TEAMtalk

According to The Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur have had a better summer in terms of signing players than Arsenal and Liverpool.

Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool were all busy in the summer transfer window.

While Arsenal are aiming to retain the Premier League title they won last season, Liverpool, under new manager Andoni Iraola, are looking to become the champions of England.

As for Tottenham, the north London club’s main objective this season is to end up in the Champions League places in the Premier League table.

According to The Athletic, Spurs have had a better transfer window than both Liverpool and Arsenal.

The reputable publication has ranked Tottenham 10th in terms of the Premier League clubs having the best window, with manager Roberto De Zerbi having signed the likes of Sandro Tonali, Matheus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke.

The report has stated: ‘For those of us old enough to remember the Daniel Levy era, Tottenham spending north of £300m on 10 players in a single transfer window is quite disorienting.

‘They have clearly enhanced parts of their squad, with Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke surely more reliable than Cristian Romero, Sandro Tonali and Matheus Fernandes obvious upgrades in midfield and the double swoop from Manchester City, Omar Marmoush and Savio, also potentially pretty exciting.

‘And yet, you’re also left with a nagging sense that despite having spent a quarter of the cost of their stadium, they’re still left without a reliable goalkeeper or centre-forward.

‘Plus, the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk feels a bit weird, as does selling Kevin Danso and replacing him with Tosin Adarabioyo.’

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Arsenal and Liverpool have had worse transfer windows

The Athletic has ranked Arsenal 11th and Liverpool as low as 15th.

The report has noted about Liverpool: ‘A baffling summer at Anfield, in which they became fixated on some areas of the pitch and entirely neglected others.

‘Bradley Barcola is the headline addition, a deal that could end up costing an astonishing £120m ($162.4m), while Ronald Araujo is a sensible enough stop-gap in defence, taking the heat slightly off the impressive-looking Jeremy Jacquet.

‘But the entire right side of their team seems to have been ignored: until Conor Bradley returns from injury, they don’t have a single specialist down that flank, with Jeremie Frimpong more of a wing-back than a real defender, and all of their four wingers are more comfortable on the left.

‘And then there’s midfield, which has looked remarkably open so far and could really have benefited from a proper No 6; Andoni Iraola disagrees, so the next few months will be a test to see if he is right.’

Regarding Arsenal, the publication observed: ‘It’s tricky to assess Arsenal’s transfer window.

‘On the one hand, their already strong defence and midfield was strengthened with the signings of Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa, so you can’t see them losing too many games.

‘But at the same time, their attack is now weaker — or at the very least not stronger.

‘They sold three attackers and brought in one, and Christos Tzolis has looked great so far, but they didn’t get the big ‘difference-maker’ that most people seem to think they need.

‘Admittedly, players of that calibre are extremely tough to find and even tougher to sign, but after spending a good amount of time chasing Vinicius Jnr and Julian Alvarez, it’s hard not to be slightly underwhelmed.’

Gary Neville has told Chelsea that they made a mistake by not signing Cristian Romero from Tottenham before the centre-back moved to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer.

It was no secret that the Argentine international had his heart set on a Spurs departure after the club’s dismal 2025/26 season, and Atletico ultimately agreed a deal worth £34.2million to bring him in.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have won both of their opening Premier League fixtures but conceded five goals in the process, beating Fulham 3-2 before a 4-3 win against Brighton.

The Blues may have signed Maxence Lacroix over the summer, but they still look vulnerable at the back.

Neville thinks that the ‘aggressive’ Romero would’ve been a good addition to Xabi Alonso’s side. “It might sound crazy but I actually wouldn’t mind Cristian Romero in my team,” Neville said on The Overlap. “I wouldn’t mind that.

“I’m surprised Chelsea didn’t sign him. Now Tottenham might not have wanted to sell him to Chelsea but I was surprised Chelsea didn’t sign him.

“I thought he would have been perfect for Chelsea as that aggressive centre-half in a back-three. I am surprised they didn’t sign him.’ Arsenal legend Ian Wright added: “Chelsea would have been a good club for him.”

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Chelsea, Arsenal missed out on Cristian Romero

Chelsea’s main centre-back options in their three at the back system comprise of Lacroix, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Josh Achaempong.

Romero, with his 123 appearances in the Premier League, would have been an experienced option for Alonso to call upon, and arguably would’ve slotted straight into Chelsea’s starting XI.

