The Guardian

Arsenal have held talks with representatives of Eberechi Eze and could battle with Tottenham for the Crystal Palace forward. Mikel Arteta has identified Eze as someone who could add creativity and depth to his squad after they finished as Premier League runners-up for a third successive season.

Arsenal officials met Eze’s agents on Saturday to discuss personal terms and other details, but have yet to open talks with Palace over the England international.

Eze, who was released by Arsenal at the age of 13, is believed to have a release clause of £67.5m in a contract that runs until 2027, and Palace have been adamant they will allow him to depart only if that is met. Tottenham have a longstanding interest in Eze and have discussed whether to make him a statement signing for their new manager, Thomas Frank. A readiness to submit an official offer could depend on whether Palace are willing to accept less than his clause, which at this stage seems unlikely.

With Marc Guéhi prepared to see out the final 12 months of his deal if the right move does not materialise, Palace are wary of losing Eze for a discounted fee if he does not leave this summer. In January, they rejected a bid from Spurs worth up to £70m for Guéhi, who is also of interest to Liverpool and Newcastle. Liverpool have been reported to be willing to offer Ben Doak as part of the deal after Palace expressed interest in signing the Scotland forward in January.

West Ham’s need to rebuild their squad without breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations could lead them to sell Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham if their London rivals offer enough for the attacker.

Spurs have identified Kudus as a key target and there is a feeling that he will be available for less than his £85m release clause, which is applicable to Premier League sides for the first 10 days of July. There is no asking price but there is a sense that £60m could be enough to get a deal done.

Sources inside West Ham and who know the club well say money is extremely tight. West Ham are adamant that they must sell to buy and have long known that selling Kudus is the best way to give their head coach, Graham Potter, funds to improve his ageing squad. They would prefer not to sell to Spurs given the enmity between the clubs but are willing to be pragmatic. Kudus would be the first West Ham player to join Spurs since Scott Parker in 2011.

It is understood that West Ham will be at risk of falling foul of PSR if incomings are not offset by significant sales. They are keen to shift big earners such as Edson Álvarez, Nayef Aguerd and Niclas Füllkrug. Hopes of bringing in big money for Lucas Paquetá have been dashed by the Football Association’s investigation into alleged betting breaches by the Brazil midfielder, which he denies.

Potter is comfortable with the idea of selling Kudus because the Ghanaian struggled last season and is at his best on the right – the same position as West Ham’s captain and most important player, Jarrod Bowen. Kudus has also attracted interest from Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United. Chelsea like that the 24-year-old can play in three positions across the attack but it remains to be seen whether they sign another forward after agreeing deals for Jamie Gittens and João Pedro.

Kudus impressed after joining West Ham from Ajax for £37m two years ago. He shone in his first season but endured a difficult second campaign. He clashed with Julen Lopetegui before the Spaniard’s sacking in January and scored only four goals. West Ham admire Kudus’s talent but wonder whether he fits in Potter’s system and believe a sale will help their rebuild.

Spurs have not been put off by Kudus getting sent off against them and receiving a five-match ban last season. Their new manager, Thomas Frank, is looking for attacking reinforcements and is likely to lose out to Manchester United in the race to sign his former player at Brentford, Bryan Mbeumo. Spurs are known to be looking at Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, who is also admired by Arsenal.

The former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham is poised to become Besiktas’s record signing after the Turkish club agreed a €15m (£12.9m) deal to buy him from Roma. Abraham, who spent last season on loan at Milan, is to sign a four-year deal with Besiktas, where he will work under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Abraham spent four years in Italy after joining Roma from Chelsea, helping them win the Europa Conference League in 2022. Since sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2023, Abraham has struggled for form. He scored only three Serie A goals for Milan.

Everyone t’up north (London) wants Eberechi Eze. Fierce rivals Tottenham and Arsenal are ready to battle it out for the winger, eager to procure his dazzling dribbling and finishing. Crystal Palace know their position in this and are willing to sell, but he will set any suitors back around £68m. Last season the England international scored and created eight goals in 34 league appearances to make him one of the most sought-after attackers in the country.

Spurs do not plan to fund any of their summer business by selling Europa League winner Cristian Romero on the cheap. Atlético Madrid are flirting with the idea of signing him but the £60m sale demands will almost certainly put them off.

Cristhian Mosquera is in talks with Arsenal over a potential move from Valencia. The Spaniard was part of their squad at the European Under-21 Championship and after elimination can focus on finding a new club, although his current employers are asking for £25m. The young centre-back has become a regular at the Mestalla, and can boast 82 appearances in La Liga before his 21st birthday, which happens to be this very day. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Cristhian!

Manchester United need young and hungry players, so they have decided to target a teenage Champions League winner in the form of the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery. Ruben Amorim will need to offload a few outcasts soon. Napoli and Juventus are open to signing Jadon Sancho but his £250,000-per-week wages are proving a stumbling block.

Aston Villa are interested in bringing the Galatasaray midfielder Gabriel Sara back to England. The Brazilian, who previously had a spell with Norwich, has flourished in Turkey, bringing a host of scouts to watch him play, but Unai Emery may be the most eager in acquiring him.

