Football.London

Even if he left Tottenham Hotspur to fulfil his wish of winning club silverware, Harry Kane's love for the club has never diminished. That is proven in his well-wishes to new signing Mathys Tel.

Tottenham remained active into the late hours of the night, even beyond Monday's transfer deadline all so that they could announce the loan capture of striker Tel from Bayern Munich.

It marked a dramatic U-turn as only three days prior the 19-year-old had told chairman Daniel Levy he did not wish to make the move. A deadline day call from Ange Postecoglou helped change his mind and now he has moved to North London on loan with the €55m (£45.7m) option to join permanently for six years.

As it turns out, it was not only the boss that was able to convince Tel. As the February recruit explained himself, Kane was also another peer he turned to for advice.

"He told me this is a big club with a lot of very good people," said ex-Rennes man Tel. "The pitch is very nice. The training centre is very good. And if you go there, you can enjoy it. So everything was positive from Harry Kane."

And now Tottenham's record goalscorer has sent his own well wishes to Tel after his move, speaking via his Cleats Club app.

"It's a great move for both parties. Mathys is a great guy, really hard working and full of potential. It'll be important for him to get some minutes under his belt, get some regular game time and hopefully develop, keep improving and fulfil all the potential that he has.

"It's great for Tottenham to have a young, hungry player with loads of talent to hopefully score some goals and help push Tottenham as far as possible. I wish him all the best and hopefully he has a fantastic time there, I know he will. I'm sure all the fans will make him feel really welcome as well."

The reality of the situation is that Kane, not only through his advice, was a key reason in Tel moving this winter. Had it not been for the England captain's €100m (£86.4m) switch to Bavaria in 2023, there might have been a striker's position to fill.

It was he who was keeping Tel consigned to a lesser role, but now from that new message Kane hopes to see not only the Frenchman succeed but also his former club benefit, as is his selfless nature.

Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 win at Brentford over the weekend may have allayed some creeping fears of a relegation battle for the club, but Spurs’ campaign thus far will not have been what was envisaged at the start.

When Spurs moved into their near 63,000-seater world-class new home back in 2019 it heralded a major change for the club but it was the finances that would get the biggest boost, with competitive success remaining inconsistent.

Talk of ENIC and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy being willing to listen to offers for the club has swirled around for a couple of years, with reports of a £3.1billion bid for the club from American investment firm MSP Sports Capital having come to nothing, while in recent months talk of a potential sale or minority stake purchase from the Middle East, with Amanda Staveley leading on it, has also been a hot topic.

Levy, a man who notoriously drives a hard bargain, reaffirmed the commitment to the long-term plan of the club by the owners back in 2023, saying that the club wasn’t for sale. But things can change quickly in football, and when the challenge to be competitive becomes ever more expensive, and against the backdrop of a lack of Champions League football, maybe that stance has softened.

The Tottenham chairman was the focus of fans’ ire recently during a home defeat to struggling Leicester City. It wasn’t head coach Ange Postecoglou who was in the firing line as would usually be the case for poor performances, but instead Levy, with the anger stemming from the perceived profits before prizes mentality that the club had embarked upon.

One Spurs-supporting friend described the feeling to me as the club now being a stadium with a football club attached to it, and that the competitive desire to win trophies had been replaced by overzealous financial prudence and a greater desire to see commercial revenues and matchday income increased, and with that came a reluctance to spend appropriately in the transfer market.

Whether that is a fair view of the current situation at Spurs is an entirely personal one, but in a window where the club really needed to bring in reinforcements given the state of the squad and the growing injury list, loan deals for 19-year-old striker Mathys Tel, Lens defender Kevin Danso, and a permanent move for goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky from Slavia Prague were all that materialised.

There was some talk of a £70million move for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi on the final day of the transfer window, but a move so close to deadline, and with Spurs likely knowing full well that Palace wouldn't want to part ways, not to mention that Spurs' need for a central defender had been known some weeks earlier, could be seen by some as a bit of a smokescreen.

With returning players from injury, allied with the extra players brought in, Spurs will be safe from a relegation battle, but in terms of being far away from Champions League football, the distance hasn’t been greater for some time.

