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Tottenham begin their 2025/26 Premier League campaign at home to newly-promoted Burnley on Saturday afternoon.

Thomas Frank's tenure looked set to get off to the perfect start on Wednesday night, as his team led European champions Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 heading into the closing stages. Spurs had performed remarkably well in Udine, and were fully deserving of their advantage, but late Parisian pressure told and Luis Enrique's side took the UEFA Super Cup to penalties.

You don't need reminding of what happened next.

Despite the collapse, there were plenty of positives for Frank to take into the Premier League opener, where they'll be expected to set up in a completely different way compared to Wednesday night. The hosts are going to monopolise possession against a conservative Burnley outfit that achieved promotion as a result of their incredible defensive record in the second tier.

Led by former Lilywhite midfielder Scott Parker, the Clarets are hoping not to emerge as the next yo-yo club, although survival has become increasingly tough for promoted sides in recent years.

Here's our preview of Saturday's Premier League opener.

Tottenham vs Burnley: Preview, Prediction & Lineups

What time does Tottenham vs Burnley kick off?

Tottenham vs Burnley kicks off on Saturday 16 August at 15:00 BST.

When is kick off? Saturday 16 August, 2025

What time is kick off? 15:00 BST

Where is it played? Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Referee: Michael Oliver

Tottenham vs Burnley head-to-head record (last five games)

How to watch Tottenham vs Burnley on TV & live stream

Tottenham team news

There are no fresh concerns from the Super Cup, but Tottenham enter the new season without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin. Destiny Udogie travelled to Udine with the squad but wasn't involved, and it seems unlikely for him to a play a part on Saturday.

Dominic Solanke returned from an ankle injury in the week, but Richarlison's impressive performance against PSG means he'll retain his place.

Frank is likely to shift to a 4-2-3-1 here, with ex-Burnley winger Wilson Odobert or Brennan Johnson poised to replace Kevin Danso. The midfield could remain unchanged, but Frank is welcoming back Yves Bissouma.

Tottenham predicted lineup vs Burnley: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Palhinha, Bentancur; Kudus, Sarr, Odobert; Richarlison.

Burnley team news

Parker's Clarets are set to come to north London with a back five containing former Spurs full-back Kyle Walker, who could be a part of their back three.

Martin Dubravka, Lesley Ugochukwu and Jaiden Anthony are set to be in from the start for their Burnley debuts, while Armando Broja should feature off the bench. Lyle Foster will lead the line on Saturday.

Connor Roberts and Jordan Beyer were among those who picked up knocks in pre-season, but those two are seemingly ready to go for the start of the new season. Zeki Amdouni and Manuel Benson are long-term absentees.

Burnley predicted lineup vs Tottenham: Dubravka; Sonne, Walker, Ekdal, Esteve, Haartman; Hannibal, Culler, Ugochukwu, Anthony; Foster.

Tottenham vs Burnley score prediction

Tottenham played exceptionally well on Wednesday, but Frank will know that their Premier League opener will be an entirely different game. While Spurs had the personnel to match a rusty PSG through outstanding defensive work, whether they can take the game to a defensively sound Burnley outfit is a different matter.

The squad needs work, and in the absence of Maddison and Kulusevski, Frank's side are set to toil on Saturday.

It may take a set-piece or a bit of luck to get their campaign up and running.

Tottenham Hotspur will battle Burnley on Saturday afternoon in their 2025/26 Premier League season opener, and after they blew a 2-0 lead on Wednesday night in Udine in the UEFA Supercup Final against reigning Champions League winners PSG, they'll have more than just the chip on their shoulder from last season's 17th-placed finish.

Spurs final form isn't yet complete, as they are after Eberechi Eze, Savinho, and potentially other top transfer targets before the summer market closes on Sept. 1. Before that, Thomas Frank will get a good look at how his current crop fares against a much easier opponent.

Here are five players Frank absolutely has to start 100 percent on Saturday against Burnley and beyond, as these players will be central to his new era at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

RW Mohammed Kudus

Though RIcharlison did play well in his first game under Thomas Frank's management, there is no question that Mohammed Kudus was the most dangerous player on the pitch for Spurs against PSG and that the club's fortunes fell off a cliff after Kudus had to be subbed off.