Arsenal certainly thought he would have been a valuable addition.

TEAMtalk revealed in early August that Arsenal made an enquiry over potentially signing Romero, before his switch to Atletico was completed.

The Gunners viewed Romero as someone who could fill in for the injured William Saliba, though they ultimately opted to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa instead.

It is worth noting, though, that sources told us that Tottenham had ‘no intention’ of doing a deal with Arsenal – and it’s impossible to know whether they would’ve taken that same stance with Chelsea.

Chelsea’s decision not to bring in another centre-back could be viewed as a mistake, as Neville suggests, but also their failure to sign a new midfielder to replace Enzo Fernandez is arguably an even bigger problem.

They pushed for Monaco’s Lamine Camara before that deal collapsed on deadline day, and then made a last-ditch approach for Everton’s James Garner, which also failed.

Alonso will now have to cope with the options he has in defence and midfield as he aims to bring trophies to Stamford Bridge this season.

Liverpool shortlisted an £85million star before seeing him join Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window, a report has revealed, while the Reds have brought forward a striker capture.

Liverpool’s summer was headlined by the marquee signing of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain. The French winger moved to Anfield in a £123m deal, making him the third-most expensive Premier League signing of all time.

Liverpool also bolstered their winger ranks with the addition of Victor Munoz, while Ronald Araujo has been brought in to provide cover at both centre-half and right-back.

But Andoni Iraola’s side did not land a central midfielder, despite links with a costly star…

New Liverpool link

Liverpool considered Mateus Fernandes before watching the Portuguese sign for Tottenham from West Ham United for a huge £85m in July, The Athletic report.

They wrote: ‘Another midfielder who featured on Liverpool’s shortlist if they had decided to strengthen in that area was West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes, who was snapped up by Tottenham for £85million.’

The report explains how Liverpool were analysing midfield targets in case Alexis Mac Allister decided to move on.

Liverpool scouts viewed Monaco star Lamine Camara as their ‘favoured option’, and the Reds will maintain their interest in the 22-year-old heading into 2027.

Chelsea saw a £47m deal for Camara collapse right at the very end of deadline day, and Liverpool could soon hijack their talks for him.

Striker deal

This Is Anfield editor Jack Lusby wrote on X: ‘Understand Djylian N’Guessan will officially make his transfer to #LFC in January.

‘This is despite Saint-Etienne announcing a new contract before his loan to Brest today.

‘N’Guessan (18) could be brought straight in mid-season or spend the full campaign on loan.’

Saint-Etienne finalised a new contract with the France U20 international to stop him from joining Liverpool on a free transfer.

Sarr update

Liverpool made an approach for Ismaila Sarr as part of their search for a new right winger, only for it to be rebuffed by Crystal Palace.

When asked if Sarr might leave either in January or next summer, new Palace boss Pierre Sage replied: “I don’t think he will leave, because now all the clubs are in the season [and have squads finalised].

“We have a decision to make with the European list [registration of players for the Europa League], and he will speak about that later. It is difficult to decide the team when you are in these competitions.”

Sage added that Sarr has to ‘digest’ the disappointment of missing out on a transfer to Anfield.

The attacker had deleted all Palace-related pictures from his Instagram amid his push to secure a major transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has left Richarlison out of his Premier League squad for this season, with the Brazilian forward facing further humiliation as one of his teammates who cannot play under January has been included.

Earlier on Thursday, TEAMtalk’s transfer correspondent, Fraser Fletcher, reported that Tottenham are ready to sell Richarlison.

Sources have told us that Trabzonspor are pushing to get a deal done for the former Everton forward.

We understand that Tottenham manager De Zerbi is not keen on keeping Richarlison.

Fraser Fletcher has reported that Trabzonspor have a deal in place with Richarlison over personal terms.

The Turkish Super Lig club now have to strike an agreement with Tottenham over a transfer fee.

This comes after Richarlison posted a public statement on X and Instagram on August 31 claiming that he will not be forced into making a decision.

Tottenham and Everton were in talks late in the summer transfer window over a return of Richarlison to the Toffees.

Spurs have now made it abundantly clear that Richarlison is not part of De Zerbi’s side.

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Tottenham make Richarlison and Xavi Simons decision

Tottenham have announced their Premier League squad for this season and have omitted Richarlison from the list.