While Spurs have been growing off the pitch their rivals have been spending, and Arsenal’s gamble to invest in some big players in recent seasons has seen the club return to the Champions League, something that will book them more than £90million by the time the knockout phase starts when all things, such as matchday income, are accounted for. The return to European football’s top table has seen them jump to seventh in the recently-published Deloitte Football Money League, leapfrogging Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool in the process, with the one season out of Champions League football for the current Premier League leaders being impactful for the 2023/24 financial year. Spurs are expected to post revenues of £529million for that accounting period.

In the four financial years between 2015 and 2019, Spurs made a pre-tax profit of £314million, the next highest being Liverpool at £187million. Now, much of that profit could be attributed to the sales of Kyle Walker to Manchester City and Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, but the needles were all moving in the right direction heading into the club’s new stadium in 2019.

However, a look at estimates for the 2023/24 accounts from football finance expert Swiss Ramble shows that Spurs’s amortisation charges, which is the cost on the balance sheet of player incomings, where the guaranteed sum of a deal is spread over the length of the contract, is set to jump from £108.6million in 2022/23 to £141.7million for 2023/24. A pre-tax loss of almost £42million is predicted on the back of losses of £94.7million and £61.3million.

A significant factor in the impact on profitability has been the stadium expenditure, and the anticipation for the longer term is that the club can be profitable again regularly. But that kind of model, where a business makes a profit, is a rare thing in football, and one of the reasons why some question whether the idea of sports teams as an asset class is correct. So much capital is required, and there are so many variables that can’t be controlled that make it almost impossible to sustain success year after year.

But Spurs have continued to manage their positions. The club’s wages to revenue ratio is the lowest of all 20 Premier League clubs at 42%. For some, that may be viewed as a good thing, for others, when compared to rivals, it smacks of a lack of competitive ambition, with the wage bill usually the metric that correlates best with competitive success, not transfer spend.

If the projected figures for 2023/24 are correct, then the club will have a squad cost ratio, which is to replace PSR from the start of next season, of around 69%, which is under the 70% threshold for UEFA competition qualifying clubs, and 16% under what would be allowed for others, meaning that there would be some room for manoeuvre.

The summer will reveal much about the plans of Levy and ENIC. If they go big and back whoever is in charge then they would be seen to be making a commitment to trying to return to being competitive. If it is a summer of limited action and small deals, could that be a signal that this is a football club being primed for a sale?

After all, it is the eighth most valuable football team in the world, it has a world-class stadium in London, it has a major global fan base and presence and it has a balance sheet that is healthy and that has been managed well compared to how many major football clubs operate. It seems set up for success, but missing the leadership at the top to bring in the required strategy and ambition to make it over that mountain.

There would be no major capital outlay for a new stadium, something that is usually the first thought of new owners, particularly from North America, when acquiring clubs. Everton’s new stadium build was a driving force behind their new owners, the Friedkin Group, being willing to return to the table for talks despite reservations earlier in the process. Having an asset that can deliver huge revenue away from just the football, which Spurs have through the NFL contract, concerts, the F1 Karting Experience and other means, is a huge pull for those wanting to buy football clubs.

Why would Levy and ENIC want to engage in heavy spending and add burden to the balance sheet if they were willing to sell. Think of it from the Mike Ashley playbook. Ashley was a deeply unpopular figure at Newcastle United, but the tight ship that was kept with the accounts, and the PSR headroom that they provided the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund when they initially arrived, made it an attractive proposition.

Staveley, of course, ran point on that deal for the PIF and guided the Magpies from behind the scenes for the best part of three years. The 51-year-old financier would see the same kind of benefits in Spurs, but also the possibility for so much more given the stadium and strong balance sheet.

While the Premier League bubble from the outside looking in looks destined to never burst, the uncomfortable truth is that it will at some stage. When broadcast deals start to stagnate and decline, and we’re already seeing signs of that domestically with the value per game having diminished, then there are big problems. Add to that the fact that there is only so far clubs can go with monetising the bricks and mortar of their home stadia, as well as an increased desire to see a return on investment and KPIs met when it comes to commercial partners paying big money for sponsorship, and there are some choppy waters ahead, the kind that clubs who have managed to look after themselves in a more sustainable fashion will be able to ride out.

