Planet Football

After more than 500 days on the sidelines, Dejan Kulusevski felt like the cliché new signing as he made his return for Tottenham Hotspur.

Having previously won one home game in 2026 so far, Spurs fans have rarely left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with anything resembling optimism in recent times but they had plenty of reasons to feel like there may be a light at the end of the tunnel on Monday.

A first league win of the season in which Tottenham scored three goals for the first time since October 2025 included a cameo for a player many Spurs fans would have fairly forgotten all about.

The world’s longest ‘knock’ as it was first described by Ange Postecoglou saw Kulusevski return to the pitch in the 83rd minute and even if he only made nine touches, all of them were ones to enjoy as a Spurs fan.

His first touches came with a quick one-two with Conor Gallagher and had he not slipped, it could have been him rather than Ben Davies who scored later on. After Mathys Tel’s shot was half-heartedly cleared, Kulusevski was in a perfect spot to strike it but his trailing foot slipped on the turf.

His next involvements came on the break and were the ones that will have given Spurs fans plenty of hope about what was to come.

Starting from just inside Spurs’ half, Kulusevski was able to get down the right wing, hitting a top speed of 19.2 miles per hour, but was lacking options for him to play the ball to.

Still, that sprint was met with rapturous applause from the home fans who were not only happy to see their team attacking but one of the better players involved.

His final touches came late on when he picked up the ball on the right flank before beating his man but it may still take him a while to get his aim back as his cross was into the hands of Karl Rushworth.

In the end, Kulusevski’s nine-minute cameo ended with four out of four passes completed and one successful dribble with one successful cross. He even got two recoveries of the ball.

Perhaps more importantly for the Spurs medical department was that Kulusevski felt comfortable enough with his knee to sprint. Doing so four times and travelling 111m at full pace.

It was often the words of Arsene Wenger but having Kulusevski back, who is only 26, will feel like a new signing for a Spurs team that has struggled most of all to score goals.

The three on Monday doubled their tally for the season so far and while Kulusevski’s brief involvement suggests he is not yet ready to start, having him as an option from the bench will be a bonus for the next few games which see them travel to Stamford Bridge before facing the struggling Crystal Palace.

READ NEXT: The Premier League table since Tottenham appointed Roberto De Zerbi

Cast your mind back to the 2021-22 season and both Nuno Espirito Santo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were weathering early storms.

But as a sign of how far these two have fallen, Spurs were ninth at the time while United were fifth. This was considered to be underwhelming. They’d bite your hands off for those spots now.

United got the job done with a 3-0 victory courtesy of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford and Nuno was given the boot in the following days.

But what of that Spurs side? Here’s where the starting XI are now.

GK: Hugo Lloris

Hugo Lloris’ 12-year Spurs career came to an end in 2024 when he headed stateside to join Los Angeles FC.

They topped the Western Conference in his first season but lost in the semi-finals of the post-season playoffs, although he has lifted some silverware in the form of the U.S. Open Cup.

He’s 39 but still first choice and has kept 12 clean sheets in the 2026 season so far.

RB: Emerson Royal

Emerson Royal left Spurs in the summer of 2024 and moved to Milan, but spent just a single season at the San Siro before returning to Brazil.

He’s been playing for Flamengo ever since but was linked with a move to Aston Villa in the summer.

He’s only 27 still, so could make a return to Europe at some point.

CB: Cristian Romero

Spurs fans’ love/hate relationship with Cristian Romero ended this summer as he headed off to Atletico Madrid. Which seems the perfect home for him.

He’s had a decent start since arriving in Madrid and remarkably only has one yellow in four games. No red either.

CB: Eric Dier

Eric Dier’s unusual career continues as he is currently playing his football in Monaco, which is nice work if you can get it.

He most recently came back on English fans’ radar when he scored a penalty to draw 2-2 against Manchester City in the Champions League last season. And we still love *that* tackle on Sergio Ramos.

LB: Ben Davies

Davies is the sole survivor of this starting XI, still plugging away at Tottenham.

He’s pretty much there as a vibes guy now, having played just three Premier League matches last season, but Spurs handing him a contract extension in the summer showed they still valued having him around the place.

CM: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Having spent a season on loan initially, Hojbjerg moved on to Marseille permanently in the summer of 2025.

