AOL.co.uk

A new era at Tottenham officially begins this evening with a pre-season friendly against MK Dons.

After finishing 17th in successive Premier League campaigns, Spurs are looking to kick on under Roberto De Zerbi and today is the first step towards achieving that target.

Tottenham’s players who were not involved at this summer’s World Cup have been put through their paces in training at Hotspur Way for the last two weeks and now De Zerbi gets a chance to see how his team is shaping up.

Summer signings Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali are expected to play some part against MK Dons, though supporters may have to wait for a first glimpse of Andy Robertson in a Spurs shirt having had just one training session since joining on a free transfer.

Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Dejan Kulusevski and Mohammed Kudus are all absent through injury, but the likes of Mikey Moore and Jamie Donley are set to be handed an opportunity to impress De Zerbi.

MK Dons, meanwhile, are gearing up for a season in League One following their promotion and are hopeful of an improvement from last Friday’s 2-1 loss to NK Istra in their first pre-season friendly of the summer.

This will be the third friendly meeting between Spurs and MK Dons - the first in five years - and both sides have one win apiece.

Here’s everything you need to know about where to watch the match...

How to watch Tottenham vs MK Dons

TV channel: In the UK, the game will not be televised live.

Live stream: UK viewers can also catch the contest live online via SPURSPLAY. A subscription starts at £45.

Roberto De Zerbi has been reunited with Andrew Crofts after appointing him as his assistant head coach at Tottenham.

The arrival comes just 24 hours after highly-rated coach Stuart Lewis left Spurs to join Premier League rivals Ipswich Town.

Former Premier League midfielder Crofts worked with De Zerbi at Brighton and joins from the south coast side, having worked under Fabian Hurzeler. The new arrival is also part of the Wales set-up under Craig Bellamy.

Pedro Porro and eight Tottenham stars unlock £264m windfall as Johan Lange given transfer boost

Tottenham's 10 World Cup players rated as two stars get 3/10 and Cristian Romero dilemma

It now seemingly completes De Zerbi's coaching set-up at Spurs, joining Bruno Saltor (assistant coach), Andreas Georgson (assistant coach), Marcattilio Marcattilii (first-team fitness coach), Marcello Quinto (senior professional development phase coach), Cameron Campbell (individual development coach), Fabian Otte (goalkeeping coach) and Dean Brill (assistant goalkeeping coach).

FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

As well as announcing Crofts' arrival, Spurs also confirmed the appointments of Ali James (head of medical services), Tom Tombleson (head of athletic development) and Agostino Tibaudi (strength and conditioning coach) to their performance department.

In a statement, Spurs said: "We are delighted to announce the arrival of Andrew Crofts to Roberto De Zerbi's staff as Assistant Head Coach.

"A former midfielder who played in the Premier League with Norwich City and racked up over 450 appearances for the likes of Gillingham, Wrexham, Charlton and Brighton, Andrew is now reunited with Roberto having spent time together at Brighton.

"Capped 29 times by Wales, Andrew joined Brighton's Under-21 coaching team in 2019, becoming U21 head coach in 2021. He was appointed Brighton's interim head coach following Graham Potter's departure in 2022 and then onto the coaching staff on Roberto's arrival."

Crofts appointment comes after Lewis left Spurs, with the coach saying his time at Tottenham was a “dream come true”.

Former Wycombe and Gillingham midfielder Lewis has spent the last decade coaching at Spurs and won three trophies in charge of the under-18s across a four-year spell before he earned a promotion into the first-team set-up last summer.

Lewis, 38, spent the 2025-26 campaign in a newly created first-team academy transition coach role and helped Jun’ai Byfield and Luca Williams-Barnett make their professional debuts for Tottenham, after previously developing the highly-rated Mikey Moore, but will now join Ipswich as a first-team coach.

“Returning to my boyhood club as a coach 11 years ago was a dream come true,” Lewis told the official Spurs website.

“Having supported Tottenham Hotspur since I was five years old and previously represented the club as a young professional, it was a privilege to come back and help develop the next generation of players.