But US money knows this is coming, and over the next 18 months expect to see the deal flow slow down when it comes to American ownership buying into the Premier League. Valuations are still rising, but they may be ready to hit a peak before broadcast deals impact and result in decline.

Forbes values Spurs at around $3.2billion (£2.6billion), but valuations of closer to £4billion would probably be correct right now given the sale value of other sporting assets that don’t own their own stadium like Spurs do. There is scarcity value in top Premier League sides coming up for sale, but the potential iceberg in the coming years of a decline in media rights fuelling a decline in the value of teams, it would be a bold play for whoever took on the club, although its prospects are far better than most when it comes to the potential to really kick on.

While ENIC and the Lewis Trust may be more willing to relinquish, it’s hard to imagine Levy will want to hand over full control, especially with there being a little road left to travel when it comes to team values, albeit likely not too much.

It will be the Spurs chairman’s approach in the summer market that will offer the strongest indication of whether this is a club that is ready to have a ‘for sale’ sign placed outside it, or one where the current owners decide to try and make the most of the strong financial position in which they find themselves and try to replicate what North London rivals Arsenal have done.

Dermot Gallagher believes Pedro Porro took a 'massive risk' by handling Yoane Wissa during Tottenham Hotpur's 2-0 win over Brentford. The 25-year-old defender played a key role in Sunday afternoon's victory at the G-Tech Community Stadium, distancing the Lilywhites from a relegation scrap.

Spurs are now 10 points clear of the bottom three and seven points adrift of a place in the top half of the table. Tottenham walked away victors at the weekend, but the tie could've ended differently had Jarred Gillett awarded the Bees a penalty.

During the clash, Porro was spotted handling Wissa inside the penalty area. The on-field referee adjudged the Spurs defender to have not fouled the Brentford forward. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at Stockley Park briefly reviewed the incident, but they chose not to intervene, confirming Gillett's decision.

Speaking on Sky Sports' Ref Watch show, Gallagher was asked if the Bees should feel aggrieved. The former Premier League referee said: "It's unwise. It's a massive risk, you are posing the referee a question."

Then, Stephen Warnock added: "Why put yourself in that position? Especially when you know VAR is in play. This is the issue now, we've got that bar of clear of obvious, if Porro is preventing Wissa from getting to the ball and it's been missed, VAR needs to step in and help the referee. There's a clear pull on the arm and it effects Wissa's ability to get to the bar."

Speaking to reporters after the game, Thomas Frank rued the number of chances his side missed. The Brentford boss said: "We did a lot of things right. We created a lot of good situations with 30-something crosses and a lot of shots, but there were not enough big chances.

"That was some of the best defending Tottenham have done this season. Sometimes one goal decides it a little bit and they scored on a set-piece. On the flip side, we don't score any of our set-pieces. If we had got in front, it might have been a different game. The big one is Yoane Wissa's chance."

Meanwhile, Postecoglou described the G-Tech Community Stadium as a 'difficult place to come'. The Tottenham boss said: "Yeah, difficult place to come, difficult place to win at, but also a difficult place to keep them out because the way they play and the way they set up.

"You have to defend your box it doesn't matter how you play. They're getting throw-ins into the box, set pieces, crosses, you're just going to have to do that irrespective of how you want to tactically approach it, and I just thought the lads handled that awfully well.

"We knew we had to. It was going to be key for us, nullifying their threats, and the lads were brilliant and I still felt we had the quality of our football to hurt them the other way. Our second goal was outstanding and we were always a threat when we had it, so credit to the boys, they were brilliant."

Former Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt once revealed that he turned down a deadline day move to Spurs – a year before he made a career-defining move to Anfield.

The Dutch forward had been making waves in the Netherlands after fruitful stints with Utrecht and Feyenoord saw him called up to the national team. However, his goalscoring ability also caught the eye of several Premier League clubs – one of which was Spurs.

Kuyt broke the 20-goal mark in each of his three seasons for Feyenoord. Under the guidance of then manager Martin Jol, Spurs attempted to bring the striker to north London on transfer deadline day at the end of the summer in 2005, only for Kuyt to snub the opportunity.