He’s still there now, but the club has had an awful start to the year and are in the relegation zone after five games.

CM: Oliver Skipp

Leicester signed Skipp in the summer of 2024 ahead of their Premier League campaign and if £50k a week is not a huge amount in the top flight, it certainly is in League One.

Skipp has been one of the clinger-ons at the Foxes, because frankly why would you give up the money? Back-to-back relegations mean he is one of several high earners Leicester are concerned about.

He is currently on loan at Charlton, with the Championship club reportedly paying a portion of his wages.

RW: Lucas Moura

The hero of that night in Amsterdam returned to his home town club after his Spurs career came to an end in 2023.

Moura rejoined Sao Paulo, 11 years after leaving the club he first joined in 2005 and is still playing there now at the age of 34.

CAM: Giovani Lo Celso

Lo Celso was a player who never seemed to really fit at Spurs and a five-year stint at the club amounted to 77 league appearances.

He was loaned out for the 2022-23 campaign to Villarreal before moving permanently back to Spain and Betis.

LW: Son Heung-min

With Kane gone, Spurs fans had to then say goodbye to Son last summer.

His move was very sudden, with it being announced on a pre-season tour in Korea, meaning Spurs fans never got the chance to properly say goodbye, but the now 34-year-old left for the MLS and LA FC.

Linking up with Lloris once again, Son has scored 20 goals and provided 23 assists in his 49 games for the club.

ST: Harry Kane

Kane was already one of the world’s best back in 2021, but few would have seriously suggested he would ever be in Ballon d’Or contention.

His move to Bayern Munich has not only given him his long-awaited trophies but also the chances to score bags and bags of goals, meaning that while his former club are staring at the relegation zone, he has a serious chance of being named the best player on the planet.

His contract reportedly includes a clause giving Spurs first refusal on any future transfer, so a return isn’t completely ruled out.

SUB: Steven Bergwijn

One of the more forgettable Spurs players, bar that injury-time madness at Leicester, moved back to the Netherlands and joined Ajax in 2022, having once been part of their youth academy.

In 2024, he took the Saudi money with a move to Al-Ittihad.

SUB: Tanguy Ndombele

The player that infuriated Jose Mourinho left Spurs in 2024 permanently after a series of loans across Europe.

His landing spot was Nice, who he played for in the past two seasons but they opted to let his contract expire in the summer and he is currently without a club. Possibly the worst big-money Levy signing.

SUB: Dele Alli

Alli made an appearance in what turned out to be his final season at Spurs. Since then, he moved to Everton, Besiktas on loan and then Como, but has not had a club since last year.

These days, he’s largely streaming on Twitch.

READ NEXT: Ranking every Tottenham manager since 1992 from worst to best: De Zerbi 12th…

Time moves by very quickly in the world of football and some clubs are hardly recognisable from what they were 10 years ago.

A decade back, Leicester were the Premier League champions, Gareth Southgate had just been installed as England manager and Marcus Rashford made his Manchester United debut.

But who has won and who has lost in the time since? Here’s how the Premier League table looked 10 years ago on this day and who has fared the worst and best in the time since.

Winners – Brentford

An obvious winner is Brentford, who had never experienced Premier League football this time a decade ago.

They sat sixth in the Championship under the stewardship of Dean Smith and would go on to finish the year 10th.

It was not until the 2019-20 season that Brentford began flirting with the possibility of going up, finishing third in consecutive seasons.

Having lost the 2019-20 playoff final to Fulham, Brentford went one step further the following year to make it to the Premier League for the first time.

From that moment, they were predicted to be dead last in the top flight but surprised everyone with a 13th place finish and it has been steady progress ever since.

Now, Keith Andrews got them to the edge of Europe and they are fourth in the Premier League.

The transformation of the club has been huge in the past 10 years.

Manchester City

It sounds obvious to say but Manchester City have had a pretty good last 10 years.

The 2016-17 season was Pep Guardiola’s first in charge and although his debut year did end trophyless, they soon became the unstoppable winning machine we all knew them as.

Six Premier League titles were won, three FA Cups, five League Cups and a Champions League that came as part of a treble.

City have dominated English football in the last 10 years and although Arsenal and Liverpool occasionally knocked them off their perch, there is no denying they are the big winners of the last decade.

