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As Burnley’s 2023-24 season drew to a close, The Athletic asked manager Vincent Kompany about Wilson Odobert. The 19-year-old had been a key factor in an upturn in form that had given the club at least a fighting chance of an improbable escape from relegation back to the Championship.

Kompany’s answer was not exactly riddled with superlatives, but didn’t mask his admiration for the youngster Tottenham Hotspur signed on Friday for an initial £25million ($32.3m).

“I will almost refrain from what I really think about him, because at this moment in time I don’t think people realise how good he is,” the then Burnley boss said.

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“He’s playing in a team that is playing for survival, but the things he’s able to do — whether it’s defending or whether it’s attacking… like I said, I will refrain from what I really think because I don’t want to jinx it; I don’t want to create a situation where the expectations become too big for him too soon.”

‘Tell me you think a player has huge potential without actually saying that’, right?

At the beginning of that season, Kompany had suggested at least one member of his squad — a group largely made up of young players who’d been bought on the basis of their potential — would one day be worth £100million. By the end of it in May, it was Odobert who had done the most to enhance his reputation. Although that kind of fee is still a long way off, if his rate of development continues, maybe one day he will be talked about in that nine-figure bracket.

Tottenham are paying £25million for his signature, with potentially around £5m more to follow in add-ons. It is a deal that suits all parties. Burnley are set to triple their money on a player signed 12 months ago, Odobert makes a swift return to the Premier League and Spurs have added a young, exciting talent with plenty of first-team experience under his belt already.

The France youth international arrived in England from Ligue 1 side Troyes this week last August and was viewed as a developmental project. Then 18, his talent was obvious but Kompany was keen to protect the youngster and ease him into Burnley’s first team.

After following the plan in the season’s early weeks — including the opening goal in the 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in October that was his first Premier League start — an injury to Luca Koleosho in December forced Kompany’s hand. Odobert grasped his opportunity and retained his place in the starting line-up for the final six months of the campaign.

Odobert’s stand-out attribute is his positivity when he receives the ball: per Opta, 36.2 per cent of his carries were considered progressive last season, the highest proportion for any player in the division, underlining how important an outlet he was for Burnley. He is technically gifted, can skip away from defenders with ease and attempts a lot of take-ons relative to how often he runs with the ball.

As we can see from the graphic below, his instinct is to be very positive and face up to his man whenever he has possession.

The average distance of his carries is also very high — 7.9 metres, the fourth highest in the Premier League last year. We can see from his forward carries map that he’s effective at driving into the opposition box.

One example of that was against Liverpool in late December, when he left Trent Alexander-Arnold for dead, skipping past him and delivering a dangerous cross for Johann Berg Gudmundsson, but the Iceland international headed the chance over.

His four goals and two assists in 33 appearances across all competitions for Burnley last season did not paint the full picture of Odobert’s influence and creativity. He created the most chances from open play (31), the most big chances (7) and had the most touches in the opposition box (104) of anyone in Burnley’s squad last season.

Against Brighton & Hove Albion in April, for example, he should have picked up two assists following two fabulous deliveries, but first Jacob Bruun Larsen…

… and then David Datro Fofana…

… passed up glorious chances from his excellent crosses. The second was a perfect example of Odobert taking on his man, earning a yard and whipping a ball across the face of goal.

While he predominantly operated on the left flank for Burnley, Odobert demonstrated his versatility by also playing on the opposite wing and as a No 10 in the closing months of the season. These switches by Kompany furthered his tactical development and understanding of how to position himself in each role. Displacing Son Heung-min from the left-winger role at Tottenham will be very tough, but the teenager’s versatility means he can earn minutes in other roles too.

Stepping up to a top-six side should also help him. Last season, there were days when Odobert would become an anonymous, isolated figure on Burnley’s left side. He was, of course, playing for a relegation-bound team who struggled for control and possession and left their attacking players feeding off scraps, winning only five of their 38 league matches.

During those games, he would frequently come alive for 10-minute spells, carrying Burnley’s creative threat, but he was unable to sustain that over a full match often enough. Kompany’s late-season decision to move him into central areas increased his involvement.

Not all of Odobert’s best work happens when the ball is glued to his feet — it comes before it, as he stretches the pitch vertically.

In the opening game of Burnley’s Championship campaign against Luton Town last week, he showed his speed and movement to latch on to a long pass from Connor Roberts and score Burnley’s second goal in a 4-1 away win.

It became a more prominent aspect of his game during the course of last season.

This late assist against Fulham in February is another example. Odobert is played in by Gudmundsson, drives into the box and finds Fofana, who scores the equaliser as Burnley snatch a draw.

