champions League with Real Madrid and finished fourth in Ballon d’Or voting.

Neither could he displace a 38-year-old Jesus Navas, a natural right-winger who had retreated to right-back in his twilight years with Sevilla and retired from football five months after lifting the European Championship.

“It makes you feel a bit helpless,” Porro told Spanish outlet Cadena SER after his Euro 24 snub. “You work all year to be there, but, well, everyone has their opinion and that’s football. It’s normal, any player would like to play in an international competition, especially for their country… but that’s it. Keep working on it. That’s what I was taught, and that’s what I’m doing.”

While he worked his way back into the Spain setup, the following two seasons at club level were far from plain sailing. Porro has comfortably played more Premier League minutes than any of his Spurs team-mates since 2024-25 (5,405), far ahead of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (4,950) in second place. Due to his availability and importance at both ends in Tottenham’s Europa League-winning campaign, he was probably their outstanding performer under Postecoglou, a reality which also reflects the injury crisis and calamitous league season (they finished 17th).

Porro’s goals against Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt in the quarter-final and semi-final of that Europa League run were decisive, but the season was not without shaky moments — memorably when up against Beck Ray Enoru, who worked as a sales assistant at high-street clothing store Zara to supplement his semi-professional wage, in Tottenham’s 3-0 extra-time win over non-League Tamworth in the FA Cup.

And while his performances were consistently solid last term — he was possibly the first name on Tottenham’s team sheet when fit — Porro was consumed by the dark cloud hanging over the club through the most trying of league campaigns.

He created 17 more chances (52) than the next highest creator (Simons with 35) and ranked behind only Joao Palhinha and Cristian Romero in duels won. He was essential in helping the team to stave off relegation under Roberto De Zerbi, pushing forward into the right half-space from full-back to receive passes between the lines, and providing a solution to Palhinha’s limitations with the ball.

Two league assists last season represented an under-performance for a player who is not as consistent in dead-ball situations as he should be. But, for the most part, Porro was let down by his coaches (until De Zerbi), whose tactical direction limited his attacking influence.

Now, having won the starting right-back position from Marcos Llorente in Spain’s second match in the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, football is awake to what Porro is and can be.

In a possession-heavy team, the former Sporting CP man has the support from team-mates to play his way out of tight situations, something not often afforded him under Frank, and the space and licence to create on the overlap and drive into the box from the half spaces. His goal against France in the semi-final was world-class, and his header against Austria, ghosting in from right-back to the near post, is a movement Spurs have coaxed from him several times before.

In these conditions, it’s tough to make an argument that there is a right-back better equipped to shine across the Premier League, and Tottenham tying him down to a long-term contract before the start of his World Cup campaign is one of their shrewdest and most important moves of the transfer window.

After a turbulent two years, Porro will return to a club with a coach, as well as an ownership group, who appear intent on providing the conditions for him to thrive as he does for Spain. Tottenham are guaranteed a World Cup winner in their squad for the third successive tournament following Hugo Lloris in 2018 and Romero in 2022, but if Porro and Spain turn up at MetLife Stadium on Sunday as they did against France, the identity of that winner may not be a contest.

Tottenham Hotspur have rejected an offer from Newcastle United for midfielder Lucas Bergvall.

The bid was around £46million (€54m) and exceeded the approaches made by Nottingham Forest to date.

All attempts to sign the 20-year-old so far, including higher proposals, have been rejected by Spurs — although a sale would be considered if the figures reach a level they deem suitable.

Bergvall is under contract until June 2031 but has informed the club of his preference to seek an opportunity elsewhere this summer.

The Athletic reported the Sweden international’s desire to leave in June and he has been the subject of attention from suitors in England and Europe.

Earlier this window, Newcastle sold midfielder Sandro Tonali to Spurs, while they missed out on the signing of Switzerland international Johan Manzambi, who moved to Aston Villa instead.

Bergvall is Forest’s primary target as they look to replace Elliot Anderson following his move to Manchester City for £116m.

The midfielder has made 78 appearances for Spurs since joining the club in a £8.5m deal from Swedish side Djurgarden in 2024.

Spurs have invested in midfield acquisitions this summer, having completed the £85m signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United, alongside the arrival of Tonali in a deal worth up to £100m.

Bergvall made 33 appearances for Spurs in all competitions last season, recording a single goal and five assists. In January, he underwent surgery after sustaining a high sprain on his left ankle, and was sidelined until March.

Tottenham Hotspur have rejected Nottingham Forest’s opening offer for midfielder Lucas Bergvall.