One must note that Tottenham have NOT finalised a sale of the forward.

Yet Spurs have decided that Richarlison is not in De Zerbi’s plan.

To pile further humiliation on the forward, Tottenham have included Xavi Simons in their 2026/27 Premier League squad.

Simons tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Wolves in April and underwent surgery in May.

According to The London Evening Standard, the Netherlands international attacker is expected to be back in action for Tottenham only in 2027.

Despite Simons not being available for the first half of the season, Tottenham have still decided to include him in their Premier League squad over Richarlison.

Trabzonspor are pushing to complete a deal for Richarlison ahead of tomorrow’s Turkish transfer deadline after agreeing personal terms with the striker, TEAMtalk understands.

Tottenham are keen to offload the Brazilian, with Roberto De Zerbi not eager to keep a player who has already asked to leave – as the manager has admitted publicly.

After recent arrivals in north London, namely Spurs’ signing of Omar Marmoush, Richarlison has slipped further down the pecking order. Sources are confident he will be a Trabzonspor player within the next 24 hours.

The 29-year-old has one year left on his contract, though Tottenham an option to extend it by a further 12 months.

He joined from Everton in 2022 and was Tottenham’s top Premier League scorer last season with 11 goals. That form has not secured his place. He told De Zerbi more than once that he wanted out and was left out of the squad for the defeat at Newcastle.

A return to Everton was in talks between the clubs before the English deadline, but that fell through and he stayed at Spurs.

He then posted a pointed message about deciding his own future. That collapse left Spurs looking for another buyer after the Premier League window had shut, with Trabzonspor emerging as serious suitors.

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Richarlison desperate to leave Tottenham for Turkey

Trabzonspor, who already have Mohamed Salah, have made Richarlison their new main attacking target.

Two earlier bids worth £15million and £20million were turned down, but Richarlison has now verbally agreed to wages understood to be far higher than his Tottenham salary and is pressing the club to accept an improved offer.

The signing of Marmoush from Manchester City has squeezed his minutes further, with Dominic Solanke also ahead of him.

De Zerbi’s stance has been consistent: players who want to leave must bring an “economic solution.” Spurs would rather cash in than keep an unhappy forward.

The remaining issue is the fee, not the player’s willingness.

If Trabzonspor raise their bid to a level Tottenham will accept, the move can be finished quickly. Sources around the deal believe that is close.

Should the clubs agree in the next day, Richarlison’s four years at Spurs will end with a move to the Super Lig.

Richarlison has agreed to join Turkish side Trabzonspor who’ve put monstrous sums on the table, and an improved third bid will soon make its way to Tottenham.

Tottenham are more than willing to offload Richarlison in the coming hours and days to a league where the transfer window remains open.

Manager Roberto De Zerbi publicly claimed the Brazilian had asked to leave Spurs on multiple occasions over the summer.

De Zerbi stated: “Richarlison, he’s said too many times he wants to leave.”

Tottenham, having signed Omar Marmoush and boasting Dominic Solanke too, are perfectly happy to wave goodbye to the underperforming 29-year-old.

A move to Everton fell through, along with the connected signing of Iliman Ndiaye, which was ultimately hijacked by Manchester City.

However, reliable Turkish reporter, Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, revealed on Wednesday that Richarlison had verbally agreed to join Trabzonspor.

He explained on X: ‘Richarlison has verbally agreed with Trabzonspor!

‘The Brazilian player wants to join Trabzonspor and is pressuring his club to accept the offer! Richarlison wants to leave Tottenham.’

Trabzonspor is the club where Mo Salah now plays, and a subsequent update from transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, has verified a massively lucrative agreement on personal terms is now in place.

Richarlison agrees mega-money Trabzonspor move

Taking to X, Romano wrote: ‘BREAKING: Richarlison has agreed to join Trabzonspor with salary agreed, x3 more than what he currently earns at Tottenham.

‘Spurs rejected two bids worth £15m and £20m; new proposal anticipated soon. Trabzonspor want Richy as priority.’

As mentioned, Trabzonspor are now expected to return with an improved third bid.

And with personal terms now sealed, Spurs are on course to offload a player they no longer require for a reasonable fee despite the transfer windows in most countries already closing.

Tottenham forward Richarlison has reportedly agreed to join Turkish side Trabzonspor after his dream return to Everton fell through late in the English transfer window.

