Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur have been slow on the transfer market this year, especially relative to clubs like Manchester United and Manchester City in the Premier League, because they still have to figure out if Ange Postecoglou is going to be their manager next season.

While Daniel Levy continues to drag his feet through the sand on this latest big decision, Tottenham are actually working in the background on depth-level signings to cheaply fortify their squad. You know, the kinds of low-hanging fruit moves that will be generally inoffensive to any manager of the club, whether that ends up being Postecoglou or somebody else.

Lille free agent Angel Gomes has been one the Tottenham radar, and everything that's been reported over the last few weeks indicates that Spurs are serious about competing with the likes of Manchester United and West Ham to sign the English midfielder.

Now, GiveMeSport's Ben Jacobs is reporting that Tottenham are "confident" they will sign Gomes after recently submitting a new contract offer to the player's reprsentation. Because Gomes is a free agent, Tottenham can get this deal done quicker and more easily without organizational infrastructure involved, since they don't have to negotiate with Lille.

Tottenham need Champions League experience

Of course, free agents are really only "free" in name these days. Bonuses and extraneous fees have gone up with Boseman transfers over the last couple of years, as more players and agents, such as Gomes's Lille teammate and likely Tottenham target Jonathan David, are eyeing running down their contracts before cashing in as free agents.

With Tottenham set to return to the Champions League next season, a player like Gomes is attractive to Levy because he is free, English, and has Champions League experience. Although didn't have a particularly good 2024/25 season with just 10 starts, the 24-year-old did have eight assists and 1.5 key passes per game the year before as one of the top creative midfielders in Ligue 1.

Tottenham don't need a creative attacking midfielder as much as a deep-lying one with James Maddison at the 10 and better targets like Eberechi Eze and Xavi Simons on their radar, but it seems like Tottenham like the price and fit of Gomes as a depth option.

Gomes isn't a sure-fire choice, but if the transfer tea leaves are to be believed, Spurs are pretty close to signing him and are the frontrunners. They want him, other clubs seem to be focused on other targets, and he should be easy enough to sign. Tottenham can't come out of the 2025 summer market with Gomes as their only midfield signing, but he isn't the worst start to the window as a supplemental option.

Tottenham Hotspur still have to make a decision on manager Ange Postecoglou, and even though it's been weeks since the Australian coach captured a historic Europa League title for Spurs, chairman Daniel Levy continues to leave both the big man and the entire Tottenham fanbase and organization in the dark.

Levy dragging on an important decision is nothing new, but it doesn't make the situation any less frustrating. If there's one silver lining for the Spurs fans who back Big Ange after he brought them a prestigious trophy this season, then it's the reality that the longer Levy waits, the more likely it is for Postecoglou to stay, especially with top options like Simone Inzaghi getting closer to their own decision points.

Postecoglou has more support in the Tottenham dressing room than anywhere else, and that could be enough to save his job at the end of the day. Star center back Cristian Romero, the actual best player at the Europa League tournament, is such a big backer of Big Ange's that, apparently, he is more willing to stay with Spurs this summer if they keep they coach.

Key midfielders James Maddison, Archie Gray, and Lucas Bergvall all gave Postecoglou a ringing, public endorsement, and now another vital player to Spurs success has thrown his full support behind the manager.

Ange Postecoglou's future outlook is more positive

Right back Pedro Porro was the team's most consistent star throughout the 2024/25 season, and the Portuguese international told The Guardian's Sid Lowe in an interview that Tottenham should stick with Postecoglou: “Him continuing would be good for the dressing room. He has built a very good group and coaches also need time. In the league things didn’t go well but he makes you win a trophy. That’s important too.”

It seems almost unanimous from the dressing room that Postecoglou should stay, and whlie you could argue on two fronts 1) That the players shouldn't make the ultimate decisions and 2) That detractors are far less likely to give public statements than supporters, the future looks brighter for Big Ange after comments like this one from Porro.

There's also the matter that some of Spurs most important players are backing Postecoglou. Romero, Maddison, Bergvall, and Porro are arguably the four best players at Tottenham for the next five years, and all of them want to continue working with Postecoglou.

