Tottenham Hotspur are at risk of being relegation to the Championship which may see some players leave the club - and Premier League sides could already be circling
Tottenham Hotspur could see several of their key players leave the club if they suffer a catastrophic relegation to the Championship. Spurs were handed a fresh blow to their hopes of staying in the Premier League with the defeat to Crystal Palace on Thursday night.
Igor Tudor has now lost all three matches as Tottenham boss since replacing Thomas Frank, and will now look ahead to facing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League next week. When it comes to the Premier League, Tottenham are now just one point above the relegation zone and are in 16th place in the table with just nine matches left to play.
As a result, there is a serious risk that Tottenham may be relegated to the Championship next season. If that happens, there is the likelihood that Spurs could be forced to sell some key members of their squad when the transfer window opens.
It remains to be seen which players could head for the exit door if relegation happens, but there has already been some uncertainty around the futures of some players. Manchester United have previously been linked with signing members of the Tottenham squad, including James Maddison.
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Maddison has been spending the entire season recovering from an ACL injury he suffered during pre-season, but will be hopeful of being back to full fitness for the start of next season.
However, it’s worth emphasising that it’s still purely speculative to predict whether or not United could revisit their interest in Maddison in the event that Tottenham do get relegated.
One position that United could look to strengthen this summer is in the wide forward department. As a result, Dejan Kulusevski could also be a player of interest, with the Sweden international getting closer to returning to action following a knee injury suffered towards the end of last season.
Tottenham may also be mindful that there could be interest in defender Micky van de Ven if they are relegated to the Championship. Liverpool were linked with signing Van de Ven before he joined Spurs, and there were rumours of potential interest again during the January transfer window.
Only time will tell whether any players leave Tottenham this summer, but relegation would of course increase the chances of key members of the squad leaving the club. Igor Tudor - whose position is already under threat after just three games in charge - insists the team are moving in the right direction and will survive the drop.
"I will tell you now, maybe it will sound strange, but I believe more after this game than I believed before. I saw something," said Tudor after the defeat to Palace. "I need to choose the right guys because the boat is going in the direction that I want to go, and needs to go, and who is in the boat can stay. Otherwise they can leave the boat.
"When players come back I'm sure we will have a good team and the victories will come. It's not easy to accept the moment where we are now - but it is how it is."