The Spurs Web

Tottenham Hotspur have their eyes on one of the highest-scoring midfielders in Europe, but they would have to beat off competition from a number of other top clubs if they wish to sign him.

There’s a gap in Ange Postecoglou’s squad

Over the summer, Spurs offloaded a number of players, mostly squad members on the fringes and players who had no future at the club.

Among them was Giovani Lo Celso, who rejoined Real Betis after five years with Tottenham, and the Argentine has been a revelation since returning to Spain.

With his departure, though, Spurs were left with a real lack of a goal threat in the playmaker role, with James Maddison now the main man in the number 10 area.

A move for Eberechi Eze never came to fruition this summer, though it might next year, but if Tottenham cannot land the Crystal Palace star, they may have stumbled upon a cheaper, and arguably more creative talent instead.

Spurs and Villa watching Pavel Sulc

According to a report from TBRFootball, the Lilywhites have been tracking Viktoria Plzen midfielder Pavel Sulc, who has six goals and three assists to his name already this term.

The 23-year-old scored an incredible 22 goals and registered a further eight assists in 2023/24, too, and is now emerging as one of the most sought-after attacking midfielders in Europe.

MORE SPURS STORIES

It is said Spurs and Aston Villa are the clubs that have been sending scouts to watch Sulc in action the most of late. However, they face competition from Manchester City, Napoli, Atalanta, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen in the race to sign the Czech star.

A budget option

Miroslav Koubek, Sulc’s manager at Plzen, has already admitted he will not stand in the player’s way if a suitable offer comes in.

We don’t know Sulc’s price tag yet, but it is surely going to be a lot less than Eze’s release clause, and this is a transfer Spurs could get done in January to help boost their run in the backend of the campaign.

Timo Werner is a player who attracts plenty of discussion from Tottenham fans with his frustrating performances and poor finishing, although Don Hutchinson has suggested Spurs did not sign him to be a clinical goalscorer. That being said, he believes Werner is unlikely to get any better at shooting.

Werner has struggled to make an impact at Tottenham

Timo Werner joined Spurs from RB Leipzig last January on loan with an option to buy of £15 million. The German provided two goals and three assists in what was a largely disappointing period in North London for the forward. (Sky Sports)

Perhaps surprisingly, Spurs agreed another loan deal for Werner in the summer with the ex-Chelsea man picking up more minutes than expected after injuries to Son and Odobert.

Werner has struggled to improve upon his first six months at Spurs, failing to score in his eight appearances this season despite being gifted plenty of opportunities. This has left many fans frustrated with the 28-year-old’s displays.

Don Hutchinson says Werner has ‘a load of strengths’

Despite Timo Werner recording an assist in Tottenham’s abysmal loss to Brighton, many fans took issue with the winger’s performance after he failed to get on the scoresheet and perhaps should have provided an assist for Brennan Johnson just moments into the game.

Don Hutchinson explains while he understands fans’ frustrations, there are valuable aspects to Werner’s game. He said: “I don’t want to be unkind to Timo Werner, but you sort of can’t help it, because you want him to succeed.

“He’s not a bad player, he’s got loads of strengths, in that Man United game he could’ve scored three or four. There was one moment in that game that summed him up, he ran 50 yards and all he had to do was find a Spurs player, he missed them both and found a Man United player.

MORE SPURS STORIES

“It’s a technique thing, at his age he won’t find the goals because he’s proven that he can’t finish, but he stretches games, that’s why Spurs signed him.” (The Gab and Jules Show)

Mikey Moore could soon take Werner’s place

While the return of Heung-Min Son could still displace Werner’s starting spot, Ange Postecoglou may be reluctant to use Spurs’ captain so frequently after his injury. As such, the left-wing spot could potentially be up for grabs in Tottenham’s Europa League fixtures.

Burley said: “His end product was once again atrocious, and that adds to the pressure that goes on a team defensively when you are just not finishing teams off. It wasn’t just Timo Werner, but if he starts the next game after the international break, I will be very surprised.

It appears that Tottenham’s pursuit of Aston Villa midfielder, Jacob Ramsey, isn’t done yet despite reported failed attempts to sign the player last summer. New reports suggest Spurs are lining up a move ahead of 2025.

Spurs previously bid for Ramsey

Jacob Ramsey was believed to be one of Tottenham’s transfer targets not only last summer but also in January. Aston Villa’s pressure to comply with financial fair play rules was seen as an opportunity to secure a deal for Tottenham. (The Athletic)

Spurs eventually submitted a bid last summer, offering Giovanni Lo Celso plus £20m, according to the Evening Standard.