So even if backing from players only goes so far, comments like these from a player like Porro should go further than the typical public, supportive comments of a player to a manager. These guys all seem to think Postecoglou is an asset who deserves another chance and full marks for winning the Europa League, regardless of the results in the Premier League. And as Levy continues to drag his feet on some sort of an official stance, Postecoglou's future looks more likely in North London.

Tottenham Hotspur captured the Europa League title in 2024/25 to cap off a historically awful Premier League season with a historically meaningful campaign overall. Spurs had not won a major European title in over 40 years, and while the win hasn't settled Ange Postecoglou's future, it has given him a chance to continue what he is building in North London.

Regardless of who manages Tottenham in 2025/26, Spurs are going to need much better players in order to finish better than 17th in the Premier League and actually compete in their return to the Champions League.

Here are the five biggest dream signings Spurs need to consider signing this summer.

Crystal Palace CB Marc Guehi

Although Tottenham don't need a center back if Cristian Romero stays, which is actually a distinct possibility if Postecoglou is retained, the opportunity to sign Marc Guehi from FA Cup champions Crystal Palace is too tantalizing of a prospect for Spurs to pass up on.

Tottenham tried to sign Guehi in the summer 2024 transfer window with an ambitious 70 million pound bid to the Eagles, who ended up roundly rejecting all overtures from Spurs and Newcastle. But with just one year left on his contract entering the 2025/26 season, Guehi is ripe to switch allegiances at a rate significantly lower than 70 million.

Guehi is one of the best center backs in the Premier League and still young at 24 years old. He can mark all of the best strikers in the Premier League and would offer Spurs a world-class center back with a much different profile to either Romero or Micky van de Ven.

Lyon RW Rayan Cherki

While Rayan Cherki appears close to a move to Manchester City, Tottenham could always change the transfer narrative of a young gem set to be one of the biggest bargains of the 2025 market by showing considerably more interest in the Lyon star and ramping up their pursuit of him.

Cherki has been tabbed for greatness for years, with clubs as mighty as Real Madrid monitoring him closely as the next big thing. Now, Cherki is a key starter for Lyon and has graduated into becoming the new face of the team, proving his meddle in the big games with 12 goals and 19 assists last season between the Europa League and Ligue 1.

The 21-year-old has a sweet left foot and can start for Tottenham as either an attacking midfielder in rotation with James Maddison or as an inverted playmaker on the right wing in rotation with Dejan Kulusevski (and Brennan Johnson).

Brentford RW Bryan Mbeumo

A more explosive winger profile and less of a playmaker, Bryan Mbeumo has proven himself at the Premier League level with Brentford, who had a much more successful 2024/25 campaign within the Premier League itself than Spurs.

While Mbeumo seems to favor a move to Europa League losers Manchester United over the others like Spurs, that doesn't mean Tottenham have no chance at convincing arguably the biggest breakout star of the 2024/25 Premier League season to join them.

The heir to Son Heung-min doesn't have to be a left winger, and while Spurs do have more of a need on the left side than on the right with options like Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson there, Tottenham could resolve both wings long-term with a one-two punch of Mbeumo and Mathys Tel.

Mbeumo's production is difficult to deny. The 25-year-old Cameroonian international scored a whopping 20 goals and 7 assists from the wing at Brentford with 1.8 key passes and 2.6 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game. He looks like the real deal.

RB Leipzig AM Xavi Simons

Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze is a popular transfer target for Tottenham in the rumor mill - and for good reason. He's an excellent player and one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League, having just led the Eagles to a major trophy without the help of current Bayern Munich star Michael Olise.

But Tottenham should actually be looking for a different option in the attacking midfield. RB Leipzig star Xavi Simons is both younger and better than Eze, and there's every chance that Spurs could sign the Dutchman for cheaper.

Simons is 22 and the perfect modern-day 10, especially for how aggressively Postecoglou likes to play in transitions and win the ball up the pitch. The Barcelona academy product has registered a combined 18 goals and 18 assists in his first two Bundesliga seasons, providing more than adequate progression, creativity, and defensive work. He could be Spurs best player if signed.