The Dutchman ultimately elected to move to Anfield a season later, choosing to work with Rafael Benitez on Merseyside instead. Speaking in 2017, the now 44-year-old Kuyt recalled to FourFourTwo how his time in the Premier League could've looked very different had he made the jump to Spurs instead.

“A year before I went to Liverpool, I had the opportunity to go to Spurs, where the manager, Martin Jol, and chairman, Daniel Levy, expressed an interest," He said. "But it was on transfer deadline day, and at that time I didn’t want to move.

"Later on, Liverpool became the number one club who wanted me, although all the negotiations took a while. Other clubs showed an interest too, such as Atletico Madrid. That’s also a nice club, but once I’d heard of Liverpool’s interest, it was the only club I wanted to go to. From a young age I’d always liked Liverpool.”

Kuyt went on to score 71 goals in 286 games for the Reds. He was also part of the squad that reached the Champions League final in 2007, where they lost to AC Milan, and the team that won the League Cup in 2012. After leaving Liverpool in 2012 he enjoyed a successful stint at Fenerbahçe and a celebrated homecoming at Feyenoord.

While Spurs may have missed out on Kuyt, this year's mid-season transfer window has been much more successful with four new faces through the door in January. Ange Postecoglou's side wrapped up an exciting loan deal for France Under-21s forward Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich on deadline day.

The 19-year-old, who earlier in the window rejected a move with an obligation to join Spurs permanently come the summer, has now joined until on loan until the end of the season. Spurs can, however, make the move permanent in the summer with an option to buy for €55million (£45.7million), after the player performed a late U-turn on his future.

If the club does take up the option, Tel will sign a six-year contract at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Tel has made 83 appearances for Bayern since joining from French club Rennes in 2022, scoring 16 goals and providing seven assists.

Postecoglou also brought Austrian defender Kevin Danso in from Ligue 1 club Lens, while goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has already caught the eye since joining earlier in January.

Youngster Yang Min-Hyeok also joined the club during the window, although he has since moved to Championship side Queens Park Rangers on loan.

Ange Postecoglou will be delighted to finally get some new faces through the Tottenham door but it will present him with some tough decisions in the Europa League.

Tottenham have added Bayern Munich attacker Mathys Tel to their squad in addition to the signings of centre-back Kevin Danso from Lens and goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who arrived from Slavia Prague earlier in the January transfer window. Postecoglou desperately needed extra bodies in his squad and fresh legs amid the injury crisis that continues to grip the club.

The question is exactly what does that mean for his Premier League squad and the one he must name in the Europa League, which brings with it vastly different rules. Spurs finished in fourth place in the league stage which means they will head straight to the round of 16 next month where they will play one of Galatasaray, Real Sociedad, Midtjylland and AZ Alkmaar.

Here's a look at what the three new signings mean for both the Premier League and Europa League squads. We're not including the various players currently out on loan, so that can be a problem for next season.

Premier League

There are no problems with this squad at all right now and that's mostly because of a wonderful Premier League rule - for Spurs anyway - that states that a club's under-21 players do not need to be included on their 25-man squad list yet are eligible to play in the Premier League.

To be considered an under-21 player for this current Premier League season, players must have been born on or after January 1, 2003. That means both Kinsky and Tel do not have to be registered in the main squad and neither will Luka Vuskovic next season or the on-loan Yang Min-hyeok.

It also seems that Danso qualifies as a homegrown player in Premier League terms because he was in the youth academies at Reading and MK Dons for years before leaving England at the age of 16 and later returning for a season at Southampton.

The Premier League rules state that "a "Home Grown Player" means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)."

With that in mind, here's how the club's Premier League squad will look and how they will fit into it just fine.

Premier League non-homegrown players (15 currently, 17 maximum allowed): Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Sergio Reguilon, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Wilson Odobert, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Pape Matar Sarr.

Premier League homegrown players (9 currently and eight minimum required): Dominic Solanke, Kevin Danso, Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Alfie Whiteman, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Djed Spence.

