New reports suggest that Spurs are poised to bid for no fewer than three Brighton stars
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Having averted disaster on the final day of the season with a 1-0 win over Everton, Tottenham Hotspur have a difficult summer ahead of them. They are expected to begin a sweeping rebuild, with the aim of building a squad capable of looking like a ‘big six’ side once more. A lot of deadwood will be cut, a lot of new faces will be signed – and now a new story suggesting a potential triple transfer deal with Brighton & Hove Albion provides us with our first hints of how they plan to go about their business.
The Independent’s Miguel Delaney claims that Spurs are considering bids for new fewer than three members of Brighton’s squad, each of whom played under Roberto De Zerbi when he was head coach at the Amex Stadium: Carlos Baleba, Jan Paul van Hecke and Bart Verbruggen. But what does that shortlist say about the shape of Spurs’ summer?
What Spurs rumours tell us about their plans ahead of the summer
In the immediate aftermath of the win over Everton, the Spurs non-executive chairman Peter Charrington admitted in an open letter to supporters that the club had failed to build its squad in a suitable manner over the past few years.
“Football success had not been driving our decisions,” Charrington wrote. “We did not have the right expertise in key roles. We did not build squads good enough to compete in the most demanding league in the world.”
It’s a comment which reads partly as a dig at the departed Daniel Levy, who developed a habit of nickel and diming his way through the transfer market, focussing on negotiations and pricing rather than finding players who fit an overarching tactical profile. It suggests that Spurs want to rebuild around a coherent vision for the squad, and also perhaps that they will no longer spare expense in order to get the right players in.
The shortlist reported by Delaney suggests something similar. In picking out three players De Zerbi coached at Brighton, there is an implication that recruitment will be conducted in lockstep with the coach, with his desires prioritised and his strategy catered to – and in putting Carlos Baleba, in particular, on their list, it can be inferred that Spurs are prepared to break the bank.
Brighton are expected to seek a transfer fee in the region of £100m for Baleba, using potential competition from Manchester United to push for top dollar. Van Hecke, who is entering the final year of his contract with the Seagulls, and Verbruggen – whose deal expires in 2028 – may not come cheap, but a deal for Baleba would almost certainly shatter the club’s transfer record, the €65m (£56m) spent on Xavi Simons last summer.
It would be a highly expensive commitment to De Zerbi’s brand of football, albeit one that is perhaps necessary. Since sacking Mauricio Pochettino in 2019, Spurs have stumbled blindly between coaches with very different playing styles and worldviews, and seldom worried about signing players who fit the template those coaches wanted to build around. The result has been a deeply frustrating decline.
Charrington’s comments suggest a recognition in the corridors of power at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that they have to let a manager plant their flag and get the players the want, with their style of play becoming Spurs’ default for the foreseeable future. Whether De Zerbi will be the wisest choice of coach to build around in the long term remains to be seen, but it appears that they have at last made a clear decision on the club’s direction and intend to stick with it.
Defence the priority as Spurs look to the future
Delaney’s report also adds backing to stories which suggest that Spurs are likely to agree to sign both Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson and Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi on free transfers, and adds that Manchester City’s John Stones could be another player they look at. Throw in the defensive nature of their alleged targets at Brighton, and there is a clear suggestion that shoring up the defence is the immediate priority.
That focus is partly a matter of sheer necessity. Guglielmo Vicario and Cristian Romero are both expected to leave, the latter under something of a cloud, while there is interest from elite teams in both Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro. Combined with a lack of trustworthy depth along the back four, there is a clear need for fresh blood.
While signing players like Verbruggen and Van Hecke, who are familiar with De Zerbi’s system and have the technical chops to play in his aggressively high line, would forge a squad which could adapt to the Italian’s methods, the addition of both Senesi and Stones to the list of potential new faces also hints at a focus on players who have the touch and passing range to distribute the ball with the kind of precision and grace under pressure that De Zerbi requires.
Stones – and Robertson – are not getting any younger, but if they are indeed transfer targets then that also hints at a belief that the club lacks leadership. Both have the intangible qualities that could make them strong additions even if they aren’t regular starters, and it’s fair to say that a Spurs squad stripped of its best current defenders would lack natural captains.
There will surely be some attacking players added, as well, but the fact that Spurs are being linked so strongly with strictly defensive players suggests a certain degree of faith in the players they already have on the books but who were too injured to contribute in full to a disastrous season. A Spurs squad with a fully fit Dominic Solanke, Mohammed Kudus, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski – plus Simons, who is likely to be out until the new year – may be a rather different animal to the tame one we saw cowering its way through 2025/26.
If Spurs have indeed shortlisted the players that Delaney claims, then the priorities seem to become quite clear: A focus on technical defenders who would suit De Zerbi’s high line, a recognition of the need for leadership, a belief that building a strong squad starts at the back, and the acknowledgement that current starters either aren’t good enough or are simply likely to leave the club regardless. The roadmap seems to have been drawn up. Now it’s time to see where it all leads.