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Tottenham Hotspur have put together one of the most impressive summer transfer windows on the actual Premier League pitch this season, because while they spent less than fellow title contenders Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool, they had a higher success rate of new signings this year.

If you consider Mathys Tel's long-term upside, then Tottenham are batting 1.000 in terms of players who have debuted (Randal Kolo Muani is still an unknown). Because he's been their worst signing, yet he's been a key contributor at 20 years old. Mohammed Kudus has been one of the best players in the entire Premier League through seven matchdays, Xavi Simons is already a vital player as well, and Joao Palhinha has been as good as he was in his first stint in the Premier League with Fulham.

Kudus, Simons, and Tel are all permanent members of Tottenham, and Spurs supporters are hoping that Palhinha will get the nod next. As with Tel, Tottenham have a 25-30 million pound option to make his transfer permanent, and even though he is 30, he is so important all-around and has shown so much robust athleticism that there's optimism he has many years left in the tank.

According to a report from Sky Sports Germany's Florian Plettenberg, Tottenham manager Thomas Frank is a "big fan" of the defensive midfielder, who is "unlikely" to stay at Bayern Munich after the 2025/26 season. Plettenberg reiterates an "excellent relationship" between Frank and Palhinha, as well as genuine interest from Spurs in keeping the player despite Bayern and Spurs having yet to engage in official transfer talks.

The optimism within Tottenham is apparent

Plettenberg isn't the first or even the second international transfer insider to state that Palhinha to Tottenham is expected next year, and, like Fabrizio Romano, he's caging his reporting by stating nothing is remotely close to being finalized.

But the optimism is palpable, emanating from the fanbase, locker room, and within the walls of the club itself. Palhinha is one of Tottenham's own already, showing great leadership and heart as a perfect fit for both how the supporters and how Thomas Frank wants Spurs to play.

At 25 million pounds, even if Palhinha only has, say, two years left in the tank, two years of close to world-class defensive midfield play is easily worth that kind of money when you look at the landscape of the current transfer market trends. No. 6's are increasingly important in the Premier League and Champions League, and Spurs finally have a great one.

Mohammed Kudus's superb start to the 2025/26 season continued over the October international break, as he helped Ghana book their place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Signed from rivals West Ham in the summer, Kudus has quickly developed into the attacking star of Thomas Frank's team. The masterful ball-retainer and determined dribbler is joint-top of the Premier League assist charts, and entered the break off the back of scoring his first goal for the club away at Leeds United.

It's hard to imagine Frank's outfit functioning without him, so seeing him return to Hotspur Way injury-free was all the majority of Spurs fans cared about. However, Kudus was playing for much more when he teamed up with his Ghanaian teammates over the break.

Mohammed Kudus becomes latest Spurs star to confirm World Cup place

Kudus, who grew up in the "ghetto" (as he once described it) town of Nima, has previously said representing his country "means everything" to him. He'd recorded 44 Ghana caps before the October break, and has operated as a key figure in the Black Stars setup since he made his debut in 2019.

The maverick playmaker has already featured at a World Cup in 2022, but Ghana disastrously failed to qualify for the upcoming African Cup of Nations. Thus, there was huge pressure on Kudus and his countrymen to deliver during the qualifying process for next summer's World Cup.

They entered the final two matchdays atop Group I and in control of their own destiny, but recent failures may well have facilitated some angst within Otto Addo's squad. However, they made light work of the Cental African Republic in their first October outing, with Kudus recording an assist for the opening goal in their 5-0 rout.

That set the stage for Tottenham's No. 20 to emerge as the hero when they faced recent nemesis, Comoros, who have won the previous two head-to-head meetings, at the weekend. Only a point was required, but Kudus’s tap-in just after the half-time interval secured a 1-0 win for the Black Stars.

As a result, Ghana became the fifth African nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, having reached five of the previous six. They were memorably quarter-finalists in 2010, although that achievement was one-upped by Morocco in Qatar.

There's bound to be heavy Spurs representation in North America next summer, with Kudus one of many poised to enjoy the biggest stage.