However, Aston Villa turned down the approach with Lo Celso eventually returning to Real Betis and Jacob Ramsey remaining at Villa Park, being handed just three starts so far this season.

Ramsey could leave Aston Villa next summer

According to GiveMeSport, Tottenham’s pursuit of the Aston Villa star may be reignited with Unai Emery’s side keen to sell the 23-year-old next summer in order to maximise his value with his contract expiring in 2027.

The Villans are believed to be looking for £50 million for their academy graduate.

Newcastle and Arsenal are also reported to be interested in the attacking midfielder with Ramsey’s homegrown status believed to be a large attraction for the three interested clubs.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Tottenham may not want to block Lucas Bergvall’s path

Whilst an understudy for James Maddison would have been useful last season, with Giovanni Lo Celso often overlooked or injured, Jacob Ramsey’s services may no longer be required at Tottenham.

Spurs signed the highly-rated Lucas Bergvall in January for a reported fee of £8.5m, although he didn’t arrive at Hotspur Way until the summer.

Real Madrid have seemingly handed Tottenham an early transfer boost by choosing their top target for the 2025 summer window.

Real Madrid are keen on Cristian Romero

It has been reported by multiple sources that Real Madrid are keen on Tottenham vice-captain, Cristian Romero. Gaston Edul tweeted in September that Spurs shut down an approach from Los Blancos in the summer and refused to even put a price tag on their man.

TEAMtalk went one step further and said that Daniel Levy put a £150m price tag on the Argentine World Cup winner.

The Evening Standard then claimed that Madrid had narrowed down their centre-back shortlist to just two names – Tottenham’s Romero or Arsenal’s William Saliba.

The report stated that Romero was more of a back-up choice as the Gunners are expected to be unwilling to part ways with one of their best players.

Los Blancos hand Spurs a transfer boost

Fortunately for Tottenham, it appears Madrid are intent on moving full steam ahead for Saliba in 2025.

A new report from Le10Sport claims the Champions League holders are ready to launch a ‘major operation’ to sign their ‘top target’ – the Arsenal centre-back.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Spurs and Ange Postecoglou will hope this lets them off the hook as the last thing they need is yet another summer transfer saga to unsettle the squad.

Real Madrid want to shop around Tottenham

Unfortunately for Tottenham, whether or not Real Madrid move for Romero may only be half the battle.

RSC Anderlecht have decided against hiring Tottenham’s Ryan Mason to fill their manager position, despite holding talks with the former midfielder over multiple days.

Anderlecht contacted Ryan Mason

The Belgian giants parted ways with former manager, Brian Riemer, back in September and David Hubert has been filling in as caretaker head coach ever since.

However, Anderlecht reached out to Ryan Mason this week to see whether the Tottenham coach would be interested in the role. Journalist Sacha Tavolieri even reported that Mason was the top choice.

He tweeted: “Ryan Mason is the young coach chosen by RSC Anderlecht to be Brian Riemer’s successor. As told last Friday, the English coach has been warned [that the club] wanted David Hubert to stay in the first team group.”

Mutual agreement to look elsewhere

After three days of talks between Anderlecht and Mason, the two parties mutually agreed that the timing wasn’t right. This means Mason will remain with Spurs in his current coaching role.

Football London report that Mason is ‘thoroughly enjoying being part of Ange Postecoglou’s project at Tottenham’, and is seemingly not itching to leave N17.

Tottenham insider, Paul O’Keefe, has now revealed that caretaker Hubert has been chosen to succeed Riemer on a permanent basis instead.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Why did Anderlecht not want Ryan Mason?

O’Keefe has also revealed that Anderlecht chose against hiring Mason due to his relative inexperience. The former midfielder has never had a permanent manager job, and has only led Tottenham’s senior team twice in a short-term caretaker role.

Former Tottenham player and manager, Glenn Hoddle, has criticised Cristian Romero’s role in Tottenham’s abysmal defeat to Brighton with the 66-year-old stating the defender may as well have been ‘a spectator’.

Romero failed to stop Spurs’ collapse against Brighton

Tottenham suffered what Ange Postecoglou himself described as the ‘worst result since I’ve been here’ against Brighton after they threw away a 2-0 lead to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory. (Mirror)

World Cup winner, Cristian Romero, was one of the many players to come under fire after the defeat with the 26-year-old failing to stop Danny Welbeck from heading home the host’s winning goal.

