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Pascal Chimbonda has exclusively told the Spurs Web that one of his old Tottenham teammates was even better than Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, and Dimitar Berbatov in training – and you may be surprised at who he names.

Chimbonda enjoyed three successful years with Tottenham Hotspur in North London. In fact, he remains one of the last Spurs players to actually win a trophy back in the 2008 Carling Cup Final.

During that time in N17, the French fullback crossed paths with some of the biggest names in modern Spurs history – from an early Gareth Bale to a peak Robbie Keane and even Champions League superstar, Luka Modric.

As a right-back by trade, Chimbonda also faced the daunting task of regularly defending against tricky wingers in training, including the blistering pace of Aaron Lennon.

One need only look at the recent Tottenham Hotspur Legends vs AC Milan Glorie game to see what an array of talent Pascal shared the dressing room with.

However, he named a player many consider to be a Spurs ‘flop’ as his hardest opponent in training.

Pascal Chimbonda says Adel Taarabt was out of this world

Adel Taarabt came through the Lens academy before transferring to Tottenham as a 17-year-old in 2007. Ironically, he made his Spurs debut off the bench in the 87th minute in a 4-3 win over West Ham, replacing Pascal Chimbonda.

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However, the skilful Moroccan only ever made 15 appearances in North London before moving across London to QPR. Harry Redknapp has since revealed that Taarabt had all the talent in the world, but little desire.

He went on to score 19 goals and assist another 21 in the 2010/11 Championship season with QPR, but never quite lived up to his true potential.

When asked who the hardest player to train against was at Tottenham, Pascal Chimbonda exclusively told the Spurs Web: “The hardest in training was Adel Taarabt. He was just so skilful. He didn’t get enough of a chance at Tottenham. When he left, you saw how good he was at QPR.”

When pressed on whether Taarabt was harder to defend against than Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, and Dimitar Berbatov, Chimbonda added: “Yeah, he was so skilful!”

Tottenham players often rave about the talent of Taarabt

Chimbonda is far from the only player to rave about Taarabt’s skills over the years. Luka Modric allegedly once told Taarabt himself that he would play for Barcelona or Real Madrid one day.

Peter Crouch believes Taarabt wasted his potential in North London, while one Spurs coach has warned Mikey Moore not to make the same mistakes.

Winning the Europa League and finishing 14th in the Premier League might be the best thing that could happen to Tottenham Hotspur. Here’s why.

The goal for Tottenham Hotspur for the remainder of the season is very clear – win the Europa League.

For now, the Lilywhites find themselves in the last eight, with a two-legged tie against German side Eintracht Frankfurt still to come. After that, a two legged semi-final and the final itself stand in Tottenham’s way on the path to summer success.

For Ange Postecoglou, it has been widely reported that if he wants to remain in the dugout for at least one more season, he simply has to bring the Europa League trophy to N17.

Why Tottenham need to win the Europa League

Of course, it’s easy to understand why such an ultimatum has been set for the Australian manager. For one, Postecoglou is currently overseeing what is likely to go down as one of Tottenham’s worst-ever seasons in the Premier League in recent memory.

The 59-year-old has Tottenham in 14th place after 31 Premier League matches – a record that has seen them lose 16 games in the league, whilst winning just eleven in that period.

Not only is the league position disappointing, but performances on the pitch have also left much to be desired, with Spurs continuing to lose to sides both below and above them in the table.

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Why Europa League success could kickstart Spurs’ summer rebuild

For them as a club, finishing 14th and winning the Europa League is massive for their potential summer rebuild.

Well, first, it’s only been revealed exclusively to Spurs Web that if Tottenham go all the way in the Europa League, then a whopping £60million is expected to be earned from UEFA.

One would expect that this money would be valuable to Spurs as they look to make signings that would bolster the squad this summer.

Secondly, a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League means that Daniel Levy has no excuse not to spend. In late March, the Tottenham chairman already stated that Spurs would not put themselves at financial risk by spending what they don’t have – with sustainability being the hallmark of the excuse.

In other words, he was simply stating that if the club doesn’t get into Europe’s premier competition, fans shouldn’t expect a big outlay in terms of signings.

The club going all the way this season is not just going to be great for Postecoglou, but in the long run, it’s massive for the club. However, first, they must overcome Frankfurt over two legs, before potentially facing Bodo Glimt or Lazio in the last four.

Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves are both of the opinion that Tottenham Hotspur stand a good chance of winning the Europe League, but only if Ange Postecoglou swallows his ego and changes the way the side plays.

The Tottenham Hotspur boss is now starting to run out of excuses, with results failing to improve despite the return of key players from injuries.

