Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi and his recruitment team need to make some big calls in 2027 as they need to continue clearing out the dead wood.
Spurs did a good job clearing out their squad during the previous summer transfer window, allowing the likes of Luka Vuskovic, Cristian Romero, and Djed Spence to leave.
Tottenham even looked to sell some of their young talents on permanent deals, including Will Lankshear, Ashley Phillips, and Alfie Devine.
There's no doubt that, after a disappointing start to the Premier League season, Spurs will continue to look to offload players, especially if they want to continue spending big.
Spurs brought in a number of new additions in the summer, spending hundreds of millions to try and get them out of the mess they are in.
In order to continue spending, they'll have to bring money in, which means there could be some tough decisions made by De Zerbi and his recruitment team.
One player Tottenham have to start considering offloading is attacking midfielder James Maddison.
Although the 29-year-old is undoubtedly a top player for Spurs on his day, his availability simply isn't good enough.
There's a saying that the best ability is availability, and Maddison's injuries are becoming a big concern.
It doesn't matter how good a player is. If he struggles to even get on the pitch, there's little value in having him at the club.
Maddison will be on a big wage at Tottenham, and since the start of the 2025-2026 season, he's made just nine appearances in all competitions for Spurs.
Tottenham are unlikely to get huge amounts of money for Maddison due to his injury history and age, but getting his wages off the books to bring in a more reliable player would be a smart move.
Maddison, who was previously described as being 'untouchable', showed his quality against Coventry during his first start for the club in over a year, but he suffered another injury blow, which proves the above points.
Maddison suffers yet another injury problem
Speaking to the media ahead of Tottenham's game against Chelsea in the Premier League this weekend, manager De Zerbi provided an update on the fitness of Maddison.
The Italian manager confirmed that Maddison didn't train for the first three days of this week, and he's unsure if he will be available to face Chelsea.
"In the first three days Maddison didn’t work with us. I don’t know if he is available for tomorrow. We can play with Tel, with Marmoush, with Gallagher."
It's yet another injury concern for Maddison, and he simply can't be relied upon by De Zerbi.
The Tottenham manager will be regularly working on things during training, not even knowing if one of his key attacking players will even be fit enough for the games.
Maddison is certainly a character and leader around the place at Tottenham, but they can't just keep him around for sentimental reasons.
Brazilian forward Richarlison is another who's likely to be offloaded, considering he wasn't even named in the Premier League squad for this season.