He also has an eye for the spectacular — two of his three Premier League goals were scored from outside the area.

Odobert is far from the finished product, but his talent is obvious.

This is a signing in line with Tottenham’s strategy of signing young players with high ceilings, and while his impact may not be felt immediately, he is a player who has the potential to become a regular in Ange Postecoglou’s starting XI.

Additional reporting: Thom Harris

(Top photo: Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

Leicester City have agreed a deal to sign Oliver Skipp from Tottenham Hotspur on a permanent transfer.

The 23-year-old midfielder is set to undergo a medical today (Sunday) ahead of the proposed transfer.

Skipp made 24 appearances in all competitions for Spurs last season but was predominantly used as a substitute by Ange Postecoglou.

The Tottenham academy graduate’s contract at Spurs runs until 2027.

He broke into the first team in 2018 and has made 106 appearances for the club.

Skipp spent the 2020-21 season on loan at Norwich City and played 47 times for the Championship side.

Spurs have strengthened in midfield this summer with the signing of Archie Gray from Leeds, while Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg has departed for Marseille.

Leicester, meanwhile, lost midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea this summer ahead of their return to the Premier League.

A move to Leicester would see Skipp join up with fellow Spurs academy graduate Harry Winks in Steve Cooper’s midfield.

Tottenham and Leicester meet on Monday in the pair’s opening game of the Premier League season.

(Masashi Hara/Getty Images)

On the opening weekend of a new season, everyone starts again from scratch. Every player has a blank sheet of paper in front of them and the autonomy to write whatever they want on it. In nine months, they could be looking back on the best work of their career.

And no player will be more keen to start writing a new story for himself than James Maddison when Tottenham Hotspur start their season at his old club Leicester City on Monday night. Not necessarily because he is going back to the ground where he spent five seasons, but because last season for Maddison was so exciting, so promising, so frustrating and so painful, almost every possible emotion squeezed in between August and June.

Remember the Maddison of last August, September and October, back when he walked into Tottenham and immediately started playing like he had been there for years. That late summer of 2023, Maddison was special: perfect for Ange Postecoglou, perfect for Spurs. Everything went through him and he assumed the roles of creative leader, vice-captain and No 10 shirt with remarkable ease. No learning curve required. More than any other player, he encapsulated the thrill of the new era.

But the honeymoon period did not last. In November, Maddison injured his deltoid ligament and missed almost three months. It was the worst injury of his career, made all the more painful for coming in only his 12th game for his new club, when he was in the form of life. Maddison was completely crestfallen.

It was not easy for Maddison to do his rehab while watching his team-mates playing without him but he worked hard and went to Dubai for warm-weather rehabilitation with club medical staff in December. By the end of January, he was back in the team. There was still just under half of the season left to come — plenty of time for Maddison to get back to his initial form and for Spurs to finish in the Champions League spots.

What was so frustrating was that in the second half of the season, Maddison never quite got fully back to his best. There were glimpses: a clever assist for Cristian Romero in the 3-1 win over Crystal Palace in March, a run into the box to convert Pape Matar Sarr’s cross when Spurs won 4-0 at Villa Park later that month. It felt as if Maddison was back and so were Spurs, and that fourth place and Champions League qualification were well within reach. But that is not how the end of the season went.

Spurs and Maddison struggled for rhythm in the spring. Maddison was so important to Spurs that the whole team suffered when he was not at his best. After painful defeats to Newcastle United and Arsenal in April, Postecoglou made a decision that would have been inconceivable at the start of the season. He dropped Maddison for the trips to Stamford Bridge and Anfield.

Maddison came back into the team for the last three games but Spurs had already lost too much ground on Aston Villa in the race for fourth. And Maddison’s struggles would lead to him paying a painful price at the end of the season. He had finally forced his way into Gareth Southgate’s England team in 2023, having gone to the Qatar World Cup but not playing a minute after failing to shake off an injury. He was playing more, starting the Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine in September and the friendly against Australia in October. It felt for the first time as if Southgate could count on him. And even after his struggles, Southgate picked Maddison in his 33-man extended squad for the Euros. Maddison came off the bench for the warm-up game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park.

But three days later, Southgate had to cut seven from his squad to take to Germany, and Maddison did not make the plane. “Devastated doesn’t quite cut it,” Maddison wrote on social media. “My form for Spurs when coming back from injury in the second half of the season probably wasn’t at the levels I had set, which gave Gareth a decision to make.”

It was remarkable that a season that started with Maddison playing so well should end so painfully. In those first few months, he had the world at his feet, making the step up from Leicester to a ‘Big Six’ club look like child’s play.