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Brighton

Brighton’s transformation in the past 10 years has been so successful that it has become the model every ambitious owner wants to follow.

The Tony Bloom era started in 2009 and after consolidating the club, progress had been steady up through the EFL.

The Seagulls made it into the Championship in the 2011-12 season but very nearly dropped back down in the 2014-15 season. Remarkably, they finished third the following year and having missed out in the playoffs, were seventh on this day 10 years ago.

Brighton would go on to finish second, ending a 34-year absence from the top flight and have since been the example of how to build sustainably and smartly.

Finishing from 15th to 17th in their first four seasons, they rose to ninth in 2011-22 and in 2022-2023 they finished sixth under Roberto De Zerbi.

Since then, Brighton have not only established themselves as a Premier League club but also now have their eyes on pushing further up the table. Back-to-back eighth-place finishes in the past two seasons have preceded an excellent start by Fabian Hurzeler’s team who are in third having put three past Champions Arsenal.

And they have done all of this whilst still having a positive net spend, one of only two teams in the Premier League to boast that achievement.

Ipswich Town

The 2016-17 season was the 16th of 17 consecutive campaigns in the Championship for Ipswich with the club firmly stuck in a mid-table malaise.

Underspending had seen the Suffolk club go from occasional Premier League botherers to the most Championship of Championship teams.

Mick McCarthy was in charge and the team was 11th on this day 10 years ago but the team is hardly recognisable since then.

Ipswich were bought by American owners in 2021 who set about reviving the lifeless club. Promotion from League One under Kieran McKenna preceded a return to the top flight for the first time in 22 years.

Ask fans 10 years ago if they would want to be a Premier League yo-yo team and they would happily say yes but a record €220.65m spent shows the owners mean to stay in the top flight.

Losers – Tottenham Hotspur

The thing that is perhaps most impressive about Spurs’ decline is just how rapid it has been.

This time 10 years ago, they were third in a season that would see them go on to finish second. That came as part of three seasons in a row of third or higher and it really felt Tottenham were on the edge of getting it over the line.

Pochettino’s departure loosened the standard, resulting in a drop, but even then it fell to a low of eighth in the 2022-23 campaign.

But Ange Postecoglou’s time in charge has altered the very nature of Spurs. A first season saw them finish fifth, but it became acceptable to lose the following year as they chased European success and that mantra is hard to shake once it’s been installed.

And you only have to look at the squads to see how much things have changed. Who of the current crop would get into the 2016 squad? Where are the world-class talents like Kane and Son? If 2016 Spurs played 2026 Spurs, the former would batter their successors.

Tottenham are one of the biggest losers of the past decade, for they have fallen so far from a standard that once made them genuine league title contenders.

Tottenham next? Premier League clubs who ‘won the transfer window’ & flopped

Leicester City

If Spurs’ fall has at least been confined to the Premier League (for now), the same cannot be said for Leicester.

The warning signs were already there five games in as Leicester won two, drew one and lost two in what became an increasingly poor season.

Punctuated by some memorable European nights, the Foxes genuinely looked like they could go down and Ranieri got the boot.

The club did stabilise and push for Europe under Brendan Rodgers but the death of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in 2018 was a huge turning point.

The club had lost its leader and his son Aiyawatt has failed to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Leicester went down in 2022-23 but came straight back up under Enzo Maresca but the same was not true when they went down again the following season.

The Foxes collapsed and suffered a double relegation while facing increasingly concerning questions about their finances and a £100 million training ground.

Expected to be amongst the promotion contenders this season, Russell Martin has instead guided them to 13th and the Premier League seems an awfully long way away now.

West Brom

The Baggies were previously a mainstay of Premier League football but those days are long gone.

They were 11th this time a decade ago and although they finished in that spot, the following year they were relegated in last.

They returned in 2020-21 but could not avoid the drop and have been stuck in Championship obscurity ever since.

Fifth in 2023-24 and 21st last season are the outliers in what is otherwise midtable mediocrity and they would be an outside bet to go up this year despite their strong start.

Everton

Ronald Koeman had just been appointed Everton boss and everything seemed rather promising with a start that saw them second in the Premier League.

They would go on to finish seventh, earning Europa League football, and it was an encouraging time to be an Everton fan.

There’s not been much to be encouraged by since.