Eintracht Frankfurt ST Hugo Ekitike

Finally, even though Tottenham spent more than 120 million pounds combined on Richarlison and Dominic Solanke at striker over the past couple of years, they haven't been getting anywhere near the production matching those fees.

Solanke showed enough in the big Europa League matches and has the all-around skill-set deserving of a second season to prove he can be the guy for Spurs, but Richarlison is likely to leave this summer, preferably back to Everton.

Hugo Ekitike would be a dream get at striker for Tottenham, as he would be a younger, more explosive, and more clinical alternative to the steady well-rounded veteran presence of Solanke, who is more physically imposing.

The only true thorn in the side of Spurs during the Europa League knockout stages this season, Ekitike surely impressed Tottenham scouts head-to-head with his performances. The lithe and agile Ekitike is an underrated creator and dribbler with his speed and quickness, and there's no questioning his ability to find the back of the net after putting home 15 last season.

If the waffling on Ange Postecoglou's future is any indication, Tottenham and, specifically, chairman Daniel Levy aren't exactly great at making difficult decisions quickly and sticking to them. Tottenham's indeciveness with their Europa League-winning manager threatens to put them irrecoverably behind the curve on the transfer market, with Spurs already set to lose out on top target Rayan Cherki to Manchester City.

What Tottenham can't continue to do is be complacent with key decisions, such as their manager's future or capitalizing on signing top young players. They have a decision to make with a top young player currently in their squad, loan signing Mathys Tel, this summer, and they can't afford to mess this one up, too.

Tel did enough on his six-month loan to Tottenham to merit a long-term stay with Spurs, and his actions on and off the pitch are those of a young man very much wanting to be a part of the long-term future of this team.

Tottenham hold about a 45 million pound option to buy on Tel's contract, and they could potentially ngotiate that down to less. Now, Sky Sports Germany's Florian Plettenberg is reporting another possibility in the Tel case for Tottenham and that is another loan deal for the 2025/26 season with an option to buy at the end of that.

Waiting a year comes with more risk for Tottenham

A decision point is coming soon, and, per Plettenberg, as Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl continues his "intense" negotiations with Tottenham and Tel alike, the Bavarians clearly prefer a permanent sale, even if another loan is possible.

For Tottenham, kicking the can down the road on Tel for one more year isn't necessarily a bad idea, because, like with the Timo Werner repeat loan, it can give them some more intel on the player and another year sample size to decide if they want Tel permanently or not.

But that intel comes at a price. A loan deal with an option to buy next season may set Spurs back another 45 million pounds with less leeway to negotiate down, whereas Bayern's desire to sell to raise funds this year leaves it easier for Tottenham to get a discount potentially closer to even 30 million pounds.

Remember, too, the possibility of choice in Tel's and Bayern's cases. As Tottenham are realizing with Johnny Cardoso, whom Spurs had a 25 million euro release clause over, the player can always choose against them if given the chance. Right now, Tel is choosing Tottenham. Who is to say that if he plays so extaordinarily well in 2025/26 that he still wants Tottenham under a new manager? And who is to say that Bayern don't change their minds if Tel plays that well and are able to convince him to return in 2026?

There's a lot of conjecture and uncertainty in the background if Tottenham wait on Tel and leave it up to a decision point in 2026. Whereas if Tottenham are sold - or, at least, sold enough - on Tel in 2025, they might as well capitalize on the 20-year-old's potential now and take a minor gamble, negotiating down the fee with Bayern. If the Cardoso case has taught Spurs anything, it's to leave absolutely nothing to chance in the pursuit of fine young talent.

It's anyone's guess as to what Tottenham do with Ange Postecoglou this summer, as the second-year manager is at a crossroads after helping Spurs win the Europa League for the first time in 41 years while also finishing a worst-ever 17th in the Premier League.