“My family and I have supported the club all our lives, so I have always understood what it means to represent Tottenham Hotspur and the identity our teams should embody; brave, attacking, front-foot football.

“I have made so many special memories during my time at the club, building relationships that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“I would like to thank everyone at the club for their support and for allowing me to pursue this fantastic opportunity at Ipswich Town, which enables me to fulfil my ambition of coaching in the Premier League.

“I leave with immense pride, gratitude and lifelong memories, and I wish everyone connected with Tottenham Hotspur every success in the future.”

Tottenham Hotspur are bracing themselves for an improved club-record bid from Nottingham Forest for Lucas Bergvall, according to reports.

Spurs head coach Roberto De Zerbi faces a fight to hang onto the 20-year-old after splashing out £185 million on his new central midfield pairing of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. The duo's arrival has pushed Bergvall further down the pecking order and the Swede looks set to depart this summer.

Football.london understands Bergvall asked to leave the club as he wants a new challenge after watching his game time decline last season. The youngster signed a new contract in April 2025, which boosts Spurs' position at the negotiating table.

Tottenham coaching staff update as Roberto De Zerbi brings in old face behind the scenes

'Something went wrong' - Lloris opens up on what really happened with Conte and Mourinho at Tottenham

The Telegraph report that Forest are now preparing a second bid worth £45m for Bergvall. The outlet reports Forest lodged an opening offer of around £38m last week, which was turned swiftly rebuffed by the north London club.

FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

Spurs' valuation is said to be closer to £50m, which would represent a huge profit on the initial £11m invested to bring Bergvall to the Premier League two years ago. However, they could be willing to let the midfielder leave for the right price.

Meeting that figure would represent a club-record fee for Forest, who set the bar when they captured Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich Town for £37.5m in 2025.

Forest have significant funds to spend to bolster Oliver Glasner's squad after selling Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for £116m, a British transfer record. They are looking to recruit a promising midfielder to fill the void left by Anderson and Bergvall is their top target.

And with the Anderson money set to be reinvested into the squad, Glasner may be able to get his man. He is looking to sign four new players this summer, with a centre-back also on his radar.

Bergvall joined Spurs from Djurgardens in 2024 after bursting onto the Swedish Allsvenskan scene at the age of 16. He has gone on to make 78 appearances for Spurs, scoring two goals and providing nine assists, but struggled to lock down a regular place in the team under Ange Postecoglou and Thomas Frank.

De Zerbi has made a concerted effort to convince Bergvall to remain at the club following his return from international duty with Sweden at the World Cup. But with no guarantee of first-team football, he looks set to head for the exit - providing a club is willing to meet Spurs' valuation.

In addition to his new signings, De Zerbi has Pape Matar Sarr, Conor Gallagher and Archie Gray able to fill into central midfield. That means Bergvall will face rife competition for a place in the first team, with Spurs not in Europe next season after finishing 17th.

If Spurs do end up extracting their desired fee for the highly-rated Swede, it could enable De Zerbi to land his top target. The Italian boss is keen on signing Junior Kroupi from Bournemouth this summer, but the Cherries are demanding around £100m to sell the talented forward.

Spurs have already spent £227m on Tonali, Fernandes and centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke, while selling Luka Vuskovic to Brighton for £46m. Offloading Bergvall would once again boost their coffers and represent a significant profit on the balance sheet, potentially giving them the green light to pursue a record deal for Kroupi.

If you click 'Accept all', we and our partners, including 246 who are part of the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework, will also store and / or access information on a device (in other words, use cookies) and use precise geolocation data and other personal data such as technical identifiers and browsing and search data, for analytics, personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, and audience research and services development.

If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'.

If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'.

If you click 'Accept all', we and our partners, including 246 who are part of the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework, will also store and / or access information on a device (in other words, use cookies) and use precise geolocation data and other personal data such as technical identifiers and browsing and search data, for analytics, personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, and audience research and services development.

If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'.

If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'.

Rodri has avoided a ban over his extraordinary outburst that followed Manchester City’s clash with Tottenham.

The Spanish midfielder made headlines last month with his comments about officials that followed the dramatic 2-2 draw away at Spurs in the Premier League, but has escaped with a fine and a warning.