Koeman’s tenure fizzled out and he was sacked in October 2017 with the club in the relegation zone.

Everton hit the panic button by appointing Sam Allardyce who guided them to eighth but Marco Silva was not able to push them any higher.

A weird Carlo Ancelotti fever dream preceded a dip in form that had Everton nervously looking down at the drop. Lampard and Dyche both came and went, leaving the Toffees to return to former favourite David Moyes.

The Scot has steadied the ship and a shiny new stadium has been at least some positive, but 13th is a long way off the second place they occupied this time 10 years ago.

READ NEXT: The definitive Premier League XI of modern-day Barclaysmen: Pickford, Burn…

Even after huge summer spending in the transfer market, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are still slipping in the calendar year table.

Given Spurs’ outlay during the recently closed window, it was hardly an unreasonable expectation for Roberto De Zerbi’s side to have overtaken last season’s bottom-placed team inside the first fortnight.

Alas, no. After spending £320million, having played three games more, Tottenham still trail a Wolves side that for large parts of last season were expected to be the worst ever in the Premier League.

That is despite having played three games more than Wolves, but still De Zerbi’s expensively assembled squad are struggling to catch up.

It will be at least three games before they overtake West Ham. They cannot do so until the middle of October at the earliest.

Liverpool too have invested heavily this summer – only five clubs in the world spent more.

But the Reds have allowed themselves to be overtaken in the 2026 table by a Leeds United side that spent much of last season fending off the threat of relegation.

Bournemouth’s position in the top four gave Andoni Iraola the necessary glow up to catch Liverpool’s eye in the summer. And they remain there under Marco Rose despite failing to win either of their first two matches.

Crystal Palace have some excuses for most of their league struggles in 2026 since they invested much of their energy in their Europa Conference League campaign while not having to worry much about looking over their shoulder in the Premier League.

But despite the arrival of a new manager, Pierre Sage, Palace are struggling to lift themselves domestically at the start of the season that has begun with successive defeats.

READ NEXT: The Premier League net spend table since Man City’s 115 charges were announced

Mykhailo Mudryk will be spending this season on loan at Tottenham – but what kind of salary can he expect to earn at his new club?

Mudryk has not played a competitive match since November 2024, serving a suspension that followed an adverse finding for the banned substance meldonium.

But he has been eligible to play football since July, with Chelsea willing to allow the player to leave on loan to build up match fitness.

After being linked with Coventry, Crystal Palace and Leeds, Mudryk will now spend the 2026-27 campaign at Tottenham.

The winger previously played under De Zerbi at Shakhtar Donetsk, before moving to Chelsea for an initial £61million in January 2023.

It’s currently unclear what proportion of Mudryk’s wages Spurs will pay, but the Ukrainian is currently earning £100,000 per week at Chelsea. This would mean that 13 Tottenham players get paid more, but several are paid notably less.

Here’s a full breakdown of every player in Tottenham’s squad and how much they earn in wages compared to Mudryk.

Note: Besides Van de Ven and Mateus Fernandes, all figures come via football finance website Capology, who themselves state that: “All salary figures are estimates as actual salaries may vary. Unverified players are calculated using algorithms, or sourced from reporting that has not been confirmed yet.”

=8. Mohammed Kudus – £150,000

=8. Pedro Porro – £150,000

=8. Marcos Senesi – £150,000

=18. Destiny Udogie – £75,000

=18. Rodrigo Bentacur – £75,000

=18. Archie Gray – £75,000

=21. Lucas Bergvall – £60,000

=21. Antonin Kinsky – £60,000

=27. Dane Scarlett – £15,000

=27. Brandon Austin – £15,000

READ NEXT: Every team to have come top of The Athletic’s Hope-O-Meter – was their optimism justified?

Tottenham have reached an agreement to sign Iliman Ndiaye from Everton – but what kind of salary can he expect to earn at his new club?

Despite a summer transfer spend approaching £400million, Spurs have lost their two opening Premier League games and have been looking for attacking reinforcements.

That was expected to be Cody Gakpo, but the Liverpool forward is now expected to join Manchester City before the window shuts on Tuesday.

City had been eyeing up Ndiaye, but now Spurs have swooped in to sign the Senegal international and will send Richarlison back to Everton in a seperate deal.