As time trudges on without a real judgment on Postecoglou's future, the chances of the former Celtic boss remaining in North London increase. The managerial musical chairs in Serie A has already yielded a couple of big hires - Max Allegri to AC Milan and Gian Piero Gasperini to Roma - and there could still be a third that leads to Spurs missing out on another top manager.

While Tottenham have, per a report from The Sun's Tom Barclay, reached out with interest in Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi, they have not yet decided on Big Ange's future and have thus not really pursued Inzaghi hard.

Tottenham aren't looking hard enough at top managers

For the most part, the main manager names that come up in their search are those in the mid-table of the Premier League like Thomas Frank of Brentford, Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, and Fulham's Marco Silva. All decent managers but none with the kind of track record that Tottenham are aiming for, which is competitiveness at the upper echelon of the Champions League.

Inzaghi has been to two Champions League Finals in the last three years, leading the Nerazzurri back to those heights for the first time in more than a decade when Jose Mourinho became the first and only manager to win a treble with a Serie A club.

Yet all of that may be a moot point, because as brilliant of a tactician as Inzaghi is, Tottenham seem to have so little interest in hiring him that he seems poised to pick a totally different option on Tuesday. Fabrizio Romano reports that this is the date that one of the most highly-regarded managers in world football will decide his future, and he is between staying at Inter Milan and joining Al-Hilal ahead of the Club World Cup for a fat paycheck.

Now, Tuesday is all about Inzaghi choosing to stay at Inter or hit the open market, so he isn't necessarily going to Al-Hilal and his interest in the Saudi Arabia giants is plausible but debatable at this juncture.

The real issue is, why aren't Tottenham more interested? Why isn't Fab tweeting about Tottenham being highly interested in Inzaghi, as interested as Al-Hilal? A lot of that is probably down to the fact that Spurs are legitimately undecided on Postecoglou and may be swayed by public endorsements from key figures in the locker room like James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall.

When Tottenham agreed to sell Giovani Lo Celso last summer, they received a special deal from Real Betis, who granted Spurs the opportunity to sign one of the best United States internationals and one of the better young box-to-box midfielders in the world at a reduced price.

Spurs were granted a special release clause to sign Betis center midfielder Johnny Cardoso for the summer 2025 transfer window only. For a fee of just 25 million euros, Tottenham would be able to sign a 23-year-old talent worth at least double that amount of money, offering a solution at what has become a major area of weakness for Spurs.

Instead, it looks like Tottenham won't get the opportunity to sign Cardoso at all. After rumblings that Cardoso isn't interested in leaving Betis this summer at all, thus totally nullifying Tottenham's clause, it appears that the narrative has shifted to Cardoso not wanting to leave LaLiga.

Johnny Cardoso doesn't want a Tottenham transfer

According to a report from GiveMeSport's Tom Bogert, an expert on the USMNT, Atletico Madrid, as expected, are now the leaders in the Cardoso transfer battle. They are expected to sign him this summer for 30 million euros, and, now, even Tottenham feel that the player is more interested in staying in the Spanish league than jumping ship to the English Premiership.

It's a transfer blow that Tottenham need to acknowledge at this point and effectively scrap Cardoso off their board. With the special clause Betis gave Spurs after the Lo Celso sale, Cardoso's situation feels like a loss, as if a player were taken away from Tottenham since Cardoso seemed like such an easy signing to make.

But Cardoso's situation is a sobering reminder that not only is nothing for certain in football, but, also, that Spurs have fallen in stock with this 17th-placed finish despite a Europa League title win. Tottenham need to cherish young players like Mathys Tel who want to join them and remember that they have now fallen behind clubs like Atletico Madrid in the transfer pecking order for talents like Cardoso who have already arrived on the big stage.

Tottenham need to look for more underrated box-to-box alternatives, and while those players will be more expensive than 25 million euros, they could be better and more dynamic players than the slightly overrated Cardoso. Players like Lamine Camara have had better seasons with less hype, and it's time for Spurs to look at Cardoso as an opportunity that has passed and move on.

Tottenham may have won the Europa League for the first time in nearly 40 years, but their 17th-placed finish across a 38-game Premier League season speaks more to their profound issues as a squad and their inability to consistently compete with teams at the highest professional level.