After suffering a bit of pushback from clubs about signing their players, Newcastle are trying to solve their problem with £125m worth of bids on João Pedro, Anthony Elanga and James Trafford. The first two are valued in the region of £50m each by Brighton and Nottingham Forest, respectively, and it seems unlikely that Burnley will allow their No 1 to leave for £25m, but it is good to show willing.

It may seem like Brentford are losing some of their best talents but they are pretty adept when it comes to replacing them. The latest set for a move to west London is Feyenoord’s Antoni Milambo, who will cost about £17m with a further £4.25m in potential add-ons.

Nicolas Kühn was a standout player at Celtic last season, alerting the rest of Europe to his obvious talent. Como have got on the blower to the Scottish champions to see how much the winger would cost but could face competition from Leipzig. Speaking of Celtic, their defender Greg Taylor is close to joining Paok.

Tottenham are weighing up a move for Eberechi Eze and believe the Crystal Palace forward would be open to joining them.

Spurs have a longstanding interest in Eze, not to mention close connections with the agency that represents him, and they have discussed whether to make him a statement signing for the new manager, Thomas Frank.

Spurs have already completed the purchase of one wide attacker, turning Mathys Tel’s loan from Bayern Munich into a permanent deal for £30m. They would have to pay around double that for Eze, who was one of the Premier League’s most eye-catching performers in the final weeks of last season. It has been reported that Eze’s contract contains a £68m release clause.

The 26-year-old scored his first goal for England in the World Cup qualifying win against Latvia on 24 March and it was the trigger for him to finish the campaign in arguably the form of his career. He scored nine in 13 matches for Palace, including two in the 2-0 league victory at Spurs and then the winner in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Eze can play wide or as a No 10 while the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, even used him as a second striker in the friendly defeat against Senegal two weeks ago. Tuchel is a huge fan. Eze is represented by the influential CAA Base agency, which has a number of players at Spurs, including the captain, Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Pape Sarr.

Son’s longer-term situation at Spurs is unclear. He has one year to run on his contract and will be 34 next summer. He has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League.

Tottenham have been fined £75,000 by the Football Association in relation to homophobic chanting from their supporters during a match at Manchester United in September. Spurs were charged with misconduct by the FA in November over chants aimed at Arsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta, and United’s former Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount.

It was alleged Tottenham failed to ensure their spectators and/or supporters conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and did not use words or otherwise behave in an improper, offensive, abusive, indecent, or insulting way, with either an express or implied reference to sexual orientation.

After Spurs admitted to both breaches of FA Rule E21, an independent regulatory commission imposed a £150,000 fine, an action plan and a formal warning. The fine was reduced to £75,000 after an appeal by the club.

The homophobic chanting had been criticised by Tottenham on the day. “This is simply unacceptable, hugely offensive and no way to show support for the team. The club will be working closely with the police and stewards to identify anyone instigating or joining in with the chanting – we shall take the strongest possible action in accordance with our sanctions and banning policy.”

Proud Lilywhites, Spurs’ LGBTQI+ supporters group, said at the time: “We’re all Spurs fans just like you. When you sing these songs you’re telling us we don’t belong; and we do – as much as you do.”

Liverpool are believed to be willing to let Joe Gomez leave Anfield this summer and there are no shortage of suitors for the England international. Sunderland, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Everton, West Ham, Leeds, and Burnley have formed a disorderly queue for the 28-year-old who is valued at £30m.

Despite not having done business with West Ham since 2011 because he does not get on with the club’s owners, the Tottenham Hotspur chair Daniel Levy is prepared to bite the bullet in an effort to bring Mohammed Kudus to north London. The Ghanaian has an £85m release clause on his contract but Spurs are believed to be preparing to test the waters with a £50m lowball offer.

The future of Son Heung-min at Tottenham Hotspur seems as up-in-the-air as Steph Houghton after that Leonardo Bonucci tackle during Soccer Aid on Sunday night but if the 32-year-old is to leave White Hart Lane after a decade of service, it will not be before his club’s pre-season tour to south-east Asia later this summer. Spurs are scheduled to play Arsenal in Hong Kong on 31 July and have a friendly with Newcastle scheduled in Seoul three days later and given Son’s huge popularity in his homeland, the tour’s organisers have already signed him up for assorted off-field money-spinning activities. Fenerbahce and several Saudi Pro League clubs are rumoured to be interested in signing the Spurs skipper.

Aston Villa’s bean-counters have dusted off the club-branded pricing gun and slapped a tag of £40m on Jacob Ramsey as they bid to avoid falling foul of pesky Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR). With the 30 June deadline looming, we can probably expect to see various clubs selling kids nobody has ever heard of to each other for eye-watering sums in order to get their ducks in a row before the financial year ends but in Ramsey, Villa have a homegrown player whose sale will count as pure profit. The midfielder is currently the subject of interest from Tottenham and West Ham, who will no doubt leave it as late as possible to make their bids in order to try to force the player’s price down.