Notable Under-21s players: Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Antonin Kinsky, Mathys Tel, Dane Scarlett.

Europa League

Now here's where things get really complicated. Yes, we've been here before with Tottenham, on many occasions, and it will be some time before Spurs sort out their European squad because they need some of the new batch of 18-year-old signings to eventually become club-trained players three years down the line.

That's because UEFA's rules state that no club can have more than 25 players on their A List during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers. The rules then say that "as a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for 'locally trained players' and no club may have more than four 'association-trained players' listed among those eight places. If a club have fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly".

'What is a locally-trained player?' you might feel the need to ask. Well, there are two types. One is the 'club-trained players', those who were on a club's books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

The other is 'association-trained players', those who were on another club's books in the same association for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21. Danso will not fit into that latter category because he left England at the age of 16.

Then there is a B List for players born on, or after, January 1, 2003 and who have been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption. None of Spurs' current crop of teenage signings fit that criteria as they have just joined.

In all, as you can see below, Spurs' Europa League squad is overstuffed in both non-locally trained spots and association trained ones. That they only have two club-trained players in goalkeepers Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman when they need to register four, means they have to leave two spots open in what should be a 25-man squad but instead is a 23-man one.

Are you still with us? Of those remaining 21 spots, a maximum of 17 can be non-locally trained - they have 19 - and anything beyond four association trained spots - Spurs have seven - must be absorbed into the main squad number. So in essence Tottenham now have 26 players to fit into 21 spots, keeping aside Austin and Whiteman's protected club-trained category.

Tottenham can make three changes to the previous squad for the knockout rounds and it doesn't matter if the players have played in European competition earlier this season. Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon were not able to be registered in the league stage due to the number of players being reached and Postecoglou will have to decide if Spence comes in now and if so for who.

Then there are Kinsky, Tel and Danso to fit in, but only three of those four can come into the squad for these stages and that's down to Postecoglou to decide.

Danso will likely replace the unfortunate Radu Dragusin, who is out for the remainder of the season. The Spurs boss might decide that he has enough goalkeepers to go without Kinsky in Europe and he could also perhaps lose Fraser Forster from the squad to fit in Spence for this stage if he trusts Guglielmo Vicario, Austin and Whiteman as enough cover.

With Tel, a decision perhaps would have to be made to include him over someone like Timo Werner, who is unlikely to have a long-term future at this stage but that would be an experienced Champions League winner lost. It could be that Postecoglou loses others to injury before those March games come along which will make the decisions more straight-forward.

European non-locally trained players (19 currently, 17 maximum): Guglielmo Vicario, Antonin Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Sergio Reguilon, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Wilson Odobert, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Mathys Tel.

Association trained players (7 currently, four can be used in exclusive slots): Dominic Solanke, Fraser Forster, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Djed Spence, Archie Gray.

Club trained players (2 currently, four required): Brandon Austin, Alfie Whiteman.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

In the end it came down to the reassuring words of Ange Postecoglou to put the final seal on Tottenham Hotspur's January transfer window and prompt the arrival of Mathys Tel.

It's somewhat ironic that Postecoglou had to be the one to offer the reassurance and help to save the day and get the deal over the line, with the talented 19-year-old Frenchman unsure initially of the move, because the Spurs head coach has been the one lacking in help during the past month as his injury-ravaged squad have run themselves into the ground.

From the outside, with three signings made eventually, this will go down as Tottenham's busiest January transfer window since the 2008/9 season when Harry Redknapp arrived and was given the returning Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Pascal Chimbonda as well as Wilson Palacios and Carlo Cudicini by chairman Daniel Levy.

How Postecoglou could have done with five new faces across this most bruising of months that continues to leave its mark on the treatment room.

Tel, defender Kevin Danso and goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky could all be valuable additions in the second half of the campaign, all very different players in very different positions.

The problem for Postecoglou and Tottenham is that much of the damage to their Premier League season has already been done by the lack of fit players available in January with near the same XI turning out every three days and picking up more injuries along the way. Spurs had anywhere between 10 and 14 players unavailable for most of the matches during the period.