Although Tottenham Hotspur are third in the Premier League at the October international break and have shown marked improvements under Thomas Frank after a successful summer transfer window, there is still a lot of work to be done before Spurs can come close to reaching their ultimate goal of competing for Premier League and Champions League titles.

Their most glaring need heading into the next transfer windows is on the left wing, as the spot vacated by Son Heung-min has yet to be filled despite the promise that youngsters Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert can potentially bring in about three to five years.

Tottenham need a solution here and now. Mohammed Kudus has been on fire on the right side of the formation, but the former West Ham standout needs a lot more help on the left side in order for Tottenham to have a truly dangerous and balanced attack with some semblance of real week-to-week consistency.

Kudus's Ghanian national teammate Antoine Semenyo was actually linked to Spurs more closely in the summer before Tottenham ultimately went after the ex-Ajax man. Semenyo was a breakout star for Bournemouth in the 2024/25 season, but his stock has only risen in 2025/26 with the Cherries playing even better football - including embarrassing Spurs on Matchday 3.

One of the best in the Premier League right now

Only Erling Haaland has more goal contributions than Semenyo's nine, split more evenly between six goals and three assists. The explosive dribbler has been a mainstay on both the left and right flanks for Bournemouth, so he could be an ideal solution for Tottenham on the left wing opposite of Kudus. With Savinho now tied to Manchester City for the foreseeable future, Semenyo is 100 percent the best Premier League winger on the transfer market going forward.

That, then, begets the problem of demand and a sky-high asking price that will be over 75 million pounds. Manchester United, Liverpool, and the other big clubs in England will be after Semenyo, and since he is so important to Bournemouth, who could make it to Europe this season, the Cherries have no reason to sell.

There are, however, two other reasons beyond cost, which may be less onerous to Spurs with Daniel Levy gone, that could make a deal difficult. This may sound silly, but it is important to Spurs. Semenyo is a self-admitted Arsenal fan, and after being burned by Eberechi Eze this summer in their transfer pursuit, Spurs are going to think long and hard about going for someon who dreams of their hated North London rivals instead. It's just not worth the trouble.

But then there's also the issue of having both Semenyo and Kudus on the team. When they are both available, that's great and a match made in heaven. The thing is, when both are on AFCON duties in the middle of the season, how many dropped points will that be? Can Tottenham function without both superstar wingers and with Dejan Kulusevski and, say, Mathys Tel as the starters? And what if Kulu gets injured again? Is Brennan Johnson someone they can trust?

These are all questions that make Semenyo less appealing in reality than he is on paper. That's not to say Semenyo shouldn't still be on the Tottenham transfer radar in 2026, but these are reasons that take Semenyo down a notch from a slam-dunk dream target to a good target with some valid question marks.

Tottenham Hotspur are in the top three in the 2025/26 Premier League table right now at the October international break, and a lot of the credit for the turnaround has to go to new manager Thomas Frank, who has stabilized this team and gotten them to play much more complete football tactically than predecessor Ange Postecoglou, who is currently humiliating himself at Nottingham Forest.

But not all the credit can go to Frank, as new additions to the squad in the summer 2025 transfer window have made their mark as top players in the Premier League. Mohammed Kudus, most prominently, has stepped his game up from West Ham and become a world-class winger for Spurs already, making a Tottenham attack without him almost unfathomable.

Fellow new young, big-name attacking addition Xavi Simons hasn't been as spellbinding as Kudus, but, he, too, looks like a real future building block for the Lilywhites. However, he's been overshadowed in the midfield by a more defensive player in Joao Palhinha, who actually has three goals to remind people that, in addition to being an excellent No. 6, he's not exactly a schlub wih the ball either.