For Maddison’s whole career, he had been spoken of as being one of the most talented English players of his generation. Ever since he was playing for Coventry City, all of the big clubs knew about him. Barcelona scouts came to watch him for Norwich City at Carrow Road. And in those first few weeks at Spurs, it felt like Maddison was fulfilling that potential and becoming the player he was always meant to be.

But after the way his season went, it feels like Maddison has to do the hard work all over again. He is still a first-choice player but there may be more competition for that left central midfield spot this season. Dejan Kulusevski is as much of a midfielder as he is a winger for Postecoglou’s Spurs now, and then there is the brilliant 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall, who has just arrived. If he shines — possibly at first in the Europa League — there will be calls for Bergvall to play more often. And then there is still the chance Spurs add another central midfielder in the last two weeks of the window, having tried to sign Jacob Ramsey in June.

But there are reasons to be optimistic, too. We know how good Maddison can be in this system, how much he wants the ball, how good he is at finding those pockets of space and playing those clever little passes of his through to Son Heung-min. The arrival of Dominic Solanke, a close friend of Maddison, will give him a new target man to work with and could lift the whole team. We know Maddison can also hurt teams from set pieces and from the edge of the box. We all saw just how good Maddison can be for Spurs, the man who makes the whole thing work. The challenge for Maddison — and Tottenham — is to turn the start of the last season into the whole of this one.

(Top photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

Yves Bissouma picked up nine yellow cards and was sent off twice in the Premier League last season — a disciplinary record that saw him suspended for five of Tottenham Hotspur’s 38 matches in the competition — but his latest ban is down to his behaviour away from the pitch.

Earlier this week, footage emerged of the Spurs midfielder appearing to inhale nitrous oxide from a balloon. Bissouma posted the video of himself on a private account on social media app Snapchat.

Nitrous oxide — more commonly known as laughing gas, nos or hippie crack — is classified as a Class C drug in the United Kingdom and its recreational use has been a criminal offence since 2023, carrying a maximum two-year prison sentence. It can damage the throat and lungs and is known to cause paranoia, dizziness and hallucinations.

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Bissouma apologised for the incident and called it a “severe lack of judgement”. The 27-year-old has been punished by the club with a one-game suspension, which means he is unavailable for their opening fixture of the new season away against Leicester City on Monday night.

“He has made a really poor decision,” Tottenham’s head coach Ange Postecoglou said. “You want to understand that and try to help him through that, and as a club (see) what we can do to make sure he doesn’t make those kinds of choices and decisions in the future. Within that context, there are still sanctions that are involved and some of those sanctions include education and giving him a clearer understanding of why he did what he did and how wrong it was.

“He is also a footballer. He has a responsibility to his team-mates, to our supporters and to everyone associated with the club — and he failed in those duties. There have got to be sanctions for that. He won’t be available for Monday. Beyond that, there is also some trust-building that needs to happen between Biss and me and Biss and the group. That’s what he needs to work hard at from now on, to try to win that back, and that has nothing to do with just one game.”

According to data on the UK government’s website, nitrous oxide is commonly used by people aged between 16 and 24. Its popularity peaked in the years 2019-20, when 8.7 per cent of that demographic used it and that dropped to 3.9 per cent in 2021-22. As a role model to young fans, Bissouma should set a better example. Instead of fining him or ordering him to do some work with the local community, Tottenham have acted strongly with the ban.

However, their moral stance regarding Bissouma taking nitrous oxide jars when you compare their response to another of their midfielders, Rodrigo Bentancur, and his racist comments towards team-mate Son Heung-min, Spurs’ captain, earlier this summer. Bentancur said that Son and his cousins “all look the same” during an appearance on the television programme Por la Camiseta, broadcast in his native Uruguay, in June.

He subsequently issued an apology to the forward, also captain of South Korea’s national team, on social media. “Sonny, brother! I am sorry for what happened, it was a joke in bad taste,” Bentancur said. “You know that I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone. I love you brother!”

A few days later, Son confirmed he had spoken to the 27-year-old South American. “He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised,” he said. “Lolo (Bentancur’s nickname) would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all. We’re past this, we’re united, and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”

Postecoglou was asked about the episode after Tottenham’s first game of this pre-season against Scottish club Heart of Midlothian last month.

“The most important person in that whole process is Sonny, so he’ll guide us and he’ll direct us,” Postecoglou said. “It’s being dealt with, and I’m sure there will be further actions behind it. With all of these kinds of things, it’s easier to jump in and make judgements. But I always think the most important people are the ones affected and, in this case, it’s Sonny and we’ll be guided by him.”