For Spurs, the key will be prioritizing areas of weakness so that they can invest their limited funds wisely and focus on positions that need to be upgraded the most for the Premier League and now Champions League campaigns ahead in 2025/26.

Chiefly, Spurs should be looking at new midfield help, specifically a defensive midfielder who can control games, playmake from deep, and screen the team defensively from counterattacks. The biggest problem Tottenham had, especially in the Premier League against teams with a higher technical and athletic level than the Europa League, was getting overrun in midfield.

Tottenham need game-changers in attack

There were too many games in which Tottenham were already losers from the get-go because they had no control. A defenive midfielder should be their biggest priority, especially in view of how London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal have prioritized this position big-time with major signings like Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, and Enzo Fernandez.

Next up, Tottenham need difference-makers in their team. They already have one of the Premier League's best creators and No. 10's in James Maddison, who delivered nine goals and seven assists for Spurs last season to tie Son Heung-min as the team's leader in goal contributions.

Everywhere else, though, Spurs have needs. Dominic Solanke is better than his nine Premier League goals show, but even the biggest Solanke homers can't argue that he's living up to his 65 million pound billing. Richarlison is likely on the way out after another sub-standard, injury-plagued year, so a young and affordable striker to replace Richarlison and compete with Solanke should be one of chairman Daniel Levy's priorities.

Along with a striker, Tottenham should sign a left winger. Preferably, that would be Mathys Tel, who is the exact profile Spurs should be looking for. Tel is a 20-year-old player with game-changing creative, dribbling, and goal-scoring qualities who can step in for Son Heung-min when necessary and eventually replace him.

Spurs already have adequate cover on the right wing between Dejan Kulusevski and leading scorer Brennan Johnson, providing two very different profiles there. And then there is young gem Mikey Moore. But on the left, Tottenham can't afford to go into the 2025/26 season with just Son as an option, given how his play tailed off in the second half of the season due to injury. They have to bring in another difference-maker on the left wing, with Tel being a tailor-made option.

Tottenham Hotspur are going to be making some difficult decisions this summer in the transfer window, clearing out players who no longer have a long-term future at the club and making upgrades in order to compete at the Champions League level again in 2025/26.

Many of those changes are expected to occur in the middle of the park, as Tottenham were overrun in many games in the Premier League, finishing the season in a historically poor 17th place. Spurs need more control in the middle of the park and more technical quality.

Although he is a decent player, Rodrigo Bentancur has been speculated by fans as one of a number of veteran players who could be headed out of the squad as sellable assets who may not have the quality necessary to be top players in the Premier League.

Could Spurs be calling Rodrigo Bentancur 'captain'?

But Spurs seemingly aren't in agreement with those doubters in the fanbase. According to a report from TBR Football's Graeme Bailey and Jamie Brown, Tottenham are very high on Bentancur. Not only are they prepared to give him a contract extension, instead of selling him, but they are also even considering making him their captain.

Whereas Tottenham are ready to send Yves Bissouma packing after a(nother) disappointing season, Bentancur is set to be rewarded. The 27-year-old former Juventus midfielder has been an asset to Spurs since joining, and he recently stepped up his performances big-time when the club needed it in the Europa League knockout stages, occasionally dominating the competition.

Spurs need to continue to see more of that from Bentancur, who hasn't convinced the entire fanbase that he has the creativity or athleticism to beat the best midfielders in the league among the top-five teams. But against mid-level competition in the Europa League, Bentancur stood out defensively and with his quality of passing and positioning.

There are absolutely better midfielders out there than Bentancur, but he's also clearly one of the better players on the team right now. Spurs can't completely blow everything up and get rid of every veteran presence, especially not someone who has been playing well for years in Bentancur. Eventually, Spurs may have to find someone better than Bentancur as they aim higher and higher, but, even then, he should always have a spot as a role player.

Captain is a stretch and Bentancur shouldn't get too rich of a raise, but the Uruguayan international showed when Tottenham needed him the most this season that they can count on him to deliver.