Having become frustrated in their efforts to sign Viktor Gyökeres due to Sporting’s intransigence over their asking price for the Swedish striker, Arsenal remain hell-bent on buying Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig but have not ruled out the possibility of signing Ollie Watkins from Villa should they fail to land either of their two preferred strikers. Juventus are understood to have thrown their hat in the Gyökeres ring, having told the striker’s representatives they are prepared to match his £11m per annum wage demands and are lining up a bid with which to tempt his stubborn Portuguese employers.

Florian Wirtz has been booked in to run on a treadmill and cough for the Liverpool doctors later this week, while it looks like a matter of when, rather than if Milos Kerkez will complete his £40m move from Bournemouth to the Premier League champions. The arrival of the Hungarian international could prompt the departure of another Liverpool full-back to Madrid, with Andy Robertson the subject of ongoing interest from Atlético. We’ll find out in due course if the Scotsman has been attending Spanish lessons with his good pal Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Tottenham remain in regular contact with their winger Manor Solomon over his welfare after the winger was left stranded in Israel as the military conflict with Iran continues.

The 25-year-old Israel international got married to his long-term partner, Dana Voshina, last week but they have not been able to leave after Israeli airspace was closed to civilian flights.

Solomon, having recovered from a serious knee injury, spent last season on loan at Leeds, helping the club win the Championship.

A Tottenham spokesperson said: “We are constantly in regular dialogue with all our players regarding their wellbeing and welfare.”

Solomon, who had a loan at Fulham before he joined Spurs from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer of 2023, is due to return to the north London club for the start of pre-season training in early July.

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On the podcast today; the Club World Cup kicks off with a 0-0 draw between Inter Miami and Al Ahly and Bayern Munich thrashing the amateurs from Auckland City 10-0. What have we learned? Is it too early to get a read on the tournament and who had Barry down as a French Montana fan.

Elsewhere, Thomas Frank is confirmed as Spurs manager, Liverpool spend a lot of money on Florian Wirtz and Trent Alexander-Arnold has been learning Spanish on the sly.

All that plus Gennaro Gattuso gets the Italy job and your questions answered.

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Hugo Lloris has expressed surprise at Tottenham sacking Ange Postecoglou after their triumph in the Europa League.

The former Spurs captain praised Postecoglou for an “amazing achievement” and said he was delighted to see his old team end their 17-year wait for a trophy when they beat Manchester United in Bilbao last month. But the Los Angeles FC goalkeeper, speaking before facing Chelsea in the Club World Cup on Monday, was not expecting victory in the final against United to be followed by a managerial change.

Asked whether he was surprised when Spurs decided that European glory was not enough to keep Postecoglou after a dreadful Premier League campaign, Lloris said: “Yes, but nothing can surprise you any more. I think he deserves a lot of credit for what he achieved as a coach and I think we all have to be thankful and grateful for what he brought, especially with this trophy.”

Lloris spent 12 years at Spurs before joining LAFC in December 2023. He had several near misses in north London and knows better than most how much silverware means to Spurs.

“I think they had a really hard season,” Lloris said. “They had a lot of injuries as well that affected the team and performances. In the second part of the season it looks like they decided to go all-in for the Europa League. They made it and you just have to congratulate them because it is another way to go to the Champions League.

“If you finish 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th and if you get a chance to win a trophy on the other hand, it is just an amazing achievement. I was part of a really competitive team for many years and the target was to reach the top four but at which price? We could not find a way to win a cup, a League Cup or even a Europa League cup but we managed to go and get the top four for many years. I don’t know, it is all about the optics of the club.”

Lloris hopes that winning the Europa League will have a liberating effect on Spurs. “I am really happy for the club. We ran many years after this trophy and finally they got it and I think they deserve it. Hopefully it will make their shoulders a little bit lighter for the future and I think it is also the moment to build on this success for Spurs. Even if I am not a Spurs player, I still follow the news, the team and the results.”

Tottenham are expected to seal the permanent signing of Mathys Tel for a fee of about €35m (£30m) in the next 48 hours. Spurs paid Bayern Munich a €10m loan fee to sign the forward for the second half of the Premier League season.

The 20-year-old scored two goals in 13 league appearances, 11 of which were starts, but was an unused substitute for Spurs’ Europa League final triumph over Manchester United, which resulted in their first trophy for 17 years.

Tel is poised to become the first signing of the Thomas Frank era, after the Dane replaced Ange Postecoglou as manager on a three-year contract, though the groundwork for the deal was completed before Frank’s appointment.

Frank is interested in reuniting with Bryan Mbeumo, who Brentford value at more than £60m, but Tottenham are yet to bid for the forward. Mbeumo, also wanted by Manchester United, has been a revelation for Brentford since signing from Troyes in a £5.8m deal in August 2019, when Brentford were in the Championship.

Spurs believe Frank can play a key role in convincing Mbeumo to join. United have had a bid worth up to £55m rejected for the Cameroon forward and Brentford are under no pressure to sell. The transfer window reopens on Monday.

Tel is on international duty with France at the Under-21 European Championship in Slovakia. He started France’s 0-0 Group C draw with Portugal on Wednesday, in which another Spurs winger, Wilson Odobert, played the entire match. France play Georgia in Zilina on Saturday.