The problem with that approach is it places the burden on finding a resolution at Son’s feet. He is a victim here, and he should not be expected to determine the appropriate punishment.

For their part, the club say they are still waiting to see whether Bentancur will be charged by the Football Association for his comments before deciding their next steps. The FA has been contacted for comment.

As it stands, a public apology does not feel like an adequate response. Bentancur saying “it was a joke in bad taste” suggests he does not fully understand the damage his comments caused and that further education is required.

If Bissouma has to rebuild trust within the dressing room for taking laughing gas, surely Bentancur needs to repair relationships after his racist comment, which will have directly impacted more people? According to research previously commissioned by AIA (the Asia-based insurance firm which has been the club’s shirt-front sponsor since 2014), Spurs are supported by 12million South Koreans, which represents nearly a quarter of that country’s population.

Bentancur missed Tottenham’s pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea this summer as he was still on holiday after helping Uruguay to a third-place finish at the Copa America. It is a shame he was unavailable, as the trip would have offered him an opportunity to show contrition and learn why his words were harmful.

Kick It Out, the anti-discrimination and inclusion charity, received 1,332 reports of abuse during the 2023-24 Premier League season — a 33.2 per cent increase on the previous one. It says 731 (54 per cent) related to racism, and that a third of that 1,332 were about comments directed towards people with East Asian heritage.

Last November, a supporter who made a racist gesture towards Son during the home league fixture against Crystal Palace in May 2023 was banned from attending football matches for three years.

Kick It Out says it received “a significant” number of complaints about Bentancur’s remarks too, and that these had been “sent to the club and the relevant authorities”.

This is not the only example this summer of a Premier League club failing to sensitively handle one of their players making racist comments.

Enzo Fernandez issued a personal apology to Chelsea’s squad for singing a racist song about Black players in the French national team after winning the Copa America with Argentina last month. Fernandez told Chelsea he wanted to make a sizable donation to an anti-discrimination charity and the club planned to match it via their foundation. Apart from that, there were no consequences for his actions.

Bentancur and Fernandez are both role models, like Bissouma, but they have not been properly held to account.

The strange paradox here is that Bentancur could well be the beneficiary of Bissouma’s ban and start in place of him in midfield against Leicester on Monday.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement to sign Wilson Odobert from Burnley.

The north London club confirmed on Friday that the 19-year-old has signed a five-year contract through to 2029.

Odobert scored three goals and provided two assists in 29 Premier League appearances last term as Burnley were relegated to the Championship.

The France Under-21 international began his career at Paris-Saint Germain before joining Troyes, where he scored four goals in 32 appearances.

He became Burnley’s youngest ever Premier League goalscorer in October last year after netting the opener in the club’s 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.

Wilson began his career in the PSG’s academy before moving to Troyes in July, 2022, where he scored four goals in 32 appearances. He joined Burnley last summer, signing a five-year contract at Turf Moor.

Odobert reputation enhanced despite Burnley relegation

Odobert was one of the few players who enhanced his reputation during Burnley’s relegation campaign last season.

The 19-year-old was one of the more consistent performers for Vincent Kompany despite his age and relative inexperience. He scored four goals and registered three assists in 33 appearances in all competitions.

The technical attacker is versatile, quick and skillful. Operating mainly on the left, he showed a no fear attitude with his willingness to be direct and take on defenders. Later on in the campaign, Kompany moved Odobert into a No 10 role and it was an effective change to increase his involvement in matches.

At times last season, the French youth international would become isolated and anonymous when on the flank, coming alive for exciting short bursts. That should change playing for a team higher up the Premier League that should be more dominant in possession.

He is not yet the finished product, but Kompany was a huge believer in the player and feels he has the potential to reach the top. It remains to be seen how quickly he can establish himself in Tottenham’s squad and earn a starting eleven spot.

Odobert began Burnley’s Championship campaign well, scoring in their 4-1 victory over Luton Town.

(Dave Howarth – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur have suspended midfielder Yves Bissouma for their Premier League opening match against Leicester City after footage emerged of him appearing to inhale nitrous oxide.

The 27-year-old apologised earlier this week after uploading a video of himself inhaling from a balloon. He acknowledged that the incident was a “severe lack of judgement” and given the “health risks involved”.

Nitrous oxide — also known as laughing gas or nos — is classified as a Class C drug in the United Kingdom and its recreational use has been a criminal offence since 2023, carrying a maximum two-year prison sentence.

Spurs launched an internal investigation into the video and have opted to exclude the Mali international from Monday night’s Premier League opener away at newly-promoted Leicester.

Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou said on Thursday that Bissouma had made a “really poor decision”, adding there was “trust building to do” from the midfielder towards his team-mates and the coaching staff.

“You want to understand that (his action) and try to help him through that and as a club what we can do to make sure he doesn’t make those kinds of choices and decisions in the future,” Postecoglou said.

“Within that context there are still sanctions that are involved and some of those sanctions include education and giving him a clearer understanding of why he did what he did and how wrong it was.

“Hopefully thought that he comes out of it — you always want to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.”

The head coach acknowledged that Bissouma had “failed in his responsibilities” to the club and his Spurs team-mates, for which “there has got to be sanctions”, leading to the one-game suspension.

When asked how Bissouma could rebuild his trust, Postecoglou replied: “Behaviour mate, it’s quite simple. Him making better choices moving forward and behaviour.

“He is obviously disappointed and very apologetic not just to me but to the club and everyone involved. That’s just the first part of the process, the next part is behaviour.

“Of making sure he does the things he needs to do. Like for all of us, we all make mistakes and it’s about how you find your way back from those mistakes. What you do is far more important than what you say.”

Bissouma has made 56 appearances for Spurs across two seasons, having joined from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 2022.

(Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Ange Postecoglou’s first 12 months in charge of Tottenham Hotspur felt like the club hitting the reset button.

If their style of play towards the end of predecessor Antonio Conte’s divisive reign was uninspiring, Postecoglou quickly made them fun to watch again.

Expectations were low this time last year after Spurs sold Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, but their new head coach won eight of his opening 10 league games. They went on to finish fifth, missing out on the Premier League’s final Champions League spot by two points, but the overwhelming sense was still that it had been a positive season and a step in the right direction.

During his second year in charge of the Australia men’s national team, Postecoglou lifted the Asian Cup — the regional equivalent of the Euros, Copa America or Africa Cup of Nations. And in his previous three jobs in club management (not counting Melbourne Victory, where he only stayed for a year before becoming Australia manager), he has won the league title in year two.

The 58-year-old has a clear track record of improving teams, but Tottenham finished 25 points behind champions Manchester City last season. How will they try to close the gap over the next nine months? The Athletic has looked to the past for clues.

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Peter Cklamovski started working with Postecoglou 20 years ago in Australia’s youth system. He then served as his assistant at Greek side Panachaiki, Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos in Japan and with Australia’s senior side before forging his own career as a head coach. Ckalmovski describes Postecoglou’s style of play as a “holistic approach”.

“The essence of it is to be as aggressive as you can be off the ball and as entertaining as you can be with it,” Ckalmovski tells The Athletic. “To play as fast as possible from the first second until the final whistle.”

Postecoglou tried to implement this when he took over Brisbane early in the 2009-10 season, but they finished second-bottom — fortunately, there is no relegation from the A-League, the top-flight of club football in Australia and New Zealand.

He revamped the squad for year two, recruiting Thomas Broich, Michael Theo, Erik Paartalu, Shane Stefanutto and Matt Smith. Brisbane topped the 2010-11 regular-season table on 65 points, eight points clear of the runners-up, then went on to win the Grand Final. The following year, they finished second after the 27 regular games but were victorious in the title play-offs again, becoming the first club to win back-to-back championships since the A-League began (albeit that was only seven years earlier).

Following his success with Brisbane, Postecoglou briefly stopped off at hometown club Melbourne Victory (they finished third in 2012-13, then lost in the play-off semi-finals) before he was appointed Australia head coach in October that year.

Australia had already qualified for the World Cup in Brazil nine months away, but he was already looking ahead to the Asian Cup at the beginning of 2015, which Australia were hosting. He made it clear that senior players Lucas Neil and Luke Wilkshire were not part of his plans, while former Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer announced his international retirement a couple of weeks after he was appointed.

Drawn in Group B with defending champions Spain, a Chile side who would win Copa America a year later, and the Netherlands, who would finish third, Australia lost all three games, but there were signs of progress.

“Everything he does is strategic and planned out,” Ante Milicic, another of Postecoglou’s assistants with Australia, tells The Athletic. “He brought in a youthful squad and said, ‘I’m going to give these younger players experience of international football and working with me and my staff for seven months to prepare for the Asian Cup’. Other people might have said, ‘These senior players got us to the World Cup and we should move them on afterwards’.”

Despite the short turnaround between the two tournaments, seven of the 23 players who went to Brazil were not included in the Asian Cup squad six months later and Mile Jedinak was the only carry-over from the final Australia team before Postecoglou took charge.

It was a dramatic overhaul of a squad, which he has repeated in north London.