Legendary midfielder, Paul Scholes, was one of the first to point the finger at the ex-Juventus defender, stating: “You have to anticipate that your forward, the man you are marking, it might come to him. You stay with him. But he is just absolutely ball-watching.” (Premier League Productions)

Hoddle wasn’t impressed with Romero’s defending

Scholes hasn’t been alone in his criticism of Tottenham’s £42m signing, with Spurs legend Glenn Hoddle sharing a similarly berating review of the centre-back’s performance.

He said: “This is just poor defending all round, you can’t believe it from a Tottenham point of view. There is one attacker in the six-yard box. It’s three v one.

“It’s poor defending from Udogie. You have got to stand up, he gets too tight and gets turned. I think Bentancur has to slide in earlier and take that out for a corner.

MORE SPURS STORIES

“If we just watch this, from an experienced defender, look at Romero here. Eyes on the ball. He’s not looked at (Welbeck). He has actually put himself in a poor position. He hasn’t opened his body up once.

“He has actually walked from a good position to get into a bad position, then he has just ball-watched. He is a spectator. He might as well be in Row Z watching from behind the goal. If you defend like that, then you are going to get punished (Premier League Productions 07/10/24 at 5:25 pm).”

Romero may be struggling for popularity at Spurs

A lapse in concentration is becoming a concerningly regular occurrence for Cristian Romero. Whilst the Argentine appears to have better control of his temper, the 26-year-old has lost his man a number of times already this season – leaving fans frustrated.

Romero’s opinion among Spurs staff and fans may still be damaged by the vice-captain’s controversial repost of a statement that appeared to criticise Tottenham’s treatment of players.

Tottenham Hotspur may have been splashing the cash over the last few transfer windows, but they may end up making one of the best signings of next year for absolutely nothing.

Ange Postecoglou has been spending big

Say what you will about Daniel Levy and the Spurs board, they have certainly given Ange Postecoglou significant financial backing since he arrived at the club.

In his first transfer window, Postecoglou spent £40m on James Maddison, £17m on Guglielmo Vicario, £43m on Micky van de Ven, and £50m on Brennan Johnson.

Then, in January, he was given another substantial kitty to land the signings of Radu Dragusin and Lucas Bergvall.

Over the summer, the addition of Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, and Wilson Odobert set Tottenham back roughly £135m.

These signings have one thing in common, by and large, too. The vast majority of the new arrivals at Spurs have been young players, with promising futures, but who can also deliver here and now, and that approach will likely continue.

Angel Gomes does not want a new contract

Now, according to information from TBRFootball, Angel Gomes could be the next to join that list of exciting young talent plying their trade under Postecoglou.

MORE SPURS STORIES

The Lille midfielder has been one of Tottenham’s top transfer targets for a while now, and his breakthrough with the England squad under Lee Carsley has done his reputation a world of good.

But, while his stock is rising, it may not do Lille much good, as they look set to lose the 24-year-old on a free transfer when his contract expires in the summer of 2025.

It is thought the midfielder has made it clear to the French outfit that he does not intend to sign a new contract with the club, and that has opened the door for Spurs to make their approach in January and get a pre-contract agreement wrapped up.

Gomes should be a priority target

It won’t be easy for Spurs to get this deal over the line, as plenty of other clubs are and will continue to be very interested in signing Angel Gomes. But, he is the kind of player Spurs should put their all into signing. He is young, dynamic, and could be a real game-changer in the middle of the park for this team.

After Tottenham’s defeat to Brighton last weekend, the whole defensive line has come in for its fair share of criticism. But now, Jeff Stelling has highlighted Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie in particular as having real problems in their game.

Catastrophic defending from Spurs

With Spurs leading 2-0 at half-time and looking to be in complete control of the game on Sunday evening, very few would have predicted the absolute meltdown suffered in the second half.

Within 20 minutes of the restart, Brighton were 3-2 up, and Tottenham showed no signs of being able to deal with or fight back against what the Seagulls had to offer.

While the Lilywhites failed to muster up any kind of counter-attack, it was in defence where the larger issues surfaced, with the whole backline making mistakes and showing signs of complacency.

The usually so dependable centre-back pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven appeared to be off the pace and lacking the awareness to deal with the threat Brighton’s attackers posed.

Meanwhile, down both flanks, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie failed to prevent the swift movement and ball delivery of the Brighton wingers.

Porro and Udogie need to focus on defensive duties

It is those full-backs that caught the eye of Jeff Stelling, for all the wrong reasons. The pundit took issue with the pair on talkSPORT (07/10/24 at 6:15 am), suggesting they need to work on the defensive side of their game.

MORE SPURS STORIES

He said: “First of all, there is no shame in losing to Brighton, it happens to the best of sides, but it was the manner of the defeat.