Rodri said referees “have to be neutral” and that it “wasn’t fair” after Tottenham’s first goal against City was awarded despite Dominic Solanke appearing to kick through the back of Marc Guehi’s leg to score, with the incident checked and cleared by VAR.

Solanke’s superb second goal then earned struggling Spurs a surprise share of the spoils as early efforts from Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo were cancelled out at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"I know we won too much and the people don't want us to win but the referee has to be neutral and for me honestly, it's not fair,” the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner told Australian broadcaster Stan Sport.

“It's not fair because we work so hard in these situations and now to make these decisions, we have to move on.

“Of course you need to come back but at the end, when everything is finished, we are frustrated because it’s so clear, the foul.”

Rodri was charged by the Football Association (FA) with misconduct, alleging that he “acted in an improper manner during a post-match media interview by making comments that imply bias and/or question the integrity of a match official and/or match officials, contrary to FA Rule 3.1.”

He admitted the charge and has now been fined £80,000 and warned as to his future conduct following an independent regulatory commission hearing.

Rodri will therefore be available for the entirety of City’s run-in as they have nine games remaining in which to chase down Premier League leaders Arsenal’s seven-point lead in the title race, with Pep Guardiola’s side playing host to the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium next month as well as in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on March 22.

If you click 'Accept all', we and our partners, including 247 who are part of the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework, will also store and / or access information on a device (in other words, use cookies) and use precise geolocation data and other personal data such as technical identifiers and browsing and search data, for analytics, personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, and audience research and services development.

If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'.

If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'.

If you click 'Accept all', we and our partners, including 247 who are part of the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework, will also store and / or access information on a device (in other words, use cookies) and use precise geolocation data and other personal data such as technical identifiers and browsing and search data, for analytics, personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, and audience research and services development.

If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'.

If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'.

Tottenham Hotspur have been warned they face a "significant" financial hit even if they avoid relegation to the Championship.

The north London club is currently in a battle to stay in the top flight after a 10-match Premier League winless run saw them slide down the table.

Manager Thomas Frank was sacked last month and replaced with interim boss Igor Tudor, who conceded it was an "emergency situation."

It has also been estimated Tottenham could lose £250 million if they go down.

However, leading sports lawyer Geoff Cunningham of Clarion Solicitors has painted a bleak picture for the 2025-26 campaign regardless of their division, given Spurs are likely to miss out on Europe for only a third time in 21 seasons.

Cunningham said: “I imagine they will have certain commercial revenue that will increase based upon them being in a European competition.

“If they’re not in Europe, it’s not just lost revenue from being in the competition, but it’s also lost revenue of commercial rights they sell for being in that competition and also the ticket revenue and the hospitality revenue.

“Every time there’s a home game and they sell 60,000 tickets plus corporate hospitality, that’s a fair amount of revenue generated from every game.

“It’s going to be significant (loss) and there’s no way of really avoiding that. It’s just simple maths. If there’s less games and there’s less TV revenue from European competition, you are going to lose more money.”

Cunningham was more optimistic about how Spurs could handle relegation given they have the ninth biggest revenue in world football.

“I think the kind of reported £250million relegation cost is probably likely to be quite accurate,” Cunningham said.

“The Premier League revenue difference will probably be compared with where they’ve been used to finishing and if you also account European football, I think it would be quite likely to be £100m or more.

“There’s a number of ways they can plug the gap or part of the gap quite quickly with certain financial facilities, but I don’t think they’ll do that. I think they’re a club with pretty good financial stability and I think they will naturally cut their cloth accordingly.

“Player contracts will reduce significantly and they will manage themselves pretty well.

“They are likely to be able to survive in the Championship at a very good level and likely compete, like Burnley do, with promotion quite quickly after relegation.”

If you click 'Accept all', we and our partners, including 247 who are part of the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework, will also store and / or access information on a device (in other words, use cookies) and use precise geolocation data and other personal data such as technical identifiers and browsing and search data, for analytics, personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, and audience research and services development.

If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'.

If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'.