Ndiaye joined Everton from Marseille in 2024 for £15million. He’s scored 17 goals and provided four assists in 73 games for the club.

Spurs will be hoping Ndiaye’s output will scale up in north London, while the player himself will surely be hoping for a bumper pay rise.

He currently earns £45,000 per week at Everton, which would place him in the lower echelons of the Spurs squad.

Here’s a full breakdown of every player in Tottenham’s squad and how much they earn in wages compared to Ndiaye.

Note: Besides Van de Ven and Mateus Fernandes, all figures come via football finance website Capology, who themselves state that: “All salary figures are estimates as actual salaries may vary. Unverified players are calculated using algorithms, or sourced from reporting that has not been confirmed yet.”

=8. Mohammed Kudus – £150,000

=8. Pedro Porro – £150,000

=8. Marcos Senesi – £150,000

=17. Destiny Udogie – £75,000

=17. Rodrigo Bentacur – £75,000

=17. Archie Gray – £75,000

=22. Lucas Bergvall – £60,000

=22. Antonin Kinsky – £60,000

=29. Dane Scarlett – £15,000

=29. Brandon Austin – £15,000

READ NEXT:Roberto De Zerbi’s dream Tottenham XI for 26-27: Massive rebuild with SEVEN new signings

Omar Marmoush could be on the move to Tottenham Hotspur – but might the Manchester City and Egypt attacker’s wages be a problem?

Tottenham have been continually linked with Marmoush through the summer transfer window, but it seems the north London side might finally be readying their move.

City and Tottenham still have work to do to reach an agreement over a transfer fee, with Spurs then needing to agree terms with the 27-year-old.

Prior to this summer, that may have been problematic.

Marmoush is currently paid £295,000 a week at the Etihad after signing from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2025.

Matching those terms would have required Spurs to smash their wage structure before this window. But deals they have already done in 2026 have prompted a change of approach, similar to that of Arsenal’s.

Sandro Tonali was the first Spurs player to receive a deal worth £200,000 a week, when he joined from Newcastle.

And Spurs recently agreed a new deal with Micky van de Ven which, according to reports in the Netherlands, sees the defender trouser £64million over five years.

Here’s a full breakdown of every player in Tottenham’s squad and how much they earn in wages compared to Marmoush.

Note: Besides Van de Ven and Mateus Fernandes, all figures come via football finance website Capology, who themselves state that: “All salary figures are estimates as actual salaries may vary. Unverified players are calculated using algorithms, or sourced from reporting that has not been confirmed yet.”

=8. Mohammed Kudus – £150,000

=8. Pedro Porro – £150,000

=8. Marcos Senesi – £150,000

=16. Destiny Udogie – £75,000

=16. Guglielmo Vicario – £75,000

=16. Rodrigo Bentacur – £75,000

=16. Archie Gray – £75,000

=22. Lucas Bergvall – £60,000

=22. Antonin Kinsky – £60,000

READ NEXT: Roberto De Zerbi’s dream Tottenham XI for 26-27: Massive rebuild with SEVEN new signings

Savinho is on the move to Tottenham Hotspur – but how do his current wages at Manchester City compare with those of his new team-mates?

The Brazilian winger is due to join Spurs for an initial £75million – with an extra £10million in potential add-ons – as Roberto De Zerbi builds a squad aimed at avoiding another relegation battle.

Tottenham have spent a combined £185m on midfielders Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali, while also signing Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Sensei and Andrew Robertson for their defence.

Spurs also remain interested in Cody Gakpo and Omar Marmoush, but spending such a high fee on Savinho is certainly a statement of intent.

The 22-year-old currently earns £80,000 per week at City, placing him in the mid-range of Tottenham’s current squad. We’ll expect he’ll recieve a pay increase upon his move to north London.

Here’s a full breakdown of every player in Tottenham’s squad and how much they earn in wages compared to Savinho.

Note: Besides Van de Ven and Mateus Fernandes, all figures come via football finance website Capology, who themselves state that: “All salary figures are estimates as actual salaries may vary. Unverified players are calculated using algorithms, or sourced from reporting that has not been confirmed yet.”