Despite not yet agreeing a fee, Forest’s interest in Bergvall remains and negotiations are expected to continue.

The 20-year-old midfielder is Forest’s primary summer target and the player they want to replace Elliot Anderson, who Manchester City have agreed to sign in a deal worth £116million ($153m).

Bergvall is under contract at Spurs until June 2031 but informed the club of his preference to move on this summer.

The Athletic reported his desire for a new challenge in June, and he has been the subject of attention from suitors in England and Europe.

The Sweden international joined Tottenham from Swedish club Djurgarden for £8.5m in 2024. In his first season he won Spurs’ player of the year award while helping the side to their first trophy in 17 years, the 2025 Europa League. Since head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s arrival in March, however, he started just once.

Tottenham have strengthened in midfield this summer with the £85m signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United and the arrival of Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United in a deal worth up to £100m.

Aston Villa had also been interested in Bergvall, but are now set to finalise a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Joao Gomes and Freiburg’s Johan Manzambi. They are also in talks to sign Joao Palhinha, who spent the 2025-26 campaign at Spurs, on loan from Bayern Munich.

Villa, alongside Chelsea, contacted Tottenham in the winter window to express interest in Bergvall before it was made clear the north London side did not intend to consider his departure.

Bergvall was part of Sweden’s 2026 World Cup squad and appeared in all four of their fixtures at the tournament before they were eliminated by France in the round of 32.

The Athletic reported on Wednesday Forest were set to sign midfielder Xaver Schlager on a free transfer after his RB Leipzig departure. The move would reunite Schlager with new Forest head coach Oliver Glasner, who previously managed the him at Wolfsburg.

Forest’s ideal Anderson replacement

Analysis by The Athletic’s Nottingham Forest correspondent Paul Taylor

Bergvall has long been Forest’s primary target as a replacement for Elliot Anderson, and he is somebody that fits perfectly into the transfer blueprint that the club like to operate.

The 20-year-old is a young player with huge potential to improve, even if he has already established himself as a highly regarded Sweden international.

Forest spent £37.5m to make another young player, Omari Hutchinson, their record signing last summer and they will have to eclipse that figure to land another bright prospect.

Anderson is set to complete a £116m move to Manchester City, a deal that will represent more than £100m in profit for Forest, who effectively signed Anderson for £15m from Newcastle, with back-up keeper Odi Vlachodimos a £20m makeweight in the deal.

Bergvall may not initially bring the same level of quality as the England international, but Forest believe he is a player who can fill the void he will leave and who will only grow in stature with the benefit of the first team opportunities Forest will provide.

Forest are set to strengthen their midfield options with Schlager set to join on a free transfer after the midfielder left RB Leipzig at the end of last season. The Austria international turned down a number of other clubs in favour of a reunion with Glasner, who previously managed him at Wolfsburg.

But, while that is seen as a good piece of business, landing Bergvall could be even more important for Forest, as they prepare for life under Glasner.

Spurs losing another promising talent

Analysis by The Athletic’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Jay Harris

Selling Bergvall and Luka Vuskovic in the same window would be a bitter pill for Tottenham supporters to swallow. They could have been this team’s star players for the next decade but record-breaking moves for Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali have demonstrated that the club’s strategy has changed significantly.

Bergvall started slowly in his debut season but became a fan favourite with energetic performances. The midfielder incensed Liverpool in the first leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final in January 2025 when he scored the winning goal shortly after narrowly avoiding a second yellow card for a reckless lunge on Kostas Tsimikas. It turned him into a cult hero overnight. He finished the campaign strongly and won the club’s player of the season award for helping Ange Postecoglou’s side win the Europa League.

Bergvall’s second season with Spurs proved more difficult. They burned through three different head coaches, suffered another injury crisis and flirted with relegation. As a result, Bergvall rarely started matches in his preferred position of central midfield and was shunted out wide to cover holes in the squad.

He suffered an ankle injury in January which forced him to miss eight games and he only started once after returning in March. He made 23 top-flight appearances in total for a grand total of 966 minutes. The arrival of Tonali and Fernandes has pushed Bergvall further down the pecking order.

Spurs will probably make a significant profit on a player they signed from Swedish side Djurgarden for only £8.5m but it will be a shame that, like Vuskovic, someone so obviously talented will be forced to fulfil their potential somewhere else.

In an interview with ITV after England’s dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico in the World Cup last 16, Djed Spence was asked whether Thomas Tuchel is tougher on him than anyone else in the squad.