Tottenham fans are smitten with Palhinha at this point, and most of them are hoping that Tottenham will invoke the 25 million pound option to buy the 30-year-old midfield veteran at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

Fabrizio Romano is optimistic

According to Fabrizio Romano on the Give Me Sport Market Madness podcast, there is a "good chance" that Tottenham will agree to keep Palhinha on a permanent basis at the end of the season and that Fab is "quite optimistic" that this will be the case, though he cages that by saying it's still early in the season and things could change:

"I think there is a good chance of seeing Palhinha staying at Tottenham in 2026. Then let's see if it's going to be via the option, or maybe they want to re-negotiate with Bayern. It's too early to say, still at the beginning of October, so many months to go before they make any decision. But internally, the feeling is very positive. Palhinha is happy at Tottenham, and Thomas Frank and Tottenham are also very happy with him. So it's a very, very good deal for all parties involved. And now it's going to be about the agreement with Bayern in 2026, again, it's still early, so let's see how the season will go. But the start of this loan deal has been positive, and all parties are more than happy to continue together. So I would be quite optimistic on that one, but again it's still a long season and we have to see what's going to happen next."

It would be an upset if Tottenham didn't keep Palhinha. Only injury or a vast decline in his quality could change that, and the latter happening seems to have a very low chance, given Palhinha was already one of the best 6's in the Premier League at Fulham, which is why he ended up at a club like Bayern in the first place.

Obviously, Palhinha is doing a lot more for Tottenham than he did at Bayern, and he's publicly made it clear that he's happier in North London. Tottenham needed a player with his athleticism and defensive quality, and now that they have him, 25 million pounds now looks like a small price to pay for that quality.

The second international break of 2025/26 gives us another opportunity to rest, recover and take stock of Thomas Frank's showtime Lilywhites. It's not just the players who need respite, you know!

Tottenham failed to lose between the first two intervals of the new season, although many would've entered the current international slate with a concerned face had we not secured a 2-1 victory at Leeds United on Saturday.

Frank's Spurs had been a functional, "just do enough" team for a period, but the win at the weekend manifested a more fluid form of the Dane's outfit, even if the expected goals haul didn't reflect such promising exuberance.

Nevertheless, there's no denying that we're currently in a good spot. Some still have questions, but there's ample time for answers. While Frank's emphasis on the collective has brought about a newfound stoutness and resilience, our productive start wouldn't have been possible without the standout performances of individuals.

So, without trying to get too American on you, here's our October Power Rankings for the Tottenham squad, with the five standout performers of 2025/26 listed below.

Honourable Mentions: Pedro Porro, Lucas Bergvall

The Portuguese international, along with midfield cronie Rodrigo Bentancur, has been a source of division since joining the club on loan from Bayern Munich.

His drawbacks as a passer were laid out by some from the very outset, and there have undoubtedly been games where Palhinha's flaws have contributed to Spurs' stodginess. We know he's not an Andrea Pirlo-like figure at the base of midfield, and pairing him with an iteration of Bentancur who's become more conservative and less dynamic in possession has proven to be a disaster.

That's the 'bad' stuff out of the way. Otherwise, Palhinha has proven to be an exceptional signing. He's the enforcer this engine room needed, and it's no surprise that he leads the Spurs squad with a combined 5.09 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes in the Premier League this term.

Palhinha's an invaluable leader whom Frank trusts immensely, and he's popped up with a couple of excellent goals, too.

Pape Matar Sarr may well have topped our rankings a month ago, but the period between the two breaks has been pretty quiet for him.

The increased deployment of Xavi Simons, combined with an injury niggle, has seen Sarr's minutes decrease in recent weeks. Given what we saw from Xavi against Brighton and Leeds in a No. 10 role, Sarr will likely begin to play in a deeper midfield position, having started out as one of the leader's of Spurs' press from a more advanced role.

The midfielder deserves to make our top five based on his performances during the first month of 2025/26. He had been the star of Frank's tenure up until that point.

His hamstrings were always on the verge of breaking point under Ange Postecoglou, so the arrival of Frank must've been welcomed by Micky van de Ven, who is no longer required to bail Spurs out via his supreme recovery speed 89 times a game.

The new manager has occasionally tasked Van de Ven with tracking opponents deep into their half, but his role isn't anywhere close to as demanding as it was under Ange.

