The transfer window is upon us, with teams around the Premier League looking to spend money to try and strengthen their squad before the start of the 2025/26 season.
It will be no different at Tottenham Hotspur, despite the current uncertainty around the future of manager Ange Postecoglou. Despite a 17th-place finish in the Premier League, Spurs still have Champions League football to prepare for next season.
They qualify for the competition thanks to their win in the Europa League last month. Spurs came out as 1-0 winners in the final against Manchester United.
Their participation in Europe’s primary competition will make moves in the transfer window easier. Last year saw Spurs break their transfer record with the signing of striker Dominic Solanke.
It’s still to be seen if it will be broken again this summer. The record has rapidly risen since the introduction of the Premier League - here’s a look back at Spurs' transfer record from 1988 to all the way to today.
In 1988, Spurs broke the then British transfer record by paying £2.2 million to Newcastle United for Paul Gascoigne. That remained the club’s record signing going into the Premier League era when the league was established in 1992, and he is still a cult hero in the English game.
In the following 33 years that record has been broken a few more times. Going into the third season of the Premier League (1995/96), Tottenham broke their record to sign striker Chris Armstrong from Crystal Palace, with him spending seven successful years at White Hart Lane, scoring 62 goals in 173 games for the club.
The record was broken again in 1997/98, when Spurs paid £6 million to Newcastle for forward Les Ferdinand. He spent six-and-a-half years at the club, scoring 39 goals in 147 appearances.
It was another three years until Spurs broke their transfer record again. It came with the £11 million purchase of Sergiy Rebrov from Dynamo Kiev in the 2000/01 season. However, he struggled to make an impact and was frozen out by incoming manager Glenn Hoddle.
There was another wait until the transfer record was broken again. The £16.5 million fee paid for Darren Bent in 2007/08 was the one that beat it. He played 79 times for Spurs, scoring 25 goals.
The 2013/14 season saw the record broken not only once, but three times. Firstly, a £17 million move for Paulinho grabbed the record, before a £26 million move for Roberto Soldado a week later smashed the record. Both struggled to make their mark at White Hart Lane and were quickly moved on after a couple of seasons.
The transfer record was broken for the third time that summer with the £26 million + add-ons transfer of Erik Lamela. This move was more successful than the others with him staying at the club for eight years, joining Sevilla on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.
The record was broken again in 2016. Spurs paid a fee of £31.5 million for Moussa Sissoko, he played a vital role for the club, helping them to reach the Champions League final in 2019. He left for Watford in 2021.
The record was broke again the next season with the £42 million signing of Davinson Sanchez from Ajax. The centre-back left Spurs for Galatasaray in the summer of 2023.
Spurs broke the record for the third time in three years in 2018, with the signing of Tanguy Ndombele. The club paid a fee of £56 million for the midfielder. He spent his last couple of seasons at the club on various loan spells before joining Nice on a free transfer last summer.
Spurs broke the transfer record again with the signing of forward Richarlison from Everton in 2022. The Brazilian cost a reported £60 million. He remains at the club but inconsistency and injury has impacted him, with him mainly now back-up to Dominic Solanke.
Speaking of the striker, last summer’s move to sign Solanke is currently Spurs’ transfer record. The club paid a reported £65 million to the Cherries.
In his first season he scored 16 goals and provided eight assists in his 45 appearances in all competitions.