You just know Kudus is going to run himself ragged for the White kit, and he clearly belongs with Tottenham. He gave it his all against PSG and was willing to try anything to create chances for not only himself but also for his teammates. Kudus just might be Spurs best non-defender right now.

CB Cristian Romero

Of course, the best player on Tottenham is Cristian Romero, who was the best player in the entire Europa League last season en route to handing Spurs their first major European trophy in more than 40 years.

Now the captain of the team after the departure of club legend Son Heung-min to Los Angeles, Romero is as important as ever to the Tottenham squad and the first name Frank pencils in his team sheet. Romero has a case for being the best center back in the world, and this needs to be the season that he makes that case loud and clear.

CM Pape Sarr

If Kudus was the best player on the pitch for Tottenham in Udine, then center midfielder Pape Sarr was a close second. Sarr has his limitations technically and is certainly never going to be confused with Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes, or Paul Pogba in midfield, but he is a different kind of asset to the Tottenham lineup with his determination and ball-winning.

Sarr did the work of three men against PSG, dominating the off-ball game against arguably the best midfield in European football. Just 22 years old, Sarr looks like he could be the biggest breakout midfielder of the season under Frank, who seems to know exactly how to use the Senegalese internatioanl to his full potential.

CB Micky van de Ven

Cristian Romero is Tottenham's star man, but Micky van de Ven isn't far behind him on the list of the best center backs in world football. The supremely gifted Dutch athlete has been sublime since stepping foot in North London after breaking out in the Bundesliga with corporate club Wolfsburg.

Van de Ven is a special athlete and a speed freak at center back who can even poach well-taken goals, as his opener against Lucas Chevalier can attest. The talented left-footer is worth his weight in platinum to Tottenham, and he and Romero are the benchmark tandem on this team.

RB Pedro Porro

It's flabbergasting how underrated Pedro Porro is on an international scale, because you have people who legitimately think that Diogo Dalot is better. It's hard to conjure the name of a Premier League right back who is definitively better than Porro, as the Spanish international is a sublime crosser of the ball while being a tremendous ball-winner and athlete defensively.

Porro stands head and shoulders above his peers and the opponent in so many matches, and he was as important as anyone in the road to the Europa League title. You have to think that with more output from the strikers under Frank, Porro will be richly rewarded with more stats and recognition of his own, too.

Liverpool will kick off the 2025/26 Premier League season as the reigning champions when they face off against surrpise package Bournemouth on Friday night. The Reds, of course, clinched their Premier League title in 2024/25 in as easy fashion as you'd expect, dog walking Tottenham Hotspur in a shameful performance that also highlighted how far Spurs standard had fallen in the league.

Of course, Tottenham recovered to win a major trophy of their own, outlasting fellow fallen giants Manchester United in the all-England European final few would have expected. Tottenham now begin the 2025/26 Premier League season with a new manager in Thomas Frank, as well as a new cast of signings to join the only big attacking addition of the summer so far in Mohammed Kudus.

Despite Spurs not having as active of a summer transfer window (yet), two Liverpool legends are backing Tottenham to have a strong 2025/26 season and bounce back after legitimately being one of the worst teams in the entire division last season.

The Premier League reached out to celebrities and legends of the league for their opinions on the season to come. Champions League and Premier League pundit - and former iconic Liverpool center back, in case you forgot - Jamie Carragher answered that he thinks Tottenham Hotspur will be this season's surprise package.

Tottenham need a top-five finish

Meanwhile, manager Steven Gerrard, arguably the greatest midfielder in the history of the league, placed Tottenham safely in the top five at the end of the season. Granted, they were only fifth, but when the vast majority of former players doing punditry for ESPN FC are putting Spurs behind the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle, Gerrard having a dissenting opinion feels good.

A lot of Tottenham's hopes are volatile and rest squarely on the shoulder of them making two major transfers before the window closes. If Spurs can't bag Savinho and Eberechi Eze or an alternative wide and central playmaker pairing to boost their ailing attack, then the top five may not be such a clincher.

But if they can, Gerrard's prediction of fifth may be an undersell of what Tottenham can do in 2025/26 under Frank, because Carragher may be onto something. Tottenham have just hired one of the finest tacticians in the league to a squad that still has the heart of Ange Postecoglou beating within them. With the right brush strokes before the window closes, Spurs could be headed for a special encore to their Europa League win in May.