Postecoglou has been slammed for his arrogant behaviour after the Tottenham head coach appeared to goad the travelling Spurs contingent at Stamford Bridge last week.

However, the Tottenham head coach knows that he can have the last laugh and silence his critics if the Lilywhites go all the way in the Europa League, with the Australian having the chance to become the first Spurs boss in 17 years to lift a trophy.

Owen Hargreaves claims Tottenham have to make a big change to win Europa League

If there is one thing that has characterised Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou, it is their openness and their willingness to commit bodies forward, which often leaves them exposed at the back.

However, Hargreaves believes that the North London club have to be willing to change that approach and defend with men behind the ball if needed, pointing out that the Man United side he played in did the same when they came up against the likes of Barcelona.

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The pundit told TNT Sports: “We played in a good United team, won the league. But we played Barcelona in the Champions League, remember, Rio? What did we do over those two legs?

“We said, ‘you can have the ball, we’ll hit you on the counter’. This philosophy thing is getting in the way of winning games. We had [Carlos] Tevez, [Wayne] Rooney, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Rio Ferdinand], [Nemanja] Vidic, [Edwin] van der Sar, [Paul] Scholes, everyone.

“It’s not about winning, it’s not about, ‘we got 77% possession, and we played nice football’. Tottenham could win the Europa League if they defended well.”

Rio Ferdinand accuses Ange Postecoglou of playing to the gallery

Ferdinand agreed with Hargreaves’s take and was even more damning in his assessment of Postecoglou and his philosophy.

The former Man United centre-back claimed that the 59-year-old, like many modern-day managers, is more focused on looking like a tactical genius than winning games.

Ferdinand added: “It’s style over substance now. It’s about who looks like the man, who’s got the clipboard out, who looks like he’s putting out a team that’s tactically superior. When push comes to shove, you need your players to make decisions and win you games.”

Tottenham Hotspur would have been pleased to get back to winning ways against Southampton on Sunday and it has now been revealed that the Lilywhites ensured with the result that their North London rivals received a financial blow.

Spurs emerged with a 3-1 win over Southampton at home on Sunday, which was a much-needed victory for Ange Postecoglou’s men ahead of the Europa League quarterfinal showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt.

The game saw a couple of Tottenham forwards regain their confidence ahead of Thursday’s tie, with Brennan Johnson netting a brace and Mathys Tel scoring his first Spurs goal from the penalty spot.

It has now been revealed that Tottenham’s win against the Saints has not gone down well at Emirates as it confirmed a financial blow for Arsenal ahead of the summer.

Tottenham make sure Arsenal do not get £1m boost

Tottenham’s 3-1 win confirmed Southampton’s relegation back to the Championship, which is not good news for Mikel Arteta’s men, according to The Express.

The report explains that Arsenal sold Aaron Ramsdale to the Saints for £18m last summer, but the deal was subject to a survival bonus.

If the South Coast club had stayed up, the value of the deal would have risen to £19m, meaning that they would have had to pay another £1m to Arsenal.

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However, Tottenham sealed Southampton’s fate on Sunday and ensured that their rivals were denied the seven-figure boost.

Spurs also hand themselves a Tyler Dibling boost

That is not the only way Sunday’s result helped Tottenham as the result also ensured that the Lilywhites got one step closer to securing one of their top targets.

It has been widely reported over recent weeks that Spurs have identified Tyler Dibling as their top summer target and have held talks with the player’s entourage about a switch to N17.

Football finance expert Stefan Borson explains why he is worried that Tottenham Hotspur are going to fall further behind the leading pack in the Premier League following Daniel Levy’s latest confession about the club’s financial position.

On a number of occasions this season, we have seen Spurs fans protest in the thousands against the club’s owners, with the supporters feeling that the current regime has prioritised the club’s financial performance over on-pitch success.

Last week, Daniel Levy warned the Spurs fans that the club’s current transfer spending is not sustainable and insisted that Tottenham have to be wary of jeopardising their long-term financial stability.

Needless to say, Levy’s warning has not gone down with the Tottenham supporters, who want to see the club compete with their rivals for the services of big-name players in the transfer window.

Stefan Borson issues a warning to Tottenham about falling behind

Stefan Borson does not buy Levy’s excuses, with the finance expert going through Tottenham’s accounts and suggesting that the club are in a relatively healthy position.

He spoke about the challenges of not having Champions League revenue to rely on, but he warned Spurs that they will fall further behind if they do not increase their wage spending.

Borson told Football Insider: “I suppose they have done well top line in terms of generating revenue. They continue to grow the top line. They need Champions League football really, and they need a higher wage bill, in my opinion. They are overdoing it in prudence on the wage bill.