Long-serving senior players Kane, Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier have left. More fringe members of the squad including Emerson Royal, Ryan Sessegnon, Bryan Gil and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are gone, too, either permanently or on loan. Richarlison scored 11 goals in 28 league appearances last season but has just been pushed down the pecking order by the arrival of new club-record signing Dominic Solanke.

Postecoglou has shown his faith in an exciting crop of young talents who are more malleable to his demands, including Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall. Academy prospects Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear and Jamie Donley were given lots of opportunities during pre-season.

“It’s never personal,” says Milicic, now head coach of the Chinese women’s national team. “He doesn’t do that to show a message. That’s what he feels is best for the squad. To execute his way of playing, you’ve got to have total buy-in. It’s easy for coaches to say something, but he demands it and believes in it.

“He always used to say that ‘you’ve got to give your tracksuit back at the end of camp’. In international football, you have the power (as manager) because if someone doesn’t deliver, they don’t get called back. That’s a strong message to send to everyone.”

Postecoglou’s bold selection calls paid off.

Australia scored eight goals in their three Group A games at the 2015 Asian Cup but finished as runners-up following a 1-0 defeat to South Korea in the third and final match. They then beat China and the United Arab Emirates in the knockout stages before getting revenge on South Korea in the final, beating them 2-1 after extra time to secure the first (and so far only) major trophy Australia’s men’s team have ever won.

“He is always challenging you,” Milicic says. “You never get comfortable or stand still. You’re always looking at ways to improve. You never waste a session or a drill. A lot of work goes into designing and evaluating the sessions. It was intense working with the national team, and for Ange, but to win on home soil was something special.”

Postecoglou resigned in November 2017 after Australia had qualified for the next year’s World Cup in Russia and explained that managing his country had “taken a toll on me professionally and personally”. A month later, he was confirmed as the new head coach of Yokohama F Marinos in the Japanese top flight.

As with Brisbane Roar, he endured a difficult debut season in the 2018 J-League — Yokohama finished 12th out of the 18 teams and only avoided the relegation play-off on goal difference (although they did score just one fewer than champions Kawasaki Frontale over the 34 games and got to the League Cup final).

“We were like aliens that came in and had a playing style (nobody was used to),” says then assistant Cklamovski, now a head coach in the J-League with FC Tokyo. “The results were like a rollercoaster. You have players asking, ‘You want us to press all the time? You want us that high (up the pitch?). You want the goalkeeper where?’. There are all sorts of challenges which are new to them and make them feel uncomfortable.

“Some players loved that and others were fearful. That is normal. That’s part of developing a brand of football. We had to break down barriers, give them confidence and coach them in ways that gave them solutions and helped them to improve. The tough moments are the most important because you grow.

“Every day, you’re trying to get progress physically, tactically, technically, individually and as a team. The balance of training is important — when to push and when to rest. But with the right programme, which Ange always sets up, every player improves no matter how old they are.”

Midway through Postecoglou’s second season, in July 2019, Yokohama played Manchester City, who are also owned by the City Football Group, in what was a pre-season tour game for the Premier League club. City won 3-1, but they were only a goal up going to second-half stoppage time and afterwards, manager Pep Guardiola described Yokohama as an “incredible test” and their England forward Raheem Sterling said “they are probably one of the best teams I’ve seen play out from the back”.

Yokohama then won 10 of their final 11 games that season to finish top with 70 points, six points clear. It was the first time they had won a trophy in 15 years.

That dramatic improvement from 12th to first in Postecoglou’s second season is reflected in the numbers. Yokohama scored more goals, conceded fewer, and notably played in a manner that was more in-keeping with their manager’s identity. Not only did their possession share increase, but their 19.2 sequences of 10-plus passes per 90 minutes in that 2019 season far outweighed 2018’s average of 13.9.

Spurs will be hoping for a similar improvement as they embark on their second year under Postecoglou.

In June 2021, Postecoglou moved on, succeeding Brendan Rodgers as manager of leading Scottish club Celtic, who had finished the previous season 25 points behind Glasgow rivals Rangers when trying to win a 10th straight title. There was an exodus of the club’s best talent that first summer, including Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer, Ryan Christie, Oliver Ntcham and the captain, Scott Brown.

Celtic signed 15 new players during Postecoglou’s first year, including Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, who he knew from the J-League, Filipe Jota and Josip Juranovic. It was a period of huge change, which started with three defeats in his first six league games.

“The way he plays is non-stop,” Anton McElhone, who was Celtic’s head of sports science under Postecoglou and had previously worked at Spurs when Mauricio Pochettino was the manager, told The Athletic in June. “To play that style, you need to have no body fat and there is so much work to support that.