=7. Mohammed Kudus – £150,000

=7. Pedro Porro – £150,000

=7. Marcos Senesi – £150,000

=14. Savinho – £80,000

=14. Ben Davies – £80,000

=16. Destiny Udogie – £75,000

=16. Guglielmo Vicario – £75,000

=16. Rodrigo Bentacur – £75,000

=16. Archie Gray – £75,000

=22. Lucas Bergvall – £60,000

=22. Antonin Kinsky – £60,000

READ NEXT: Roberto De Zerbi’s dream Tottenham XI for 26-27: Savinho one of SEVEN new signings

Cody Gakpo could be on the move to Tottenham Hotspur – but might the Liverpool attacker’s wages be a problem?

Tottenham have been continually linked with the Netherlands forward through the summer transfer window but, as the deadline approaches, it seems the north London side might finally be readying their move.

According to reports, Gakpo is ready to make the switch and has informed Liverpool of his desire.

The Reds are willing to sell since their pursuit of perhaps two other wingers hinges on making room in their squad and on their wage bill.

Liverpool and Tottenham still have work to do to reach an agreement over a transfer fee. Then Spurs have to talk terms with Gakpo.

Prior to this summer, that may have been problematic.

Gakpo is currently paid £250,000 a week at Anfield after signing a new contract in 2025.

Matching those terms would have required Spurs to smash their wage structure before this window. But deals they have already done in 2026 have prompted a change of approach, similar to that of Arsenal’s.

Sandro Tonali was the first Spurs player to receive a deal worth £200,000 a week when he joined from Newcastle. Even that, though, is significantly less than Gakpo’s current salary.

But Spurs have recently agreed a new deal with Micky van de Ven which, according to reports in the Netherlands, sees the defender trouser £64million over five years.

That signifies a willingness to meet the kind of demands Gakpo would make. The Liverpool striker will insist on a pay rise as part of any move, but Van de Ven’s recent deal suggests negotiations with Gakpo’s agent could be smoother than they once might have been.

Here’s how Gakpo’s current salary compares with the test of the Spurs squad…

Note: Besides Van de Ven and Mateus Fernandes, all figures come via football finance website Capology, who themselves state that: “All salary figures are estimates as actual salaries may vary. Unverified players are calculated using algorithms, or sourced from reporting that has not been confirmed yet.”

=8. Mohammed Kudus – £150,000

=8. Pedro Porro – £150,000

=8. Marcos Senesi – £150,000

=16. Destiny Udogie – £75,000

=16. Guglielmo Vicario – £75,000

=16. Rodrigo Bentacur – £75,000

=16. Archie Gray – £75,000

=22. Lucas Bergvall – £60,000

=22. Antonin Kinsky – £60,000

READ NEXT: Comparing Victor Osimhen’s wages with every player in Arsenal’s squad

Every summer needs its sagas but these five are getting a little tiresome as the end of the transfer window approaches…

This summer saw a flurry of deals done early before the World Cup, while other transfers came out of the blue, which is always the best kind of transfer.

Other potential deals, though, are starting to drag. Like these five…

Bradley Barcola

Yan Diomande had ‘saga’ written all over him through the early part of the summer before Real Madrid stepped up where Liverpool and PSG were unwilling to. But once Diomande was out of Liverpool’s reach, it quickly became all about Barcola.

Yet here we are, maybe seven weeks or so after the PSG winger became Liverpool’s primary focus and, from the outside, it appears that we’re no further on than we were at the end of June.

That’s purely down to the difference between Liverpool and PSG in their valuations of Barcola, and we don’t blame either for not capitulating to the other. PSG, though, are the ones most culpable for this one dragging on because their asking price is, frankly, a bit ridiculous.

Reports suggest they want £145million for the winger and they are perfectly entitled to push their luck, especially in the current market. But, c’mon lads…

Liverpool must have taken encouragement from somewhere to persist with their interest; perhaps from Barcola himself, with personal terms already agreed, which ought not to have been difficult given his current salary wouldn’t put him in Liverpool’s top 10 earners.

But one side will have to cave or both will have to make hefty compromises for this to get done before the deadline. Which we’re not sure it will.

Savinho

Sometimes with transfer deals, we have to accept that there must be something we’re missing. Because when it comes to Savinho, we’re not quite sure why Manchester City are resisting a big-money sale or why Tottenham Hotspur are content to be strung along despite offering more than double the money City paid for the Brazilian two years ago.