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“The wage bill actually fell 12 per cent from 2023 to 2024. Obviously, they’ve got no Champions League this season, so you would expect the wage bill to be lower. But it’s a problem to compete this season when you’ve got all of the other big five, and then you’ve also got on top of that Nottingham Forest performing brilliantly, and then Aston Villa and Newcastle.

“You have also got these other teams who are certainly good enough to pick off individual wins, such as West Ham, Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth. It’s super competitive and, with the wage bill of £222million, it’s really hard to compete.

“They have done really well top line. There is no question. If you strip out the Uefa prize money, clearly in 2023-24, they have no Uefa money, and in 2022-23, they have Champions League money.

“They went from £56million of Uefa prize money to zero last year, and yet their turnover excluding that actually grew by £30million. Obviously, you’re not going to be able to compensate for losing Champions League money completely, but it shows that the underlying numbers are decent.

“Commercially, they’re decent. They did a 12 per cent increase on commercial revenue last year, so that’s all positive. The problem is the competitive landscape that they’ve got is that other teams are investing. If other teams are investing, they will fall behind.”

Daniel Levy has one ace up his sleeve

The only way Spurs can remain competitive without ENIC pumping money into the club is if they attract investment this summer.

Rumours continue to abound of Qatari consortiums being interested in buying a stake in Tottenham but nothing concrete appears to have materialised so far.

On-loan Tottenham midfielder Alfie Devine made a decisive impact for his side on Sunday to ensure that they salvaged a point at home in a tightly contested league affair.

Tottenham Hotspur have a number of youngsters who are impressing out on loan this season and many of them will hope to potentially vie for a first-team spot at Spurs next season.

One of those is a player who is currently plying his trade in Belgium. While Luka Vuskovic has attracted all the spotlight for his performances at Westerlo this season, his teammate Alfie Devine has also been having an impressive season.

The Tottenham attacking midfielder has made 25 appearances across all competitions this season, most of which have come as a number ten, and following his latest goal on Sunday, he has now taken his tally to five strikes this season.

Alfie Devine scores important equalsier for Westerlo

Devine did not get the nod to start for Westerlo as they hosted Oud-Heverlee Leuven on Sunday, with the on-loan Tottenham man being introduced as a substitute on the hour mark.

It did not take long for him to make an impact, with the youngster finding the back of the net 15 minutes after coming on.

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It was a crucial equaliser to make it 2-2, with the goal ensuring that Westerlo avoided defeat at home and emerged from the game with a point.

Interestingly, Tottenham’s Vuskvoic, who has been a mainstay in the club’s backline this season, was an unused substitute for the Belgian side in the clash.

Tottenham face big Alfie Devine decision this summer

The experience of playing regularly in the Jupiler Pro League would undoubtedly be invaluable for Devine’s development, with both of his previous loan spells being in the EFL.

It remains to be seen what the next step for the Tottenham youngster is when he returns to Hotspur Way this summer.

It was claimed by Football.London’s Rob Guest a few days ago that Postecoglou rates Devine very highly and will decide in pre-season whether to send him out on loan again or to include him in his first-team players.

There has been an update on the injury status of Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso ahead of the Lilywhites’ all-important Europe League quarterfinal showdown against Eintracht Frankfurt.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the long-term future of Tottenham Hotspur depends a great deal on how they do in the Europa League.

Apart from the fact that Europa League success is expected to have an impact on Ange Postecoglou’s future, qualifying for the Champions League will also bring extra revenue into the club and make them a more attractive destination for potential targets, thus making their rebuild much easier.

While Tottenham’s injury situation is certainly much better than it was a few months ago, they are still missing some key men ahead of the game, and there has now been an update on their fitness ahead of Thursday’s first leg.

Tottenham missing Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso

Dejan Kulusevski has been out of action since February with a foot injury and the Swede has not been spotted in training videos recently, which potentially suggests that his return is not near.

The Standard have now said that Kulusevski is “progressing well” but Thursday’s first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt at home has come too quickly for him.

The former Juventus man is not expected to be part of the matchday squad, and neither is Kevin Danso, who continues to recover from a thigh injury that has kept him out of action since the start of February.

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Meanwhile, Radu Dragusin is not expected to be back on the pitch until next season after going under the knife for an ACL injury he picked up in January.

Eintracht Frankfurt will be without the key man on Thursday

Frankfurt will undoubtedly pose a major challenge to Ange Postecoglou’s side as they currently sit third in the Bundesliga table behind Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen.

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly emerging as the most likely summer destination for an experienced Premier League striker, who is about to become a free agent.