“I think they have an issue with both fullbacks defensively. Porro and Udogie, they are terrific going forward, but defensively.”

There has to be a balance

We all love watching Porro and Udogie burst forward, and they both offer so much in attacking areas. But, their job first and foremost is to defend, and on Sunday, they failed to do that — especially Udogie. They need to show more composure, more concentration, and more discipline, or they will cost us dearly.

Tottenham Hotspur have missed out on a number of good signings over the years. They’ve also dodged a few bullets when it comes to nearly signing players that perhaps wouldn’t have been a good fit. We’ll let you decide which camp Troy Deeney falls into on that front.

Deeney was a target for Spurs and Arsenal

Troy Deeney has played for a fair few clubs throughout his career, but is of course best known for his time at Watford, where he made over 400 appearances and scored 140 goals.

He served the Hornets for six seasons in the Premier League, and hit almost a half-century of his goals in the top flight for the club.

Things could have been very different, though, had reported interest from Arsenal or Tottenham led to a transfer in 2020.

Apparently, when Watford were relegated at the end of the 2019/20 campaign, the two London rivals came calling for Deeney, and he has told talkSPORT how far that pursuit actually went at the time.

Mourinho wanted Carlos Vinicius instead

When asked if he spoke to Mikel Arteta or Jose Mourinho about the transfers, Deeney said: “Yeah, I had a chat with Jose. I didn’t speak to Mikel, that was more board-level interest at Arsenal. They were dealing with it, thinking about how we could make it happen.

“Obviously I wasn’t going to these places looking to start, so it was kinda like the clubs were thinking, ‘Yeah let’s do it, as long as [his attitude is right].”

MORE SPURS STORIES

As for Mourinho, Deeney revealed the Spurs boss at the time preferred the idea of signing Carlos Vinicius, whom the Lilywhites did indeed end up bringing in.

He added: “They wanted Carlos Vinicius. He was their man target. And it got to the point where, if that didn’t happen, they’d bring me in. I had a chat with Jose and it was like, ‘What do you want to do? How do you want to do it?’ And Jose wanted to check that I could deal with going from being a main man [at Watford] to being one of the squad.

“I was thinking about Fernando Llorente who went there previously, who kept scoring when he played. I said all I’m going to do is push Harry Kane to be the best version he can, and be his biggest cheerleader. Playing for Spurs was massively beyond my dreams.

“Jose was straight with me, about Vinicius being a better fit and that they wanted to get that deal done. Unfortunately for me, they did sign him.”

Would Troy Deeney have worked for Spurs?

It’s hard to say whether Deeney would have been a success at Spurs. You cannot deny that, when he was at Watford, he did a good job for them at the highest level, he scored goals fairly regularly, and he made himself difficult to deal with on the pitch.

I would just have concerns over his attitude personally. I know his comments there sound like he would have relished the opportunity and that he knew his place, but some of his other comments in interviews over the last year suggest he was a bit egotistical and temperamental.

Arsenal and Tottenham may be fierce rivals on the pitch, but it seems the two London clubs may be set to do battle in the transfer market next summer as they both chase the same target, and they’ll be able to land him for nothing.

Both clubs need another striker

While Spurs splashed the cash to sign Dominic Solanke this summer, and the new boy has hit the ground running with three goals already this campaign, there is a feeling the club still needs more in attacking areas.

The ideal scenario would be that Richarlison provides competition for Solanke, but the fact of the matter is that the Brazilian’s injury record simply does not make him an adequate and reliable alternative for Ange Postecoglou.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have kept their faith in Gabriel Jesus, who continues to lack the clinical edge needed, and Kai Havertz, who is performing well, but perhaps not quite to the level the Gunners require if they are to truly challenge for honours.

Jonathan David an option for London rivals

Tottenham have long been linked with Lille striker Jonathan David, but they are not the only club keen on the Canadian forward.

Arsenal also have the 24-year-old on their radar, as do a number of top clubs in England and across Europe.

Now, the latest from Football Espana suggests the two London rivals will be going head to head for the marksman next summer, as he will be available on a free transfer.

MORE SPURS STORIES

David has apparently informed Lille that he will not be renewing his contract, and as such, clubs would be able to snap him up for nothing, allowing them to use their funds on his wages instead. He will be able to sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside of France from January 1, 2025.

Jonathan David is the one for Spurs

I’ve always been a keen advocate for sticking with Richarlison, but his injury issues are just making him far too unreliable now and we need to get someone in who can properly challenge Solanke.

Jonathan David is the ideal fit for us, and if we can get him for nothing, we should be looking to arrange that deal as soon as the New Year arrives.