The transfer window is now closed, and so it’s time to take stock of not only what has been done but also what it means. Tottenham Hotspur are in something of a bind at the moment with regards to their Europa League squad registration status.
Matty wrote a super helpful explainer at the beginning of the season outlining Tottenham’s Europa League squad composition and the choices they made in squad construction. I would suggest re-reading that article first for context on Spurs’ choices going forward. For the opening round, the biggest decision Ange Postecoglou made was to omit Djed Spence for Fraser Forster, giving Tottenham four goalkeepers in the squad. Part of that decision was dictated by the forced inclusion of the only two club-trained players at Spurs right now — keepers Alfie Whiteman and Brandon Austin. With Guglielmo Vicario the established No. 1, Postecoglou opted to omit Spence from the squad in favor of a backup keeper in Forster, as he pretty clearly didn’t trust Austin or Whiteman to back up Vicario at the time should he get injured.
The decision to omit Spence caused a lot of consternation among fans at the time. Now, Spurs face a different kind of dilemma. If Spurs decide to include Spence, Spurs have four new players that they could integrate into the Europa League squad before the next round: Spence, Antonin Kinsky, Kevin Danso, and Mathys Tel.
The problem — Spurs can only make three changes to their squad, meaning someone’s getting left out of Europa for the rest of the season. That means Spurs have a choice to make: who do they bring in, and who then do they leave out?
Thankfully (kinda), Spurs’ injury-depleted squad makes for a couple of obvious choices. Here are some of the options Spurs have in their Europa League roster construction.
In: Kevin Danso / Out: Radu Dragusin
This one is the most obvious. With Dragusin undergoing surgery for a blown ACL and missing the rest of the season, it’s an easy like-for-like swap to bring Danso in his place. Danso is likely to play almost immediately, as both Cuti Romero and Micky van de Ven will need their time managed pretty extensively, especially when they first return to the squad. I can’t imagine Spurs don’t make this move, as not registering Danso means they’d go the rest of their Europa League run with just three recognized CBs (not including Archie Gray).
In: Djed Spence / Out: Fraser Forster
It’s pretty notable how fast Forster’s star has fallen since Tottenham signed Antonin Kinsky on January 1. He went from Guglielmo Vicario’s #2 and starting in all available competitions to not even making the bench in Premier League games. Brandon Austin seems to have eclipsed Forster as Spurs’ third choice option, and while he’s Association Trained, including Spence means Spurs are still at the four-player limit in that category. Forster’s contract also expires at the end of the year and he’s likely to depart the club then. So if Spurs really want to bring Spence into the Europa League squad, Forster is the most logical player to make way.
In: Mathys Tel / Out: Timo Werner OR Wilson Odobert
Tel could make a real impact in the Europa League, but he’d have to replace someone currently in the team that is NOT club- or association-trained. He’s 19, but because he just joined the club he can’t be on List B, so he must take the place of someone on List A. Both Werner and Odobert are currently injured and play in what is ostensibly Tel’s position. Depending on whether you believe Ange or not, Odobert could be rejoining Tottenham’s first team training in the next couple of weeks; we haven’t gotten an update on Werner for a while. Werner is a seasoned professional athlete, but he’s also here on loan and hasn’t necessarily at his best. If Spurs opt to bring in Tel, I would say it’s probably one of these two players that makes way, depending on injury status and who Ange things would make the most impact when healthy.
Out: Antonin Kinsky
This is harsh on Kinsky Boots, but the reality is that Spurs can only make three changes to the squad list, Guglielmo Vicario will be back shortly, and Spurs have two other keepers on the Europa squad that are both club-trained. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to replace Forster with Kinsky with Vicario coming back and Austin being at least cromulent in the role. It’s a bummer for Antonio, but he should instead get plenty of league minutes if Ange decides to play Vicario or Austin in the knock-outs.
Now, there’s one scenario where Kinsky could be registered, and that’s if Vicario’s injury is such that it doesn’t make sense to include him in the squad. If that’s the case, Kinsky is the natural choice to replace Vicario, and Spurs would need to leave out one player, likely either Spence or Tel (but maybe Danso if Spurs think they can skate by with Davies and Gray and are bullish on the health of Romero and Van de Ven). The other option is to have Austin in goal as first choice keeper, and replace Vicario with Tel or Spence.
There are other possibilities, of course. Spurs could opt, for example, to deregister a player like Destiny Udogie if they feel he’ll be out for an extended period of time. Dane Scarlett, now that he’s back with the club, can join List B, with William Lankshear on loan. Spurs could, of course, decide NOT to register one of Spence, Tel or Danso in favor of Kinsky while keeping Vicario, but it would be strange to do so, especially Spence who is considered Association Trained. Doing so would also mean Spurs again have four keepers on their roster, which would be kinda bonkers.
It’ll be interesting to see what Spurs WILL do, but I feel like the above scenario (Danso/Spence/Tel for Dragusin/Forster/Odobert or Werner) is the most likely. We’ll find out in a couple days — the deadline for submitting changes to UEFA is Thurs. February 6.