There hasn't been all that much discourse surrounding the defender, who's gone about his business pretty serenely so far. He's emerged as a goal threat, and struggled to put a foot wrong defensively. His limitations as a progressive passer are mitigated by the man that often stands alongside him.

Why are so many reluctant to accept that Cristian Romero is one of the best defenders in the world? Does everyone still think he's the "walking red card" from 2021?

Newfound leadership responsibilities have been the making of the World Cup winner in north London, with Ange first naming Romero as a vice-captain before Frank picked the Argentine to succeed Son Heung-min as captain.

The Spurs skipper is able to masterfully harness his innate aggression for the good of the collective, with the rash decisions of yesteryear lost to a previous iteration of Romero that was undeniably less reliable. He's an outstanding centre-back, and his ability as a passer is also overlooked.

Frank's adoration for Bentancur and Palhinha has thrust greater onus on Romero in possession, and the Argentine is good for at least a few defence-compromising line-splitting passes a game.

Xavi Simons was slated to be the new face of the franchise, and the young playmaker has undoubtedly shown promise. However, it's a different summer addition who's stolen the show at the start of 2025/26.

I tell you what, West Ham have really had our pants down with Mohammed Kudus. £55m? That might've gotten them a couple of midfielders who have the capacity to run.

The Ghanaian only leads the Spurs charts with five goal contributions in all competitions, tops the Premier League's assists table, and has registered more completed take-ons than anybody in Europe's top-five leagues. What a bum!

Kudus has functioned as a one-man attack for Frank's side at times this season. His ability to retain possession under pressure and shake off challenges is otherworldly, and the statistics point towards someone who can deliver in the final third. Without him, Spurs would be pretty unwatchable and certainly in a far worse position.

Can we pull our pants back up now?

There's no question that Tottenham Hotspur had a productive summer 2025 transfer window. While the jury is out on what Randal Kolo Muani can do and Mathys Tel is still a growing player at 20, the other three high-profile additions to the Spurs squad are already paying dividends.

Right winger Mohammed Kudus and defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha have been two of the best players in the Premier League to start the 2025/26 campaign. Meanwhile, Xavi Simons looks like just as much of a great long-term building block for Spurs, even if he hasn't gotten off to as hot of a start as the Ghanaian forward.

But when it comes to building blocks in the attack, Tottenham are still missing a pretty big one at striker. They have yet to truly replace Harry Kane, and while Kolo Muani is a decent loan signing, he, like Richarlison and Dominic Solanke, aren't true long-term solutions. Maybe Tel is the 9 of the future, but he looks more like a left winger.

If Tottenham are looking to take a flier on a young striker with superstar potential, then they may not find a better candidate than new Levante signing Etta Eyong from Villarreal. While Spurs won't get Eyong for the ridiculous bargain price of three million euros that the Frogs of Spain did, Tottenham could sign him for very little money, too.

Tottenham must follow the clauses

According to a report from Cadena SER, although Eyong has a more than reasonable 30 million euro release clause in his contract with Levante, there is another 15 million euro clause. That second clause basically says that if Levante get an offer of 15 million euros, they will either have to accept the offer or pay Villarreal 15 million euros to make the transfer permanent.

Of course, convincing Eyong to pick Tottenham over other clubs will be another matter, as Barcelona fans are already smitten with the emerging 21-year-old talent, as he has been arguably the biggest breakout star in Spanish football to begin the 2025/26 campaign. And Barca are very much looking for a long-term successor to the legendary No. 9 Robert Lewandowski, as Ferran Torres isn't really the solution there.

Eyong could be a candidate to join Tottenham and is a more realistic, younger, and cheaper alternative to the pipe dream signing of stealing Harry Kane back from Bayern Munich. With four goals and an assist in five games for an otherwise terrible Levante side, Eyong has been having an amazing 2025/26 season in his own right as one of La Liga's best players, and he is someone Tottenham need to watch closely this season.

Tottenham Hotspur absolutely nailed the Mohammed Kudus transfer this past summer window, signing a player who is now clearly one of the best wingers in the entire Premier League for just 55 million pounds. He's been worth double that to start the season as the arguable best signing of the summer window and one of the top three wingers in the Premier League to start the 2025/26 campaign.

