Shortly after the gong sounded at 7pm on deadline day, Tottenham captain Cristian Romero appeared to aim another dig at the club’s board.
Romero praised his teammates for coping with “only 11 players available – unbelievable but true and disgraceful”, weeks after seemingly accusing the hierarchy of “lies” on social media. Despite Spurs sitting 14th in the table it has been a relatively quiet winter window, with Conor Gallagher and Brazilian left-back Souza the two arrivals.
That can be explained by a major shift in thinking behind the scenes over the past 18 months. In fact the ball began rolling with the departure of Harry Kane in the summer of 2023, but has been hastened along by the departures of other leading figures in the dressing room like Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min.
A new strategy
Having prioritised younger, affordable players with potential – Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert – Spurs moved into a phase of targeting experienced big names who would improve the squad but also have an influence off the pitch.
Players with Champions League football on their CV ticked an immediate box – that has been seen with the addition of Gallagher from Atletico Madrid. Talks were held to sign Andy Robertson but Liverpool ultimately blocked that move, believing they did not have enough cover at left-back.
Spurs’ chief executive officer Vinai Venkatesham has promised to overhaul the wage structure that many have pinpointed as the reason Spurs have struggled to compete for the biggest talent. That takes time.
In the here and now the club is competing with the likes of Manchester City for their most ambitious targets, as seen with Spurs missing out on Antoine Semenyo. The widespread interest in RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande has also slapped a huge price tag on the winger.
The striker market
The market for forwards is particularly inflated. By way of example, Crystal Palace signed Jorgen Strand Larsen – who has scored once for Wolves in the league this season – for £48m. Jean-Philippe Mateta had previously been on Tottenham’s radar but that never felt likely in recent weeks following his public spat with Crystal Palace; his move to AC Milan then fell through due to concerns over a knee injury.
Activity was therefore limited to a loan with an option to buy for James Wilson, the 18-year-old Hearts striker, who will join the U21s. George Abbott goes to Mansfield for another loan after his stints at Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers, academy youngster Herbie James joins Cardiff and Alfie Dorrington moves to Salford City on loan.
An injury crisis
As for the senior squad, it has been difficult for Thomas Frank to assess it properly because of a mounting injury crisis. All season he has been without Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison and has not wanted to overload the squad for when they return.
Spurs offloaded Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace because he was not getting enough minutes following Mohammed Kudus’ arrival. There was a stroke of further bad luck when Kudus was then ruled out through injury just days after that deal went through.
The squad arguably looks weaker than it really is right now, with Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison, Pedro Porro, Lucas Bergvall, Kevin Danso, Djed Spence, Micky van de Ven also on the sidelines.
The knock-on effect
One implication of that is that those who voiced a desire to go on loan – like Mathys Tel, who is determined to get more minutes, especially after being left out of the Champions League squad – have not been able to do so.
The i Paper understands Randal Kolo Muani was unsettled too but there was no real question of ripping up his loan agreement early. There was some talk of back-up goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky heading to West Ham and Mads Hermansen moving he other way, yet that didn’t materialise either.
PSR
Tottenham are operating in a market complicated by profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Even though they have no concerns on that front themselves, plenty of clubs are running close to the wire and that has limited the sales happening across the board. Some agents have never seen January so quiet and some clubs did not make any signings at all.
Much of Spurs’ biggest business was done in the summer – Xavi Simons, Kudus, Tel. Raheem Sterling was linked in the final days of the winter window, but it would have represented a divisive gamble after his struggles at Arsenal and Chelsea.
For all the uncertainty around Frank’s future, and the departure of sporting director Fabio Paratici midway through the month, which left Johan Lange spearheading the operation, Tottenham have largely stuck to their strategy where possible. That leaves one eye on the summer.