“It was a high-pressure job, week in, week out, and in the first few months, we had a horrendous injury list because we might not have been able to train the way we wanted to. He was understanding, as he said that every club he goes to, in the first six months he has injuries, as they’re not used to training at that level. You had all these new players who hadn’t played anywhere near 60 games (in a season) before, so you need to get them close to that.

“We had to make sure the data was right and they were training hard enough. In two years, we changed the GPS company and did things to match the standards Ange wanted. Group pre-training was individualised based on previous injuries, starters and non-starters. It was all bespoke, but we would give the top players some autonomy. We brought in a new nutritionist in the (spoiler alert!) treble season and we brought in a rehab coach to really push. Ange backed everything if it was objective, measured and going to make the team better.”

In May this year, The Athletic researched injuries in the top flight last season and discovered Tottenham’s injured players were absent for 1,331 days. When you adjust it to the injury burden per 1,000 minutes, they were the fourth most impacted team (nine injuries per 1,000 minutes) behind Chelsea (9.4), Crystal Palace (10.0) and Manchester United (10.3).

“We didn’t have a squad that was equipped to handle the rigours of a Premier League campaign, particularly when you’re trying to challenge and sustain some sort of level of intensity and competitiveness in the toughest league in the world,” Postecoglou told The Athletic earlier this month. “It wasn’t surprising. Some of that is just because it was my first year and we had a lot of injuries, which I think was just the remnants of us training the way we train and the way we do things. You’d like to think this year we are a lot better equipped to handle that side of it.”

Tottenham’s fanbase should take comfort from the fact Celtic’s squad adapted pretty quickly.

They did not lose a single game in the league after September 19 during that first season, beating arch-rivals Rangers to the title by four points and also winning the Scottish League Cup final.

Celtic then retained their championship the following year, improving their points tally from 93 in 2021-22 to 99 as they won 32 of 38 league games while scoring 114 goals (up from 92). Success in both domestic cup competitions sealed the treble.

The second-season improvement in Glasgow was a little more subtle than during Postecoglou’s time in Yokohama. Their goalscoring and dominance in possession improved, but Celtic did concede goals at a slightly higher rate than his debut year.

One notable improvement was their out-of-possession return. Lower passes per defensive action (PPDA) numbers indicate higher pressing intensity while more high turnovers (open-play possessions that begin 40 metres or less from the opponent’s goal) pointed to a greater sharpness defensively as Postecoglou’s side hunted in packs to retrieve the ball.

Tottenham suffered a dip in form towards the end of last season but still made significant progress under Postecoglou.

Spurs’ style can be neatly summarised in The Athletic’s playstyle wheel, which outlines how a team look to play compared with sides across Europe’s top seven domestic leagues. Notably, their tendency to build out from the back (Deep build-up rating, 98 out of 99) and carefully work the ball through the thirds (Circulate, 81 out of 99) are reflective of a team led in Postecoglou’s image, arriving into shooting areas with crafted attacking sequences as opposed to their previous counter-attacking style under other managers (Patient attack, 97 out of 99).

Room for improvement can be found in how effectively they work the ball out of their defensive third (Press resistance, 60 out of 99).

Using data from Footovision, no club had more build-ups that led to an opposition transition last season than Spurs’ 14.9 per 90. Postecoglou’s side gave up seven goals after losing the ball in their own defensive third — only five teams had more than that and four of those finished in the bottom half of the Premier League.

Giving up cheap opportunities was a theme that became more prominent as the season went on (Chance prevention, 18 out of 99) and has undoubtedly been a key area for Postecoglou to address during pre-season.

Postecoglou will be pleased with the foundation his side now have out of possession. Defensively, Tottenham were one of the most intense pressers in Europe during his first season (Intensity, 99 out of 99) as they squeezed the pitch to shut down spaces in advanced areas (High line, 98 out of 99).

Their 8.8 passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA) was the lowest in the Premier League and it is worth highlighting how Postecoglou has transformed the club’s approach since Conte and his Spurs predecessor, Jose Mourinho. Across a 10-game rolling average, Tottenham’s PPDA has seen a notable upward trajectory that you would expect to stabilise further in the next 12 months under the Australian.

One area which needs to be addressed is defensive set pieces.

Spurs conceded 16 times from them last season, which put them level with relegated Burnley. Only the other two relegated sides Luton Town and Sheffield United (both 19) and fourth-bottom Nottingham Forest (23) conceded more. Bayern Munich exposed this weakness twice in last weekend’s friendly.