It's impossible to envision the Tottenham attack under Thomas Frank without Kudus bombing down the right-hand side to the tune of a goal, four assists, about two key passes per game, and well over four dribbles completed per contest

As briliant as Kudus has been this season, Tottenham are still looking for more attacking quality this summer transfer window at left wing and striker, and finding a new wing partner for Kudus will be the priority fo Spurs as early as January.

And they could look to Kudus's Ghana national teammate Antoine Semenyo as the solution. Semenyo was on Spurs transfer radar this summer, but they decided to sign Kudus instead and didn't really circle back to him as an alternative on the left wing, though he can, as he has shown this season for Bournemouth, play at a high level on both wings.

The best in the Premier League after Erling Haaland

Semenyo was already great last season as a breakout star for the Cherries, but he's been even better this season with more end product. In fact, he's been arguably slightly better than Kudus and outdueled him when Bournemouth embarrassed Tottenham on Matchday 3.

With six goals and three assists this season, Semenyo has been the most productive player in the Premier League not named Erling Haaland (nine goals and an assist), and since he's a winger for Bournemouth and not a striker for Manchester City, you can argue that what he's doing is more impressive.

Now, everyone wants Semenyo twice as much, and talkSPORT's Alex Crook reports that, in light of Semenyo's outrageous performances to start the 2025/26 campaign, the Cherries now believe they can get more than 75 million pounds for the 25-year-old left and right winger. And given they sold Dominic Solanke to Spurs for 65 million pounds in 2024, they clearly aren't wrong about that.

Liverpool, Manchester United, and many other top clubs in the Premier League will be going after the explosive and versatile Semenyo, who has added an even more profound goal-scoring touch. Tottenham say they are going to spend more now that Daniel Levy is out and want to win the Premier League, and if they are serious about that, Kudus's good friend will be their priority on the wings in the transfer market regardless of the rising cost.

There is no doubt that Tottenham Hotspur have one of the most talented defenses in world football. It all starts with the new captain, Cristian Romero, who is a World Cup and Copa America winner, in addition to being the literal best player at the Europa League tournament that Spurs won last season.

Next to him, Micky van de Ven is another super-athlete and nearly as good, but because the Dutch national team is nowhere near Argentina's - and he gets overshadowed by Virgil van Dijk - he's maddeningly underrated.

And speaking of underrated, third center back Kevin Danso was once viewed as the best player in all of Ligue 1 for Cinderella side Lens, and whenever he's played for Tottenham, he has impressed.

Romero has been tremendous again for Spurs to start the 2025/26 season, and Van de Ven is also having an excellent beginning to Thomas Frank's first campaign at the club. But neither of them have been the best center back on the Tottenham books this season.

Only Federico Dimarco is better among 'defenders'

No, that honor belongs to Hamburg standout Luka Vuskovic, who is on loan from Spurs in order to get regularly playing time every week. Well, Vuskovic is balling so hard that if he were to be a Spurs player right now, he'd be a starter on merit, because, statistically, he has been the best center back in European football thus far.

That's right. Through just four starts, the 18-year-old Vuskovic has been the highest-rated center back by WhoScored this season and the 10th-highest rated player overall, which is absolutely insane when you consider Hamburg are a pretty talent-low team that just came back to the Bundesliga after years of being demoted. Even wilder, the only defender rated higher than Vuskovic is Federico Dimarco of Inter Milan by a margin of 7.77 to 7.72 - and Dimarco isn't really even a defender but rather a wing back.

What Vuskovic is doing at the age of 18 is just jaw-dropping. The Croatian international is averaging 7.3 aerial duels won and 12.3 clearances per game with more than three times as many interceptions per game as dribbles allowed. He barely has to make a tackle, his marking is already so good.

The fact that Vuskovic is lapping the competition at center back as a teenager is wild, and while the Premier League is seen as being more difficult than the Bundesliga, that may not be the case for center backs. There is more ground to cover defensively, and on a bad team like Hamburg, Vuskovic doesn't have other great players to lean on like Romero and Van de Ven can lean on each other.

