The summer transfer window has been an exciting time so far for the north London club's supporters but work on exits has also been important
Tottenham are in uncharted territory this summer with £237million already spent but also in the way they have been going about their sales.
The Spurs fans are in dreamland after witnessing their club smash their transfer record twice, first for the £85million deal for Mateus Fernandes from West Ham and then to capture their first £100million footballer in Sandro Tonali from Newcastle. That came after spending £52million on centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton and securing three free transfers in Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
More signings are expected but with that influx of six players, Roberto De Zerbi's squad must be trimmed for a season with no European football to share the minutes around.
Tottenham have made it clear that there will be a new policy with exits at the club and that has started to come into effect this year with players sold for better value and at the right time. In previous years Spurs have made some big money purchases for stars who never hit the heights and were then either sold for a nominal fee such as Giovani Lo Celso or left the club for nothing, like Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and this summer Yves Bissouma.
The new way of operating was witnessed first in January when the north London outfit agreed to sell the previous season's top scorer Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace in a £35million deal. Spurs did make a loss on the player, having signed him for £47.5million in 2023 but that sale became the fourth highest in their history.
The three sales that brought in more money were Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale and the most painful of them all for Tottenham fans, Harry Kane.
Already, Spurs will surpass that this summer as they look to tie up four exits to kick off proceedings for around £86million, not including sell-on fees.
The biggest deal is the one for Luka Vuskovic. The 19-year-old will depart N17 without having played a single competitive match for Tottenham and he will do so for £46million up front and another £4million in what are seen to be very achievable add-ons, plus a 20% sell-on clause on any profit made on the player as well as matching rights for future bids.
The Croatian was told that he was not in De Zerbi's immediate plans and did not want to head out on his fourth loan in as many years. Brighton pushed for the player and met Tottenham's asking price, the Lilywhites in essence swapping Vuskovic for Van Hecke. Time will tell whether that was the right move or not for a player who cost around £12.5million to begin with.
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Another centre-back heading out of the club is Radu Dragusin. Spurs have agreed a loan with an obligation to buy deal with Fiorentina for the 24-year-old to depart. The obligation could be worth as much as £21.4m (25m euros) if he hits a set amount of games, plus a 10% sell-on on any profit Fiorentina should make on the Romanian with a later sale.
The Italian media have reported that Dragusin will be taking a pay cut to return to Serie A and Spurs could make a profit if their sell-on clause pays off because they signed the defender, who missed 11 months with an ACL injury, for £26.7million back in January 2024.
Further up the pitch, striker Alejo Veliz has departed to Brazilian side Bahia in a deal worth £7.7million (9m euros) with £863k (1million euros) in add-ons and a 20% sell-on clause. The 22-year-old was signed for around £13million back in 2023 and Spurs could make a profit or break even again depending on that release clause.
football.london also broke the news on Tuesday that 21-year-old midfielder Alfie Devine, who has made just a couple of appearances for the club, was undergoing a medical on Tuesday with Preston North End ahead of a permanent move to the Championship club.
Before taking Devine on loan last summer, Preston agreed an option with Tottenham to buy the England U20 midfielder in a deal worth around £6million and saw off other clubs, including Celtic to secure his services permanently. That figure is more than twice their transfer record but the youngster impressed so much that the Lancashire club, who finished 14th in the Championship last season, triggered the option with payments in instalments.
So that should result in around £86million coming into the club's coffers to offset some of that £237million spent already. More sales will follow with the likes of Cristian Romero, Guglielmo Vicario and Richarlison among the list of players linked with the exit door.
Earlier this year, Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham said: "Player trading is also about knowing when to sell and being decisive about moving players on who are not part of our future. Doing so is essential to maximising value and managing our financial fair play obligations. Despite common belief, we are not immune to these rules and must carefully manage our squad development plans against them."
This summer has already proven Tottenham's ambitions both with incomings and outgoings with more to come on both fronts.