Given that it has been widely reported that Richarlison could be on his way out of Spurs this summer, one would expect the North London club to be in the market for a new striker.

It has previously been claimed by a few sources that Tottenham are admirers of Dominic Calver-Lewin, whose current deal at Everton runs out in June.

Now a fresh report has revealed that Spurs are quickly moving to the front of the queue to land the 28-year-old, who is looking for a new challenge.

Tottenham are making efforts to seduce Dominic Calvert-Lewin

This update comes from Fichajes, who say that Tottenham Hotspur have a ‘strong interest’ in the England international and are ‘shaping up’ to be the striker’s ‘next destination’ this summer.

Calvert-Lewin’s time at Merseyside is now said to be ‘getting closer and closer to ending’ right now, with everything indicating that he is not about to sign a new deal.

This has opened the door for Tottenham, who are keen to add to their forward line and have now started making moves to ‘seduce’ the Toffees man with an ‘ambitious project’.

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The outlet adds that Ange Postecoglou’s men like Calvert-Lewin’s profile and see him as someone who can complement the other options in their attack.

Everton are resigned to losing Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Despite the centre-forward’s recent injury woes, Fichajes allege that Spurs believe that they can help the striker return to his best and that he can prove a ‘useful piece to compliment their attack’ next season.

The publication explains that given the kind of project Tottenham are offering, a change of scenery for Calvert-Lewin is now ‘closer than ever’.

It is asserted that the feeling at Goodison Park is that the striker’s departure is enviable as the player’s contract situation is now at ‘a point of no return’.

A report has revealed that Tottenham’s scouts decided to run the rule over a Premier League striker this weekend as Spurs contemplate pushing ahead with an offer for the player, who has been on fire since the start of the campaign.

Tottenham face some big decisions this summer, including whether or not to activate the option to buy Mathys Tel.

The Lilywhites are also thought to be exploring various strikers on the market as the club looks to reinforce their forward line this summer.

It has been widely reported over recent weeks that Spurs are keen on landing Liam Delap, having been impressed by how the striker has hit the ground running in his debut Premier League campaign at Portman Road Stadium.

Tottenham scouts watched Liam Delap against Wolves

TBR Football have now claimed that scouts from Tottenham Hotspur were in attendance at Ipswich’s clash against Wolves on Saturday, making the trip to run the rule over Liam Delap.

They were not the only ones present at Portman Road Stadium, with representatives from Newcastle and Liverpool also at the venue to watch the striker in action.

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The 22-year-old certainly made an impression in front of the emissaries, opening the scoring for the home side on 16 minutes, but Wolves hit back with two late goals to take home all three points.

Arsenal and Man City are also interested in Delap

Apart from the three clubs who made the trip to Suffolk, TBR Football say that two of Tottenham’s London rivals also have their eye on the Manchester City academy graduate.

One of those is Arsenal, with Mikel Arteta being extremely keen to bring a number nine like Delap through the door this summer.

The other is Chelsea, who are allegedly prepared to pay £50m to take the Englishman to Stamford Bridge this summer.

Tottenham Hotspur have been long-term admirers of a young Brazilian forward and are sensing an opportunity to pounce on him this summer, but they will have to overcome competition from a number of other English sides to secure the teenager.

Spurs have had decent success with their transfer strategy of signing young, up-and-coming players, with the likes of Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray well on their way to becoming top-class performers.

It thus comes as no surprise to hear that Tottenham are set to continue with the same approach, with the club now setting their sights on an 18-year-old Brazilian who has been turning plenty of heads over the last two years.

The player in question is Vasco Da Gama starlet Rayan, who is now subject to interest from the Lilywhites as well as many of their rivals.

Transfer race intensifying for Tottenham target Rayan

TBR Football say that Rayan’s impressive displays for Vasco Da Gama have now brought him to the attention of a number of Premier League sides, who are now exploring moves for him ahead of the 2025-26 season.

This includes Tottenham Hotspur, who are big fans of the versatile forward, with the North London club being joined in the race for the player by Liverpool, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

All of these sides have shown ‘a genuine interest’ in the teenager ahead of the summer, and the publication adds that the forward now looks set for a move to England this summer.

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Tottenham have been fans of Rayan for a long time

The report goes on to explain that out of these sides, it is Spurs and Liverpool who have been on Rayan’s trail the longest.

Both clubs have reportedly been keeping an eye on the young forward’s development since he was 16 and are now ready to push ahead with a move for him.

The outlet asserts that even though Rayan has snubbed plenty of interest from Europe in the past, a move to England is now looking ‘increasingly likely’ for the player in 2025.