Tottenham may have won the Europa League for the first time in nearly 40 years, but their 17th-placed finish across a 38-game Premier League season speaks more to their profound issues as a squad and their inability to consistently compete with teams at the highest professional level.
For Spurs, the key will be prioritizing areas of weakness so that they can invest their limited funds wisely and focus on positions that need to be upgraded the most for the Premier League and now Champions League campaigns ahead in 2025/26.
Chiefly, Spurs should be looking at new midfield help, specifically a defensive midfielder who can control games, playmake from deep, and screen the team defensively from counterattacks. The biggest problem Tottenham had, especially in the Premier League against teams with a higher technical and athletic level than the Europa League, was getting overrun in midfield.
Tottenham need game-changers in attack
There were too many games in which Tottenham were already losers from the get-go because they had no control. A defenive midfielder should be their biggest priority, especially in view of how London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal have prioritized this position big-time with major signings like Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, and Enzo Fernandez.
Next up, Tottenham need difference-makers in their team. They already have one of the Premier League's best creators and No. 10's in James Maddison, who delivered nine goals and seven assists for Spurs last season to tie Son Heung-min as the team's leader in goal contributions.
Everywhere else, though, Spurs have needs. Dominic Solanke is better than his nine Premier League goals show, but even the biggest Solanke homers can't argue that he's living up to his 65 million pound billing. Richarlison is likely on the way out after another sub-standard, injury-plagued year, so a young and affordable striker to replace Richarlison and compete with Solanke should be one of chairman Daniel Levy's priorities.
Along with a striker, Tottenham should sign a left winger. Preferably, that would be Mathys Tel, who is the exact profile Spurs should be looking for. Tel is a 20-year-old player with game-changing creative, dribbling, and goal-scoring qualities who can step in for Son Heung-min when necessary and eventually replace him.
Spurs already have adequate cover on the right wing between Dejan Kulusevski and leading scorer Brennan Johnson, providing two very different profiles there. And then there is young gem Mikey Moore. But on the left, Tottenham can't afford to go into the 2025/26 season with just Son as an option, given how his play tailed off in the second half of the season due to injury. They have to bring in another difference-maker on the left wing, with Tel being a tailor-made option.