Tottenham Hotspur couldn't quite close the deal and were left stunned after blowing a 2-0 lead to PSG in the UEFA Supercup Final, but before the wheels fell off as the starters exited the pitch and PSG's subs made the difference, Tottenham showed that they could go toe-to-toe with the best team in the world.

Contrast that to last season when Tottenham were regularly embarrassed by the likes of Liverpool, and you can see why Spurs supporters should have every reason to be optimistic about their future under Thomas Frank.

But the loss also exposed that Frank's tactical genius can only go so far in elevated Tottenham. This squad still needs more difference-makers and has a serious depth problem off the bench, exacerbated by injuries to key players like James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, as well as the unaddressed departure of Son Heung-min.

Therefore, Tottenham are pushing hard to sign another winger and attacking midfielder this summer before September hits, and their top No. 10 target is none other than Eberechi Eze, who has been linked on-and-off again to Spurs throughout the summer months.

Tottenham need a new 10 more than Arsenal

North London rivals Arsenal have also been significantly interested in bringing in Eze as a spark of creativity and a counterweight to captain Martin Odegaard, but it appears that the Gunners may be rethinking their plans to sign the FA Cup winner.

According to a report from talkSPORT's Ben Jaocbs, Tottenham are pushing faster to sign Eberechi Eze over Arsenal and are set to make a formal bid shortly. There is also optimism Eze will say yes if Crystal Palace do. But none of that is new or surprising information.

What is more interesting, though, is Jacobs noting that Arsenal are rethinking their pursuit of Eze and even slowing down their interest because they are considering the future of phenom Ethan Nwaneri, who is one of the best young wingers in the Premier League and probably one of the best teenagers in world football as a whole.

The problem is that Nwaneri, like Bukayo Saka, is a left-footed right winger, and there's no way he starts over one of the best players in the world. But Nwaneri could get minutes there and at the 10, and it might be easier for Nwaneri to get minutes in relief of Martin Odegaard since Arsenal already signed another left-footed right winger in Chelsea man Noni Madueke.

So if they were to sign Eze, Nwaneri would be blocked off even more from minutes, which would be terrible for the development of Arsenal's most special young player. In that way, Arsenal are handing Tottenham a boost for their dream No. 10 transfer target by focusing on their own young sensation.

The manner in which Tottenham lost the UEFA Super Cup final to Paris Saint-Germain added yet another sordid chapter to the "Spursy" saga and made it impossible to gloss over the yawning gulf in quality and experience that Thomas Frank and Luis Enrique had available on their respective benches.

Many pinned the blame on Daniel Levy for failing to prioritize the signing of an attacking midfielder or winger in the wake of James Maddison's injury and Son Heung-min's departure. It is objectively difficult to argue with that sentiment given that, other than Dominic Solanke, Frank had little choice but to bring on two 19-year-olds and a 20-year-old to see out a cagey European cup final, while Enrique had the luxury of substituting seasoned internationals Gonçalo Ramos and Lee Kang-in to provide firepower and level the match at the death.

But to focus exclusively on the negatives is to dismiss the many encouraging aspects on display during Thomas Frank's first game in charge. Spurs' defense was resolute. They played a tactically astute back three. They were effective on the counter-attack. They were exceedingly dangerous on set pieces. And they nullified PSG's dynamism for 70 minutes, like few teams in the world have been able to do. Before the match, no one thought Spurs had any chance of lifting the trophy, and yet they were two minutes away from pulling it off.

There could be more positive news on the horizon. There is growing belief that Spurs could get one or both of the Eberechi Eze and Savinho deals over the line before the first weekend of Premier League football is in the books. If Tottenham manage to sign both, they would immediately boast one of the most exciting (and expensive) forward lines in Europe.

Speculation about Eze and Savinho, however tempting, shouldn't overshadow how Tottenham's new arrivals have already transformed Spurs' style of play and dramatically improved the squad. While every Spurs player should hold their head high after their display in Udine, there were three who seem destined to define the Thomas Frank era.