Mohammed Kudus has easily been one of the best signings of the summer in European football, and Tottenham Hotspur would gladly pay the 55 million pounds it took to bag the Ghanian star from rivals West Ham United over and over again.

Right now, the entire attack is running through Kudus, who has registered one goal and four assists so far in the 2025/26 Premier League season after just seven matchdays. He's also first in the Premier League in take-ons and among the leaders in European football with 4.3 dribbles completed per game.

On Wednesday night, the Ghana national team took on the Central African Republic in a World Cup qualifying match, and the result was, as anyone would expect, one-sided in Ghana's favor. While Kudus did not score a goal, he did provide an assist via a perfectly-placed corner that looped in with the perfect amount of pace and whip into the far portion of the six-yard box.

You can view a clip of the corner here. It is absolutely textbook stuff from the sweet left foot of Mohammed Kudus and a reminder that he has become quite the crosser of the football. He always was great at creating chances from out wide, but Kudus appears to be getting even better as a passer this season under Thomas Frank, particularly with crosses.

Mohammed Kudus is improving his end product

Kudus has not assisted from a corner this season, but he has four key passes from corners in 2025/26 already. From crosses overall, Kudus has two of his four assists, and he's also had 10 total key passes from crosses, in addition to the four from corners.

There's no doubt that the 25-year-old Tottenham forward is a tremendous dribbler who can rip apart any defender in the world one-on-one on his day. But what Tottenham have been trying to do is get more end product out of Kudus than West Ham did, because he could be a bit inconsistent there.

A big part of that is getting Kudus to turn his dribbles into clear-cut chances from crosses, as well as turning him into a set-piece star. Frank thrives off those. Well, the early returns on Kudus are quite strong in that department now that he's joined Frank at Tottenham, and this picture-perfect corner for the Ghana national team to start the October international break is a clear sign that Kudus is continuing to develop his game in the right direction.

Tottenham Hotspur quietly have one of the best loan armies in the Premier League, and the forwards have been ripe and scoring goals to start the 2025/26 season, which bodes well for the future since Spurs don't have a long-term solution up top.

But by far and away the two most interesting and promising loan players are winger Mikey Moore over at Rangers and 18-year-old center back sensation Luka Vuskovic. The latter has been mind-blowingly good for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, already drawing rave reviews as a footballer who can dominate for the next decade for both club and country.

Unfortunately, although Moore's move to Rangers started out with high hopes, his transfer hasn't gone nearly as swimmingly. Moore is getting criticized left and right by many Rangers fans, as the club have heaped unrealistic expectations onto the shoulders of a mere 18-year-old prospect without any real help.

Things could turn around for Moore soon, though, as Rangers fired an incompetent manager who was certainly doing Moore and his attacking teammates no favors. As it stands, Moore has started three of five games, logging under 250 Scottish Premier League minutes with no goal contributions and rather paltry averages of 0.2 key passes, 0.8 dribbles completed, and 0.2 fouls drawn per game.

Tottenham have to know he's not ready yet

Even though Rangers just fired their coach, Tottenham are already reportedly thinking about terminating the teenage winger's loan to Scotland and sending him over to the English Championship instead.

Per a report from the Evening Standard's Matt Verri, Tottenham have an option to recall Mikey Moore from his loan and are thinking about doing so. They are not going to take immediate action and end the loan agreement at this time, but it is something on the table.

Tottenham need to monitor Moore's situation closely, and it is rapidly evolving with the changes at Rangers. A move to the Championship would send Moore to a less prestigious club and take the Europa League off the table for him, but it would be a way of Spurs keeping closer tabs on him without too much of a drop in the competition he would face.

Moore was highly promising for Spurs last season, including in the Europa League, but he is still a very raw teenage winger. That rawness is very much on display this season at Rangers, and while a lot of his struggles are down to his situation, they are a reminder that Moore needs more time before he can be a key player for the Tottenham senior team every week.