So while Postecoglou will be delighted with the arrival of the exciting, talented Tel, the speedy, strong Danso and the confident and acrobatic Kinsky, there must be a part of him left wondering what took so long.

Some might wonder if Danso and Tel could have been brought to north London earlier in the window, perhaps at a higher cost, in order to help prevent some of the defeats and further injuries that came. Others might argue that both players perhaps only became available as January wore on.

However, it's doubtful that if Postecoglou had new outfield recruits within the first week or two of January, as other clubs managed, they would be 14th in the Premier League table or overused players would have suffered recent injuries.

Even with freak injuries like Dominic Solanke's knee twisting when taking an unchallenged shot in training or Radu Dragusin's anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee against Elfsborg, there's medical evidence that suggests fatigue can lead to reduction in muscle strength around ligaments.

There's absolutely every chance a fresh and fit player would still have suffered both injuries in the same manner, but it would certainly have been no help that Solanke had played more minutes than all of the Spurs squad barring Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski at the time of his injury or that Dragusin had started 21 out of 22 games in all competitions and the one game he did not start in, against Chelsea, he came on after just 15 minutes.

It was in that game that Postecoglou lost both first choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven to muscle injuries. Neither have fully returned yet with the head coach telling football.london that Romero's injury is a 'slow healer' and Postecoglou choosing not to play Van de Ven at Brentford after his 45-minute return against Elfsborg. It was Van de Ven who Dragusin had replaced at half-time before suffering his own injury.

Whatever the current state of Romero and Van de Ven, it was enough with Dragusin's absence until next season to force Tottenham to try to sign two centre-backs in the final days of the window.

They secured Danso on loan with an obligation to sign the 26-year-old Austria international for £20.9million from Lens and then tried to bring forward summer hopes of signing Marc Guehi only for Crystal Palace to reject their late big money approach for the England international on Sunday night.

That left Tottenham scrabbling around with attempts to loan Chelsea's Axel Disasi, which never really appealed to the player, while the north London club looked at numerous other centre-backs across Europe, including Borussia Mönchengladbach's Ko Itakura, but all to no avail.

For all of the meticulous data research and science of the new recruitment approach at Spurs, it felt like a messy and desperate end to the window.

It leaves Postecoglou right back at square one in the position where he could be relying on just one natural centre-back again this week if Van de Ven is not in a position to take part in Spurs' big cup clashes against Liverpool and Aston Villa. Danso will need to be thrown straight into the action alongside Ben Davies and 18-year-old midfielder Archie Gray will have to continue his fast track education as a centre-back to try to give one of them a rest at some point.

Danso has not played a game of football in almost four weeks by the time the Liverpool matches arrives and if you include the winter break in Ligue 1, he's only played twice in almost two months. He will certainly be fresh within a tired Tottenham squad but it's unlikely he will be sharp.

Postecoglou does at least finally have the respite after three months with a game every three days or so of two free midweeks currently without matches, unless the north London side can avoid defeat at Anfield and reach the Carabao Cup final. That would see them become victims of their own success as the Premier League match at Fulham would move up between the Manchester United and Ipswich matches this month.

Postecoglou will have to rely on finally getting some luck go his way this season and keeping players fit. His two new loan signings and goalkeeper will provide exciting additions through the spine of the team and leave him with plenty of decisions to make with his European squad and who will drop out.

Ultimately though Postecoglou will finally be happy to have received some help from the club. Time will tell whether it arrived too late.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Mathys Tel will wear the shirt number 11 after joining Tottenham Hotspur on loan from Bayern Munich with a £45.7million option to buy the teenager.

Spurs have agreed the deal until the end of the season, subject to international clearance and work permit, with the option then for €55million (£45.7million) to make the move a permanent one with a six-year contract agreed for the 19-year-old. He will take Bryan Gil's shirt number 11 for the campaign ahead with the Spaniard currently on loan at Girona.

Tel had appeared to reject a £50million switch last week to Tottenham. However, a long phone call with Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou on Monday morning is understood by football.london to have played a major part in convincing the teenage attacker of his place in the Australian's plans and the game time he will get within his side this season.