João Palhinha

Tottenham supporters have been begging for a world-class central midfielder since Mousa Dembélé left the club in early 2019. Since then, Spurs have experimented with Victor Wanyama, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, and Yves Bissouma, but none have established themselves as a long-term solution. João Palhinha may have finally solved that problem. He will never be mistaken for the Belgian magician; instead, he is the Premier League's incarnation of Robocop.

The Portuguese international has more tackles than any other player in the Premier League since 2022, even though he missed one season while playing at Bayern Munich. But it was his all-around performance against PSG that proved he is more than a battering ram. In the lead-up to Spurs' first goal, the former Fulham man boxed out Marquinhos, pirouetted like a kickboxer, and in one fluid motion smashed a volley on target that Chevalier deflected off the bar and into the path of Micky van de Ven.

Frank now has a number six he can trust. Palhinha won't spray balls around the pitch, but he's seldom out of position. He adds much-needed grit to the squad. He is a threat to score from set pieces and from distance. And most importantly, he makes Tottenham incredibly difficult to break down. It was not surprising that Spurs conceded within ten minutes after he went off the pitch.

Mohammed Kudus

Until other attacking players are brought through the door, it is painfully clear that Kudus is Spurs' primary offensive threat. Known as "Starboy" among his Ghanaian teammates, the mazy winger is one of the world's best dribblers and one of the most technically gifted players in the Premier League.

What surprises many is his power. He uses his low center of gravity to keep possession in tight spaces and is able to muscle defenders off the ball when driving toward goal. He is probably quicker than he is fast. But he proved he is rapid enough to be a threat on the counter-attack. What may come as a surprise given his attributes is his willingness to track back and recover the ball. He plays with fire and pride, and he will no doubt relish the opportunity to put his myriad talents on display during Champions League nights.

Spurs knew they were getting a player with class, but from the small sample size it seems his ceiling is significantly higher than any other Spurs winger at the moment. Frank will work to improve his final product like he did with Mbeumo, Toney, Watkins, Schade, and Wissa. If he can become clinical in front of goal and get some help in the attacking third, he could easily rack up 20 goal contributions this season.

Cristian Romero

The narrative around "Cuti" Romero is about to change. Spurs' most decorated player is now Tottenham's third captain in a decade. It is a fitting honor for a world-class defender who has won nearly everything during his career—two Copa Américas, the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions, the FIFA World Cup, and now the Europa League. During his seven-year career in Europe, he has also been named Best Defender in Serie A and Europa League Player of the Season.

There was a cacophony of calls to sell the man from Córdoba during parts of last season, due to his tendency to make rash decisions, questions about his commitment to Tottenham, and his injury record. But the Argentinian international proved how indispensable he is against Paris Saint-Germain. He breaks lines with his passing. He is one of Spurs' most dangerous attacking threats on set pieces. He organizes the defense and gives the team supreme confidence.

Tottenham Hotspur have to scramble to close out the 2025 summer transfer window on a high, because, as a whole, it's been an underwhelming period for the 17th-placed club in the Premier League despite a few promising moments and signs.

Aside from the acquisition of Mohammed Kudus from London rivals West Ham, Tottenham haven't managed to bag any starting-caliber attackers this summer. They were close to Morgan Gibbs-White, but in agonizing fashion, he re-signed with Forest after the not-so-lovable Premier League underdogs heavily disputed the validity of Spurs purchasing his 60 million pound release clause.

Since then, Tottenham have yet to sign a different attacking midfielder, while their best No. 10, James Maddison, went down with a torn ACL. The focus is now on Eberechi Eze over at Crystal Palace, because most of the alternatives have been taken.

Nottingham Forest themselves just took the main alternative in Manchester City youngster James McAtee, who was pretty frequently linked to Tottenham throughout the summer transfer window. And now, Forest have added another Tottenham transfer target to their list of captures.

Nottingham Forest land top young striker

According to a report from Give Me Sport transfer insider Ben Jacobs, Nottingham Forest are now set to sign Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo, who, alongside Yoane Wissa, was one of the two strikers often mentioned as a possible alternative to Richarlison this window.

Forest will sign Kalimuendo, who is just 23 years old, to a transfer worth 26 million pounds, which is even less than the approximately 30 million pounds they signed bargain youngster McAtee for from Man City.