We understand that Enzo Maresca wants time to assess all of the players he has inherited, and despite plenty of specialist wingers on the books – Savinho, Jeremy Doku, Antoine Semenyo, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Monga – City are only sure of being able to rely on two. But doesn’t that increase the haste necessary, especially as the deadline nears?

Savinho struggled badly last season – that can happen to a young player in his second season – but only 14 starts across all competitions and seven goal involvements suggests Tottenham are being more than fair by offering £60million.

Actually, reports suggest they are tabling considerably more than that, yet still haven’t got the deal done.

City might be wary of Savinho making them regret selling him by excelling at Spurs but he’ll only do that because he’ll get the prominence he won’t at the Etihad. If City cannot offer him such status and platform, they might as well sell – especially while Spurs are such motivated buyers – and quickly find a replacement.

Marcus Rashford

Barcelona are so often tiresome in these situations and we really expected them to drag out a deal for Rashford through much of the summer. But, for once, they set their stall out early by ignoring the option they had to sign the Manchester United winger and, instead, spend almost three times that amount on Anthony Gordon.

No, the tedious aspect to this particular saga is the pretence that United and Rashford might make up and live happily ever after.

At this stage, it is possible that they might. But it would be something of a forced marriage, necessitated by a lack of interest from elsewhere.

Make no mistake: United’s preference is to get their highest-earner off the books; and Rashford would prefer to start afresh elsewhere having last played for his boyhood team 20 months ago.

We still expect that to be the final outcome, especially since United’s demands for the winger are not unreasonable, particularly in the current market.

United may have to bite the bullet and take a risk on Rashford thriving at a rival club but that’s the price they must pay to draw a line under a sorry saga.

Julian Alvarez

Perhaps Barcelona parked their interest in Rashford early to focus all their energy on Alvarez since it was clear even before the end of last season that this would be particularly draining.

Atletico Madrid were already tired of the bulls*** at the end of May, when they posted on social media images of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Pedri wearing Atletico shirts, highlighting what they called a smear campaign to unsettle Alvarez and lower his price.

We enjoyed that, and also Real Madrid sticking the boot in. One of the pledges Florentino Perez made in his re-election campaign was to immediately submit a €150 million offer for a major star.

Before the ballot, we had no idea that it was Alvarez and that the bid was never designed to be successful, only to screw with Barca. Well played, old man.

But then it all got a bit tiresome, with Alvarez left in a tricky situation. He went to the World Cup hoping to return to Spain as a Barca player but the Catalans could never get near to the £130million valuation Atletico – quite reasonably – still hold.

Things really came to a head last week when Alvarez had to return to training with Atletico, which made some in the Spanish media lose their freaking minds.

With no sign of Barca coming up with the goods, Alvarez is at the repentance stage, having reportedly apologised to his team-mates for going public with his wishes to move to the Nou Camp. Which wasn’t the foolish part. Alvarez’s biggest mistake was trusting Barca to do what was obviously necessary.

Another tedious aspect to the nonsense has been Arsenal lurking in the shadows. The Gunners, like Barcelona, fancy Alvarez but neither are they serious enough to make Atletico an offer worth considering.

MORE: Julian Alvarez to Barcelona has seen us reach new horizons in Spanish journalist transfer insanity

Enzo Fernandez

The World Cup and a change of manager at both Fernandez’s current club and the one he fancies joining – if Real Madrid aren’t interested, which they are not – has seen this one only come to the boil in the last fortnight or so.

But anyone who watched Fernandez stare down the irate Chelsea fans at Brighton knew to expect the Argentina midfielder to at least attempt to jump ship, even if things are looking rather rosier at Stamford Bridge following Xabi Alonso’s appointment.

Fernandez’s former boss, Enzo Maresca, has been appointed at Manchester City and, as is tradition, the new manager has been linked with a number of his old players. Fernandez chief among them.

There is clearly some legitimacy to the links, though we’ve always doubted City’s desire to give Chelsea even a small profit on the £107million they paid for Fernandez.

Chelsea too have sought some clarity on City’s level of intent by placing a deadline for the Mancunians to meet their demands. Which, as expected, came and went with nothing happening.

At least, though, things could get spicy if Fernandez attempts to force a move with the two clubs not too far away from an agreeable number.

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