At his former side Rennes, Tel made his debut at just 16-years-old and featured against Tottenham in Europa League Conference League fixture in September 2021. The teenager joined Bayern Munich in July 2022 and on his full debut the following month, he netted his first goal for the Bavarian giants and in doing so became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer.

Tottenham have added Tel to Postecoglou's squad in addition to the signing of 26-year-old centre-back Kevin Danso from Lens on Sunday and 21-year-old goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who arrived from Slavia Prague earlier in the January transfer window.

Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham by clicking here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.

Young Liverpool defender Luca Furnell-Gill has agreed to join Tottenham Hotspur. The Reds have given the green light for Furnell-Gill's departure, following a season of limited appearances with the under-18s.

The teenager centre-back has only managed five outings for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's team this term, starting in three of those matches. He also made a cameo from the bench during the U21s' penalty shoot-out victory over Blackpool in the EFL Trophy last November.

Furnell-Gill's journey to Liverpool began at Preston North End, joining the Reds at U15 level. He made his debut for the U18s as an U16 player in the 2022/23 season.

Interestingly, he started his career as a winger before transitioning into a centre-half role. Alongside his arrival, Spurs have wrapped up a deal for Mathys Tel to join from Bayern Munich.

The France international initially turned down a switch to north London but has since changed his stance and accepted a straight loan move.

football.london understands that Spurs will also have an option-to-buy Tel this summer. He is set to join Kevin Danso and Antonin Kinksy as winter window arrivals. Tottenham also wanted to make a senior defensive addition but were unable to sign either of Axel Disasi or Marc Guehi.

The latter was subjected to a stunning £70million deadline day offer from Spurs which was rejected by Crystal Palace. As for Disasi, despite Chelsea allowing him to join the Lilywhites, the Frenchman was not keen on making that switch.

Mathys Tel is expected to become Tottenham's third January signing after he completed a shocking U-turn. The Bayern Munich star was made available for transfer earlier this month which saw numerous clubs, particularly in the Premier League, take a keen interest.

Eintracht Frankfurt, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United were all linked alongside Spurs with the latter keen to sign him on a permanent deal. Tel on the other hand, was less open to that move which resulted in him turning down Spurs despite the fact a fee had been agreed with Bayern.

Numerous twists took place in the days following that decision with staying at Bayern and joining Man United both equally likely. However, on deadline day, Tel agreed to join Spurs from Bayern on a six-month loan spell, following a conversation with Ange Postecoglou.

football.london understands however, that Spurs will also have an option-to-buy Tel this summer. As the 19-year-old has chosen to join Tottenham, he will join defender Kevin Danso and goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky as the new additions to Postecoglou's squad.

Another defensive arrival before 11pm on Monday, February 3 was expected, but moves for both Marc Guehi and Axel Disasi fell through. The latter will instead join Aston Villa from Chelsea while Crystal Palace rejected Spurs' stunning £70million offer.

With his switch to be made official soon, attention turns to the impact he can have with many hoping it can be as soon as the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool. Having obviously not featured in the competition for a different team, he is free to play.

A debut is more likely to arrive later this month in Premier League action against Manchester United after Spurs take on Villa in the FA Cup fourth round this Sunday. With the home clash against Ruben Amorim's side not scheduled until Sunday, February 16, Tel should have plenty of time to settle in.

Tottenham Hotspur are set to sign Mathys Tel on loan from Bayern Munich with an option to make it a permanent move, football.london understands.

The 19-year-old has been in London on transfer deadline day undergoing the formalities of the move after a dramatic U-turn, having seemed to reject a £50million switch last week. However, a long phone call with Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou on Monday morning is understood to have played a major part in convincing the teenage attacker of his place in the Australian's plans and the game time he will get within his side this season.

There were initial suggestions that the move would only now be a straight loan but football.london understands Spurs pushed for a more long-term deal and will now have the option to turn the move into a permanent deal.

Tel has started just two Bundesliga games this season under Vincent Kompany after earning plenty of plaudits last term in a breakthrough campaign under Thomas Tuchel with 16 goal involvements in 40 games as an 18-year-old. The talented Frenchman will be looking to get his career and Tottenham's season back on track in the months and hopefully years ahead.

More to follow....

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