The 2024/25 season has already come to a conclusion for a handful of Tottenham players who spent the campaign away from the club. For those not involved in the EFL play-offs, the season ended at the beginning of the month.
Manor Solomon finished his time at Leeds United by helping the West Yorkshire club win the Championship title on the final day, Will Lankshear and West Brom missed out on the play-offs and Ashley Phillips played his part in Stoke City avoiding the drop down to League One. Yang Min-hyeok was another Spurs man to play in the Championship after joining QPR on loan at the end of January.
It proved to be a very good loan spell across the capital for the South Korean youngster and this summer he will have the opportunity to get his Tottenham career firmly up and running. Amid question marks over how the teenager would fare in the Championship, he finished his time at QPR with two goals and one assist in 14 games.
Yang wowed in his performances on the wing and he has certainly left plenty of Tottenham fans excited about what he can bring to the team in the years ahead. Confirming the arrival of the winger from Gangwon FC in late July, it wasn't until the end of December when the teenager would make the move to N17 following the end of the K League season.
Given time to adapt to his new surroundings and life under Ange Postecoglou, Yang did in fact make the matchday squad on three occasions for Tottenham prior to joining QPR. He was an unused substitute in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg win against Liverpool and also the Premier League defeats against Everton and Leicester City, though.
Following his time with QPR, this summer could be viewed as a fresh start for him at Tottenham as he bids to become a regular member of the first-team squad in the 2025/26 season. An opportunity should be there for him to pull on a Tottenham shirt for the very first time in pre-season as the head coach will want to give his players sufficient minutes and take a close look at them.
Plenty of Tottenham youngsters have been given regular pitch time in pre-season in years gone by, with Alfie Devine, Jamie Donley and Lankshear featuring heavily for the club last summer. As things stand right now, Tottenham have only confirmed one pre-season friendly, with that coming against north London rivals Arsenal in Hong Kong on Thursday, July 31.
Spurs' summer schedule should become clearer in the weeks ahead and it may prove to be the period where Yang really makes Tottenham fans sit up and take notice. The Gwangju-born player certainly has plenty of competition for a place in the team, with Son Heung-min, Wilson Odobert, Mikey Moore, Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison all options out wide.
It remains to be seen what will happen with Solomon after his Leeds loan success and Tottenham have to decide whether or not to sign Mathys Tel on a permanent contract. Spurs splurged £143.5million on Odobert, Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall last summer and all eyes will be on their business in the months ahead given their disastrous Premier League campaign.
For Yang, all he can do is take his opportunity when it comes his way in pre-season and hope that is enough to become part of the first-team plans in 2025/26. The wait to make his first appearance for Tottenham may not be too far away at all now that the current campaign is coming to a close.