It looks like Forest are doing Tottenham's M.O. on the transfer window better than Spurs. That is to say, they are signing young, ascending players on the cheap. Tottenham probably weren't going to sign Kalimuendo due to having no buyers for Richarlison, though it's not exactly like they have tried hard to sell Richarlison or even to sign Kalimuendo.

Granted, it was in Ligue 1, which is a significantly easier league for strikers than the Premier League, but Kalimuendo still posted an impressive 17 goals and 3 assists last season that would dwarf any of Spurs attackers from the 2024/25 Premier League season.

Nottingham Forest were Champions League contenders last season, whereas Tottenham were closer to the relegation battle despite ultimately winning the Europa League. And the McAtee and Kalimuendo signings, as well as the GIbbs-White decision, are reminders that Tottenham need to work harder on the transfer market to climb back up to the top five in the current Premier League climate.

Even before the ACL tear to star man James Maddison, Tottenham Hotspur were in the market for a new No. 10, as they were linked to playmakers like James McAtee, Xavi Simons, Alejandro Garnacho, and Eberechi Eze.

McAtee has already chosen to move to Nottingham Forest, while Simons and Garnacho only have eyes on rivals Chelsea. But Eze is wide open for the taking and was pursued hard by Tottenham early in the transfer window, only for Spurs to relent. Now, Spurs were close to securing the signing of Morgan Gibbs-White, so perhaps that's why Eze fell off the radar.

But since Gibbs-White has chosen to stay with Nottingham Forest for the foreseeable future after signing a new deal when the transfer fell through, the focus is back on Eze. With Arsenal cooling their interest in the homegrown London star, Tottenham have a clear path to signing one of the most proven attacking midfielders in the Premier League.

Fabrizio Romano has dropped the transfer news Spurs supporters were waiting for on the Eberechi Eze front. Per Fab, Tottenham are ready "to open formal talks" with Crystal Palace in order to get a deal done. Romano confirms that Eze will go to Tottenham if Spurs and the Eagles can come to terms on a transfer agreement.

Tottenham need a 10 now more than ever

Tottenham are trying to get Eze for less than his 68 million pound release clause. That remains to be seen and is unlikely, with Eze coming off an FA Cup winning season for Crystal Palace, but it is actually more plausible now if Arsenal don't want to sign him. After all, less competition lowers the price.

Spurs fans are pounding the table harder than ever for a signing like Eze after their depth issues and lack of playmaking were exposed badly after they blew a 2-0 lead late in the game to fall to reigning Champions League winners PSG in the UEFA Supercup Final.

If Tottenham can land Eze and have him pulling the strings for Dominic Solanke, Richarlison, and Mohammed Kudus in front of him, then the Spurs attack under Thomas Frank may be onto something. But without someone like Eze as that missing piece - and there are really no better playmakers than him at this stage of the mercato - then Tottenham could be in for another dismally disappointing year in the Premier League after finishing a lowly 17th in the 2024/25 campaign.

This was a contest I entered with few expectations. When I don't expect, I seem to enjoy the games more. The absence of anxiety for 90 minutes is enticing.

However, as Wednesday's UEFA Super Cup progressed, the innate emotions associated with supporting this Godforsaken club simply couldn't be avoided. There was no Parisian bloodbath. No humiliation. Spurs were on top!

Our 1-0 lead was fully deserved, yet there was a sense that the world's best would inevitably grow after half-time. At 2-0 and our superiority still intact on the hour, all you could do was believe. Two European titles in the space of three months. How good, eh?

All it took was a sweet swing of a South Korean's boot, so often Son Heung-min's when Spurs are involved, for surprising optimism to drastically switch familiar pessimism. PSG had finally started to knock, and Lee Kang-in's finish broke the contest open. A second excellent goal took a game Spurs remarkably had in the bag to penalties. And while the hopeless romantic in me thought Guglielmo Vicario, in his hometown, simply had to be the hero, the Italian instead failed to come close to saving any of PSG's five spot-kicks, including one Vitinha put wide.

So, here we are. A gut-wrenching defeat. I wasn't supposed to care this much! It was meant to be a stroll for the world's best, you know, the sort of 2-0 win where their superiority is abundantly clear and they barely exit second gear.