With a chuckle, Spence replied, “Yes”. Having watched Tuchel scream Spence’s name from the sidelines during the 0-0 draw with Ghana, or maniacally bark at him for not throwing the ball forward in the 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo, his response was hardly surprising. But what Spence said next is a better reflection of their relationship and why he is thriving in an England shirt at the World Cup under the German.

“He likes me, I guess,” Spence said when ITV journalist Gabriel Clarke asked why Tuchel continues to single him out. “Perspectives. It depends how you want to look at it.

“Maybe he believes I can do more. Maybe he believes I can reach new heights, new levels.”

From the outside, Tuchel’s critical fixation on Spence may appear unfair, or even slightly nasty. But the 25-year-old has experienced the exact opposite at club level, causing his career to meander and stall for several years before rebuilding momentum over the past 18 months at Tottenham Hotspur, and Tuchel’s tough love is proving precisely what he needs.

Spence emerged into the national footballing conscience in early 2022, when he was electric as his then-Championship Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup. In front of a terrestrial television audience on ITV, a 21-year-old Spence was outstanding as a right wing-back for Steve Cooper’s Forest, earning the man-of-the-match award and plaudits from Arsenal legend Ian Wright. Wright was recorded on the pitch after the game telling Spence, “You’re supposed to be in the Premier League. You can’t play at that level and not be in the Premier League”.

He was outstanding as Forest marched to promotion to the English top division via the play-offs, and celebrated with a post on X pointed at former head coach Neil Warnock, who sent him on loan to Forest from his parent club Middlesbrough after a dispute. Warnock questioned his attitude and aptitude at the Riverside Stadium, suggesting he’d either play in the Premier League or in non-League (the fifth tier of English football and below), but he appeared to put those criticisms to bed over a stellar season at the City Ground.

In celebrating promotion, Spence posted an image on Twitter of him holding the play-off trophy with a cigar in his mouth, captioned “Oh, Where’s my Manners! Welcome to Twitter @warnockofficial,” after his former boss had recently joined the social media site.

He had plenty of suitors in the summer of 2022 after returning to Middlesbrough from his loan spell at the City Ground, eventually joining Tottenham for around £20million, marking a return to London after growing up in the south of the nation’s capital. But if Forest served as an environment where Spence was cared for and nurtured, he found no such love in north London under new head coach Antonio Conte.

Conte essentially disowned Spence from the start, describing him as an “investment of the club” and a “club signing”. After just six months and less than 10 combined minutes of action across four league appearances from the bench, Spence was sent out on loan to Rennes in France’s Ligue 1, without having the chance to prove himself as a Premier League player.

“It wasn’t a nice feeling,” Spence told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. “Especially as I was coming to the club on a high, I was confident, I was buzzing, had just won promotion.

“Then it was like running into a brick wall. It shattered my confidence a bit, obviously I’m young. It’s not nice to hear.”

Ange Postecoglou joined Tottenham as head coach the following summer, but sent Spence back out on loan to Leeds United, a return to the second tier. After an unsuccessful loan period marred by injury and concerns over time-keeping, which ended with the Yorkshire club sending him back to north London prematurely, Tottenham were ready to cut ties with the full-back, agreeing to send Spence to Genoa in Italy with an £8.5million option to buy. The Italian side opted not to take up the option at the end of his loan spell, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the club and Postecoglou.

Amid an injury crisis in the 2024-25 season, Postecoglou turned to Spence with few alternatives. At that point, Spence felt a million miles away from a regular Premier League starting berth, let alone a first England call-up, not least an eventual selection for a World Cup squad. After waiting 881 days from signing for Tottenham in the summer of 2022, Spence finally made his first start for the club on December 15, and assisted for James Maddison inside the first minute of a dominant 5-0 win. While he has not been a regular starter, competing with internationals like Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie for minutes, Spence has since established himself as a core member of Tottenham’s playing group with an impressive fitness record and the ability to play on either side of defence.

Yet there’s a sense that, until very recently, he had not entirely won over English football. For that, he bears some responsibility. In an interview with Talksport, Warnock said, “You can’t say Daniel Farke, myself and [Antonio] Conte were all wrong,” and he’s probably right. Last season, Spence and team-mate Micky van de Ven ignored then-Spurs head coach Thomas Frank’s instruction to applaud the home fans on the pitch after a poor 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and walked straight down the tunnel to their dressing room. It was a move criticised by Tuchel, who said he “didn’t like it,” and later spoke to Spence about the responsibilities of being an England player. Sources, who prefer to remain anonymous to protect relationships, recognise that Spence is an introverted character who can come across as quite aloof, and that this image may not help his cause in moments like these.