Everton agreed a deal worth £35million to re-sign the Brazilian international as Spurs pushed to bring in Iliman Ndiaye for £60million in parallel.

However, Tottenham’s move for Ndiaye was ultimately hijacked by Manchester City. Despite Richarlison being very keen on joining Everton, and him making that very clear on social media, the deal ultimately didn’t come to fruition.

But Richarlison appears set on leaving Tottenham this summer, and reports suggesting that Trabzonspor were pushing for a deal emerged earlier today.

Reporter for Transfermarkt, Joe Krishnan, posted on X: “Trabzonspor looking to sign Richarlison from Tottenham on a permanent deal.

“Turkish club have held talks & submitted two bids above €10million (£8.6m / $11.6m) – using Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona as a marker. Spurs want higher offers for unsettled 29yo.”

The reported fee of £8.6m is clearly far below the £35m Everton came close to paying for Richarlison – so it’s no surprise Tottenham are reluctant to agree to that figure.

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Richarlison ‘pressuring’ Tottenham to accept offer

Amid the discrepancy in price between Tottenham and Trabzonspor, a separate report from journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu – who has over 2million followers on X – claims Richarlison has reached a verbal agreement to join the Turkish side.

“Richarlison has verbally agreed with Trabzonspor!” Sabuncuoglu posted on X.

“The Brazilian player wants to join Trabzonspor and is pressuring his club to accept the offer! Richarlison wants to leave Tottenham.”

The final decision rests with Tottenham.

However, given they were willing to sell Richarlison to Everton, it appears they are open to a departure – for the right price.

Roberto De Zerbi said even before the Everton saga that Richarlison had made clear that he wanted out of Tottenham.

“Richarlison, he’s said too many times he wants to leave,” the Spurs head coach said.

“I love these players, and they are great guys,” De Zerbi explained. “I have very good relationships.

“But, if they want to leave, they have to bring the economic solution to the club and they can go, and we’ll find other players.”

It remains to be seen whether Trabzonspor can stump up a big enough fee for Richarlison to constitute said ‘economic solution’ – if the reports of an agreement on personal terms are indeed correct.

Top source confirms Trabzonspor interest

Interestingly, Seb Stafford, journalist for reliable source The Athletic, has confirmed that Trabzonspor have made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Richarlison in the past 24 hours.

However, the deal is not completely dead yet, as the Turkish side could return with another approach for the Brazilian.

“Turkish Super Lig side Trabzonspor have made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Richarlison in the past 24 hours,” Stafford’s report reads.

“After their failed effort, it is not clear whether Trabzonspor will make a further attempt to bring in the 29-year-old.

“While the transfer deadline in England has passed, Turkish clubs are able to buy players until Friday, September 4.”

While Stafford does not comment on other reports suggesting Richarlison has an agreement with Trabzonspor on personal terms – he maintains that the player’s future remains ‘uncertain.’

Leeds United have learned exactly why Chelsea blocked their prolonged bid to bring in Mykhailo Mudryk despite “doing everything” to secure his signing, with the Ukrainian ultimately joining the Blues’ bitter London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a surprise deal.

Direct transfers between Spurs and Chelsea have not been too common down the years, with Carlo Cudicini back in 2008 the last person to leave Stamford Bridge directly.

And while there have been some players who have represented both clubs in the intervening years – Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gus Poyet, William Gallas, Conor Gallagher and Dominic Solanke to name five – it will have perhaps come as a shock that Chelsea will have sanctioned not one, but two direct deals with Tottenham for both Tosin and Mudryk on transfer deadline day.

The second of those, Mudryk, is certainly the more eye-catching. The 25-year-old has endured a hard time of things in West London since a £62m move from Shakhtar Donetsk and has only just recently been cleared to resume his career after serving a suspension for alleged doping offences, which have since been dropped.

After Chelsea cleared him to leave on loan, Leeds made a huge push to bring him to Elland Road and the Whites were widely reported to be the player’s preferred move.

Ultimately, though, Leeds failed to strike a deal, and their hopes of a deal collapsed for good once Tottenham made a late play for his signature with just 24 hours left in the window.

Now, speaking to BBC Radio Leeds, reporter Nazar Kinsella has explained exactly why the West Yorkshire side were unable to pull off a deal, with Farke’s team ultimately pivoting towards Eintracht Frankfurt’s Jean-Matteo Bahoya, who sealed his switch with moments to spare.

