Tottenham Hotspur will have to look at some smart options to help their European squad as well as moving for their main transfer targets in this summer window.
Spurs will be looking to bolster new head coach Thomas Frank's squad this summer with the quality required to meet chairman Daniel Levy's expectations of challenging on multiple fronts this season. The Tottenham supremo declared this week that the Europa League triumph - the club's first trophy in 17 years - was not enough and that he wanted to win the Premier League and Champions League in the seasons ahead.
That will require the north London club to splash the cash on proven players as well as their usual youth model and Tottenham have been linked with the likes of Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa at Frank's former club Brentford as well as Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo and Southampton's Tyler Dibling.
The club also must remain wary of their squad issues when it comes to registering players for the Champions League this season with Frank set to have to make some difficult decisions as his predecessors have on players needing to be left out of European competition.
football.londonreported earlier this month that Spurs' lack of 'club-trained players' continues to be an issue in Europe, with Alfie Whiteman's departure meaning goalkeeper Brandon Austin is the only such senior player they can register in the Champions League who would not already be on the B list.
While the Premier League is far more relaxed, UEFA's rules state that no club can have more than 25 players on their Champions League A-List during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers. The rules then say that "as a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for 'locally trained players' and no club may have more than four 'association-trained players' listed among those eight places. If a club have fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly".
There are two kinds of a locally-trained player. One is those 'club-trained players', those on a club's books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21. The other is 'association-trained players', who were on another club's books in the same association for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.
Then there is a B-List for players born on, or after, January 1, 2004 and who have been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. In the 2026/27 season players such as Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall will able to move to the B list.
With all of that in mind and only one club-trained player in Austin when they need to register four, Tottenham would have to leave three spots open this season in what should be a 25-man squad, but instead becomes a 22-man one. Spurs currently have 23 players to fit into 17 non-locally trained spots and seven association-trained players for four other spots. Any association-trained players over those four spots would then need to be crowbarred into the main group.
The simplest way to look at it is that Tottenham currently have 30 senior players to fit into 22 spots, including new permanent arrivals Kevin Danso, Mathys Tel and Luka Vuskovic, and that's before they even try to sign new players this window.
So Frank will have to move players on either on loan or permanently and another option is to look at players who could return to N17 in order to be club-trained.
While full-back is not a priority area this summer with Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence, Gray and Ben Davies all able to play there at this time, football.london understands that Spurs have considered a move later in the window to bring Kyle Walker-Peters back as a free agent and club-trained option to fill one of those spots.
The experienced 28-year-old, who has a couple of England appearances to his name, can play on either flank and is at the end of his contract at relegated Southampton. A string of Premier League sides are believed to be looking at signing the full-back, including Everton and Wolves, who are understood to be considering him as a potential replacement for Nelson Semedo if the Portuguese were to depart this summer.
Walker-Peters would be keen on a return to his boyhood club, but Tottenham are likely to focus on other key areas first this summer which could allow other clubs to seal a deal for a defender who has played 202 times for Southampton since his 24 games for Spurs.
In terms of other club-trained players the north London side could look at, many are more unlikely this summer. There is record goalscorer Harry Kane, who seems happy enough at Bayern Munich, and Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp who were relegated at Leicester.
Spurs have looked at the past in bringing back 23-year-old left-back Dennis Cirkin, who has impressed at Sunderland. He made 39 appearances this season as the Black Cats returned to the Premier League through the play-offs and he has 12 months remaining on his contract. Tottenham are in line for a sell-on percentage for the player if he leaves this summer, meaning they would get him for a cheaper price, although a buy-back clause reportedly expired last year.
Marcus Edwards has just signed permanently for Burnley while Troy Parrott wants to remain at AZ Alkmaar this season. Chelsea's Noni Madueke has been linked with a move away but in terms of the club-trained angle, he left Spurs at the age of 16 and remember you need to have been on the books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.
So while Tottenham's focus will be on their main high profile signings to bolster Frank's squad this summer they must also be aware that they are going to run into problems with their European squad this season and make some decisions accordingly.