While he has been a regular inclusion in Tuchel’s England squads since winning the first of his 13 caps in a 5-0 win over Malta last September, an inconsistent season at club level meant he was somewhat of a surprise call-up. Tuchel justified his selection by describing him as the fastest player in the squad and a one-v-one defensive specialist, but with more decorated alternatives like Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold or more in-form full-backs such as Newcastle’s Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw of Manchester United in reserve, some critics viewed it as an odd, perhaps even undeserved selection.

In that same interview with ITV, Spence also conceded that he is probably the most relaxed player in the England camp, but that should not be interpreted as uninterested or disengaged. It was notable that when Gabriel Clarke asked if the win over Mexico was the best moment of his career, he put it alongside his England debut and winning the Europa League with Tottenham in 2025. He described John Terry’s iconic “floor header” for England against Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup as a “core memory” of being a football fan. He is also the first Muslim player to play for England, and accepts responsibility as a trailblazer to “inspire young kids around the world that they can make it as well.”

While you may have to read between the lines more than you would for Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham, who speak confidently and at length about their national pride, it is very apparent how much playing for his country means for Spence, who has spent his whole professional career overcoming doubters. And that passion has shone through at the World Cup, where Spence has been outstanding from the bench. He was involved in the fourth goal in the opening 4-2 win over Croatia, but his outings in the knockout stages have been even more impressive, defending heroically against Mexico in the last 16 before a dominant cameo against Norway on Saturday.

He has loosened up in front of the travelling media, too, conducting interviews with broadcasters and even gatecrashing a press conference, presenting as a “trainee reporter” to jokingly ask fellow team-mate Morgan Rogers whether he was the fastest player in the squad. He is close to Justin Cochrane, one of Tuchel’s assistants, with whom Spence worked under as a member of Thomas Frank’s staff at Tottenham. In a tournament where history and legacy are at stake, Spence appears to be enjoying life on and off the pitch more than ever.

So if Spence gets the nod against Argentina and you spot Tuchel barking instructions from the touchline, know it’s probably what he needs and exactly what he wants.

Brighton & Hove Albion have confirmed the signing of Croatia international Luka Vuskovic from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 19-year-old central defender has joined for a club record fee of £46million ($61.5m; €54m). He has signed a five-year deal, with an option for a further year.

The Athletic revealed in June that Brighton had made a £30m bid for Vuskovic. An improved offer was rejected before agreement was reached following the £52m sale of Dutch international central defender Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton to Tottenham.

Add-ons will potentially take the deal for Vuskovic to £50m. Tottenham also have a 20 per cent sell-on clause as well as matching rights for any potential future sale.

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “Luka has enjoyed a fantastic start to his career — it’s one we’ve followed closely.

“Last season he demonstrated he can play at a very high level and we want to help him build on that within our environment.

“There’s been a lot of external noise about Luka joining us, but he is still a young guy who will need time to adjust to the demands of playing for Brighton and to the Premier League. We are confident that he will take this in his stride.”

Vuskovic came through the ranks in his homeland with Hajduk Split, making his senior league debut two days after his 16th birthday in February 2023.

He spent the second half of the 2023-24 season on loan with Polish side Radomiak Radom, before joining Belgian Pro League outfit Westerlo on loan in 2024-25. His form for Westerlo earned him a move to Tottenham.

Vuskovic impressed in a third loan spell with Hamburg last season, scoring six goals in 28 league appearances in Germany’s Bundesliga. He earned a sixth cap for Croatia at the World Cup in June in their 4-2 defeat by England in the opening fixture of the group stages.

An unusual deal for Brighton

Brighton do not usually spend anywhere near as big on young players as the club record outlay on Vuskovic. They have made an exception for an exceptional talent, one of the brightest centre-back prospects in world football.

He never made an official appearance for Tottenham after moving from Hajduk Split in February 2025, and could not see a pathway to first-team minutes.

Brighton can provide that opportunity. Although the fee may seem excessive, Vuskovic is seven years younger than Van Hecke and has huge potential for growth in his game. Considering Brighton’s track record in player development, it is not unreasonable to think they will make a significant profit on Vuskovic at some point.

He will be fighting for game time with two more summer signings in a centre-backs rebuild by Brighton. Pascal Struijk has arrived from Leeds United for around £18m, Michael Svoboda from Venezia for £4.3m, after Adam Webster was released at the end of last season.