That sort of loss appealed greatly to me at 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday night, but now that the emotion of the occasion has gradually faded, we can look back on the Super Cup with great pride and, crucially, hope! Here are four things we learned from our penalty shootout defeat.

Frank's flexibility was on full display in Udine. The new manager has opted for a 4-2-3-1 throughout pre-season, but changed tack here. He went with a back five, although the aggression of our wing-backs throughout meant we lined up in more of a 3-4-1-2. When we were forced to sit in and resist, the shape became a 5-3-2.

Given the players at his disposal, the shape change made plenty of sense—and it worked. While Spurs eventually entered clinging-on mode and defended deeply, for the most part, we sought to disrupt PSG's rhythm with a high man-to-man press. This was not a case of merely absorbing pressure and hitting Luis Enrique's side on the counter-attack.

The game plan was predicated on ensuring PSG were as uncomfortable as possible. We played long over their press, threw the ball into their box at every opportunity, and asserted our physical superiority. Pape Matar Sarr was incredible. Our set-piece dominance resulted in two goals, and this was no smash-and-grab. Sure, there was more than a pragmatic edge to Frank's plan, but we were fully deserving of our 2-0 lead.

While such ploys are unlikely to facilitate sustained success in the Premier League, there's no doubt that many of the big boys in the division who caught a glimpse of the Super Cup are already dreading our meetings in 2025/26. We're going to be a nightmare to play against.

I feared for us in Udine primarily because we haven't yet done enough in the transfer market. Frank's squad is incomplete, and that's what made our performance all the more impressive.

There have been just three new signings, one of whom, Kota Takai, is out injured and unlikely to play a major role in his debut season. The other two, Mohammed Kudus and Joao Palhinha, were brilliant here, and their withdrawals doubtless contributed to our late collapse.

Although, I get why both substitutions were made. Both were knackered, with Palhinha playing just 45 minutes in Lilywhite before the Super Cup.

The midfielder's performance offered great encouragement after a poor debut last week. He offered great stability when screening the defence, snapping into tackles and performing efficiently in possession. On the big occasion, we'll constantly turn to him to step up, and it was great to see him take on an impromptu coaching role on the bench. These are the characters we desperately need.

As for Kudus, well, where do I start? He was our sole bright spark in Munich last week, and the ex-West Ham star was key to a supreme collective effort in Udine. Nuno Mendes has made so many of the world's best look ordinary this calendar year, but he had his work cut out against Kudus, who's seemingly impossible to dispossess.

He's not yet the finished article in the final third, but boy, how fun is he to watch? He's going to be huge for Frank. Signing players of his quality is a foolproof method.

Dominic Solanke was fit enough for a place on the bench in Udine, having recovered from an ankle injury, meaning Richarlison retained his spot in the starting XI.

The Brazilian was poor last week in Munich, and I didn't hold out much hope for the forward here. His role was always going to revolve around winning the first ball and making it stick, something he failed to do for the duration of his performance against Bayern.

However, we couldn't have asked for much more from Richy. After a slow start, he grew into the Super Cup wonderfully. He functioned as a reliable focal point, smartly moving off PSG's backline to receive possession and distribute wide, and resisting contact effectively to ensure his team could get up the pitch.

He was immense in the second-half, continuing to work tirelessly until he couldn't give anymore. It's the best I've seen of him in a Spurs shirt, and I'd be surprised to see him sold in the final weeks of the window now.

Mathys Tel did not play well after entering the fray. Having seen Richarlison and Kudus work gloriously in tandem, Tel and Solanke offered close to no telepathy.

The Frenchman's night was capped off by a miss in the shootout, which proved decisive. He sent Lucas Chevalier the wrong way, but curled his effort wide of the post. Sadly, you knew what was coming next after Nuno Mendes thumped home the winning penalty.

Tel is certainly not the first to face abhorrent racial abuse on the back of a failure, and he most definitely won't be the last. In a strong-worded post, the club labelled those who resorted to such disgusting behaviour as "cowards", hiding behind anonymous profiles.

Mathys Tel is 20 years old. He dared to step up in the shootout, in the hope of scoring and giving the low-lives, who would later send direct abuse his way, the joy they so desperately need. You think Micky van de Ven was targeted the same?