Why Mudryk to Leeds did not happen

“Certainly for a long time, Leeds were winning the race (to sign Mudryk), certainly in the mind of Mykhailo Mudryk anyway,” Kinsella said.

“He was super excited about joining Leeds. It was a great platform for him.

“Leeds did everything. I don’t think that you will get anyone on; I shouldn’t think on Chelsea’s side either, but certainly not on Mudryk’s side, who thought Leeds weren’t doing everything.

“Offering him a great spot in the squad, negotiating really hard with Chelsea, who were trying to make it an expensive loan to be fair to Leeds.”

Indeed, as TEAMtalk touched upon on Tuesday, it was Tottenham’s willingness to adhere to Chelsea’s demands to include a £75m buy option in the deal – a figure Leeds were not willing to match, nor could afford to match.

And when Spurs said they would, and with Mudryk keen to reunite with his former boss Roberto De Zerbi, Leeds’ hopes quickly fell apart.

Explaining his reasons for the move, Mudryk revealed his promise to Spurs supporters.

Going into that decision further, Kinsella added: “Leeds were doing everything within reason without going overboard to try and get this deal done.

“Unfortunately, I think that Chelsea wanted to do business more with Tottenham.

“So I don’t think it was actually that much Mudryk who didn’t want to go to Leeds, I think it was more Chelsea preferred Mudryk went to Tottenham.”

Tottenham Hotspur have signed Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk on loan until the end of the season, with the Ukraine international promising to deliver in north London, while Spurs have also sealed the permanent signing of centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo.

As part of the agreement for Mudryk, Spurs have the option to turn the 25-year-old attacker’s move into a permanent one for a hefty £75million.

The move reunites him with Spurs boss Roberto de Zerbi, who was his manager at Shakhtar Donetsk before his move to Chelsea in 2023.

“It’s a great feeling and I can’t wait to start training and playing for the club,” Mudryk said.

“I’m a player who brings speed and creativity, and I want to help in both the offensive and defensive areas. I want to make the fans excited.

“I can see it’s a strong squad here with good players, and I’m looking forward to sharing a pitch and special moments with them.”

Mudryk resolved a doping case with the Football Association last month, but has not played a competitive match since November 2024.

He is now in line to make his Spurs debut in the weekend clash at Nottingham Forest.

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Tosin becomes Tottenham signing number 10

Meanwhile, Mudryk’s Chelsea teammate Tosin has become Spurs’ 10th signing of a remarkable summer window.

The towering 28-year-old centre-back joins the north London club on a £7m transfer after spending two years at the Blues.

After signing on the dotted line, Tosin told the club’s official website: “I’m in an important part of my career and speaking to the head coach and knowing the type of football he wants to play, I think it’s a very good fit.

“I want to achieve the absolute best, to push this team and this club as much as possible to where we deserve to be.

“That’s something that has to be done every single day, especially on the training pitch, and I will be bringing that mentality to the club.”

Iliman Ndiaye has explained why he opted to join Manchester City over Tottenham Hotspur, after completing his £65million switch to The Etihad on transfer deadline day.

City jumped in to hijack Spurs’ proposed move for the Senegal international winger after failing in their efforts to tempt Liverpool to part ways with Cody Gakpo.

Tottenham had initially wanted to sign Gakpo before the Anfield star snubbed a switch to north London in favour of joining City, only for Liverpool to block the transfer.

The race for Ndiaye was then on, but there was only ever one winner in truth, with City paying £60m up front with a further £5m in add-ons.

And speaking for the first time as a City player, Ndiaye made it clear that he was only ever going to join one club.

“It’s easy to make the decision about whether you want to be at Manchester City or not,” he said.

“You can see the recent history; you want to be part of that project.

“They talked to me about where we could go, what we could achieve with me in the team, and I was interested from the beginning.

“There was nothing else that I wanted other than joining Manchester City.

“Obviously, you want to be part of this new project. I’ve seen recently what they’ve been doing, and I feel like I will fit right in it.

“I’m super excited to start.

“It’s an unbelievable moment. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and I’m super excited and really grateful for this opportunity.”

Ndiaye is set to be joined by Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez at City, after a joint British record £125m bid was accepted for the Argentine.