Tottenham Hotspur are taking an approach on the transfer market in which they focus on signing young talents with superstar potential. They added Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, and Wilson Odobert last season to bolster their midfield and attack, and then they acquired Mathys Tel on the wing this winter as a loan signing from Bayern Munich with an option to buy.

But Spurs don't need to just sign players from outside to build a young nucleus that can win more trophies than this season's Europa League. They have some serious homegrown talents, and one of their biggest gems is Mikey Moore, who had a brief breakout moment during this season's Europa League tournament.

Moore is so talented that Borussia Dortmund, known for developing great young players, are showing a keen interest in the 17-year-old winger. Tottenham have so many reasons to keep Moore, and with the player getting new representation, Spurs have to put their money where their mouth is and pay the young man.

Tottenham are serious about keeping Mikey Moore

According to a report from TBR Football's Graeme Bailey and Jamie Brown, Tottenham have already begun contract talks with Moore over a new deal and have a plan in place to sign the 17-year-old to a long-term contract before he turns 18 this August. They aim to have that deal signed, sealed, and delivered before that date, securing the future of one of their biggest young talents before any clubs like Dortmund get the idea of stealing him away.

It's an important step for Tottenham and Daniel Levy to make. They've already lost on so many high-upside young gems on the transfer market that you could only imagine the embarrassment and the blow it would be if Tottenham were to lose a homegrown player like Moore and watch him shine with someone else in European football.

Tottenham are clearly as high on Moore as the fans are, and it should only be a matter of time, months at most, before Spurs fans get word of a new deal for the English winger. After they already secured Lucas Bergvall to a new deal, Moore has become the new focus for the club when it comes to a player deserving of a long-term extension that keeps him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the long haul. Moore is one of those players who has the potential to be special, and Spurs need to keep a few of those in order to push further in the Premier League than they ever have before.

If the biggest task for Tottenham Hotspur as June begins is to figure out the future of manager Ange Postecoglou, then the second-biggest task is definitely to figure out the future of star center back Cristian Romero.

Just a few weeks ago, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that Romero would be leaving Tottenham, as Atletico Madrid were in hot pursuit of the 26-year-old central defender and had apparently even agreed to a deal with him. That obviously wasn't the case, and after his crucial performances in must-win Europa League knockout games, Romero has become someone Spurs fans desperately want the club to keep.

After giving an interview a month ago in which he said he dreams of a move to LaLiga, "Cuti" struck a completely different tone and had a more positive and Spurs-centric outlook when discussing what lies ahead for him.

Cristian Romero didn't commit to Tottenham

In an interview with Los Edul, the Argentinian international stated, “I’m happy. They make me feel like an important player. I’m going to give my best until the last day I’m here.”

On the one hand, that's a nice thing to say about Tottenham and seems to go hand-in-hand with the renewed optimism that the 2024/25 Europa League Player of the Tournament will remain with Spurs for the 2025/26 season and beyond.

But cynically, perhaps, it doesn't mean that Tottenham are out of the woods yet. Because Romero said that he's currently "happy" and feels "important" but will give his best until his "last day". He didn't say that he's "staying" or that his "last day" will be "years" from now.

Romero is playing a more political game than he did a month ago when the vice captain starting going on about dreaming of LaLiga at a time when Tottenham needed focus. He's smartly leaving the door to his future open while saying positive things about Spurs so fans don't get the wrong idea, but he's also not getting anyone's hopes up by committing to Tottenham.

Of course, part of that has to do with the fact that Romero doesn't 100 percent control his own destiny. What if Atletico or Real Madrid send Tottenham an offer they can't refuse? What if Daniel Levy sees the dollar signs on the transfer market again and makes another dumb decision to sell an important player for less than what they are worth to Tottenham?

As much as Spurs fans may want to take an overwhelmingly positive message away from what Romero is saying, nothing changes with that quote. Because Romero may secretely think that his "last day" with Spurs already happened and his Europa League Final performance against Manchester United was that example of him fighting until the end. Hopefully, that's not the case, but when it comes to Tottenham, it pays to be at least a little bit cynical.