It's the ease at which players can be accessed, as well as the anonymity offered, that means online racial slander will never disappear. Tel is just the latest victim.

Tottenham Hotspur have only brought in one new midfielder to boost a unit that was among the worst in the Premier League last season, certainly by the comparative standard of the other Big Six clubs in England. Loan acquisiton Joao Palhinha showed against PSG that he has what it takes to be an asset to Spurs, which isn't entirely surprising since he was one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League while at Fulham.

Palhinha, though, isn't a long-term solution and is probably going to head back to Bayern Munich after his loan is done instead of being bought permanently; he is past the age of 30. Tottenham added two young midfielders in Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray last summer, but they still need another young, emerging anchor who is, unlike Gray, ready to star in the Premier League right here and right now.

As Tottenham pursue a new attacking midfielder in the aftermath of James Maddison's ACL tear and zero in on London hero Eberechi Eze over at Crystal Palace, there is also one eye being kept on Palace's defensive midfield star Adam Wharton, who is the dreamiest of the dream targets at the 6 position for the Spurs faithful.

The problem is that Crystal Palace are going to drive an even harder bargain than the 68 million pound release clause for Eze, and they haven't even been seriously listening to transfer bids for Wharton this summer.

Real Madrid want more midfield control, just like Tottenham

Wharton could become available next year, but Tottenham already have to prepare for a storm of competitors. According to a new report from the Daily Mail's Simon Jones, Real Madrid are now watching the 21-year-old England international closely and have even been scouting him in person on multiple occasions.

Real Madrid have Aurelien Tchouameni as a midfield anchor and could be moving Arda Guler into a deeper role after Carlo Ancelotti's successful experimentation last season, but Wharton could be a real asset to them, too, since they struggled to control games last season in their first campaign without Toni Kroos. Wharton isn't really comparable to Kroos, but he is great at controlling games and creating from deep with smart and composed passing.

Tottenham have historically failed to sign players when they are targeted hard by elite European clubs - look no further than Desire Doue's move to PSG last summer. Spurs can't get scared of Real Madrid wanting Wharton, though, and when it comes to players in London, Spurs do have a level of pull that even the mighty Madrid may find it tough to contend with; it's just that Spurs, you know, actually need to try.

Although the focus has understandably been on players Tottenham Hotspur need to try to sign before the summer 2025 transfer window comes to a close, there's also the matter of Spurs needing to make sales in order to clear out space in the squad from unwanted players while raising more funds to afford the world-class players they want.

Tottenham are zeroing in on two attacking game-changers in the Premier League this summer to boost a squad that finished a lowly 17th in league play last year. But combined, Crystal Palace No. 10 Eberechi Eze and Manchester City winger Savinho would cost close to 150 million pounds.

Tottenham have spent just under 100 million pounds in the summer transfer window thus far and have room to go with investment, but they haven't generated any major sales besides selling Son Heung-min for half of what they could have to MLS as a favor to their greatest club legend.

Spurs have been having trouble finding a suitor for troublesome midfielder Yves Bissouma, and they've pretty much given up on trying to sell Richarlison. So the next sale could be another obvious one in forward Manor Solomon, who spent the last season starring in the Championship for newly promoted side Leeds United.

Tottenham forward could stay in Premier League

According to Fabrizio Romano, there are "clubs calling" to sign Solomon, and you'd think that they'd have to be relatively high-profile clubs since Fab has specified that they are La Liga and Premier League clubs. Romano writes that Solomon "could leave" Tottenham Hotspur in the remaining weeks of the transfer window.

You'd also have to think that Leeds are among those Premier League suitors, as Solomon was vital to them last season. He won't be the most productive forward in the Premier League, but he's a good goal-scoring winger who can make most rotations and would probably be able to have some sort of a backup role at Spurs.

But Spurs are going to try and bring in a real top-class starter in Savinho alongside Kudus, and they'd rather give those minutes on the wings to higher-upside options like Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel, and Wilson Odobert instead of Solomon, whose future potential is pretty limited.

Solomon is, like Bissouma, pretty much a no-brainer for Tottenham to sell this summer, and while Bissouma would actually be a bigger priority to sell, he's also proved himself in bigger games like in the Europa League knockouts. Solomon's level is a step or two below Tottenham.