Teething problems were to be expected. According to figures from respected data site FBref, Tottenham’s average squad age of 25.2 was the fourth youngest (weighted by minutes played) in the division last season. Destiny Udogie describes it as the “hardest” system he has ever played in. Midfielder James Maddison says it’s “not too similar to anything I have played with other managers”. This is a long-term project and patience is required.

“It’s brilliant,” Maddison said of the style on this summer’s tour in Japan and South Korea. “It’s very attacking and front-footed. You have to work extremely hard in every session and game, but I believe (in) this way of playing and if we follow it how we should, it can bring success to the club. We are only a year in and we’re still learning and adapting to his style. The messages are very clear and we debrief a lot on what we should be doing and how we want to play.”

There have been changes to the coaching staff, too. Chris Davies left in June to become League One club Birmingham City’s new head coach, so Matt Wells has been promoted to senior assistant. Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo are new additions. Postecoglou values “fresh voices” because “if you’re going to improve, you can’t just recap and dish out what we dished out last year”.

Pre-season performances have been encouraging, even without first-choice defenders Udogie, Van de Ven and Cristian Romero for the bulk of the programme due to either injury or international commitments. Solanke is a better fit stylistically for this brand of football than Richarlison up front. Dejan Kulusevski has impressed and Djed Spence has shown flashes of his potential.

How much Tottenham have evolved this summer will be put to the test on Monday when they start the new season for real away against promoted Leicester City.

“The way we play is very demanding and you’re kind of looking for how much you really have to push them — and the less you feel you need to push them, the more you know they’re actually buying into it,” Postecoglou said. “Some of it is just the way they talk and their behaviour around the place.

“So it’s about, are they doing it because I’m telling them, or are they doing it because they really believe and understand what we’re doing? You can see that growth; I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I really feel last year we laid some really strong foundations in terms of some underlying core values that I saw from the first day we got back into pre-season, and now it’s about building on that.”

(Top photo: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur start the new Premier League campaign with a trip to face Leicester City on Monday following an eventful summer.

Since Ange Postecoglou’s side beat Sheffield United 3-0 on the final day of last season, they have played friendlies in Australia, Scotland, Japan and South Korea, reshuffled their coaching staff and broken their transfer record. Multiple players impressed at the European Championship, while Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso won the Copa America with Argentina.

Postecoglou lifted the mood at Spurs during his first year in charge but expectations will be a lot higher now. They narrowly missed out on finishing fourth and qualifying for the Champions League, so will be hoping the arrival of Dominic Solanke in a £65million ($83.4m) deal can push them closer to success.

Here, The Athletic breaks down pre-season preparations and what to expect over the next nine months.

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The summer and pre-season have been

Back-to-back friendly defeats to Bayern Munich have slightly dampened the mood — but there should be a lot of optimism heading into the new season.

Solanke is a statement signing. For most of the summer, it felt as if the only way Spurs would sign a new striker was if Richarlison moved to the Saudi Pro League. Keeping Richarlison and adding Solanke is a huge boost for Postecoglou. Tottenham have serious strength in depth up front when you factor in Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Manor Solomon.

The academy’s brightest talent, including Will Lankshear, Jamie Donley and Mikey Moore, received plenty of minutes during pre-season while new arrivals Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray settled in straight away. Solomon returned to action for the first time since last October after recovering from knee surgery while Djed Spence’s performances surprised everybody.

The pursuits of Conor Gallagher and Jacob Ramsey have been unsuccessful but there is still more than enough time for the recruitment department to find a new, high-energy central midfielder before the transfer window closes.

Are they in a better place than when last season finished?

The majority of players who have left this summer were ill-suited to Postecoglou’s style of play or, in the case of Ryan Sessegnon, injury-prone. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s leadership will be missed but there are lots of alternative options in midfield who are better in possession than him. Tanguy Ndombele’s contract was terminated a year early while Joe Rodon joined Leeds United as part of the deal that brought Gray to north London.

Gray and fellow new signing Bergvall are both 18 but have lots of senior experience. It is unlikely they will be thrust straight into the starting XI but they look capable of contributing. Postecoglou believes Solanke will be a “great fit” stylistically and it will be exciting to see him combine with Son. Radu Dragusin’s performances for Romania at the Euros underlined why chairman Daniel Levy and technical director Johan Lange went to so much effort to sign him.

The lingering concern is that this squad is too light to juggle multiple competitions. Tottenham played only 41 games last season and that number will significantly increase because of their participation in the Europa League. What happens if Dragusin, Romero or Micky van de Ven pick up a long-term injury? Ashley Phillips’ lack of consistent game time in pre-season suggests Postecoglou does not believe he is quite ready to play regularly at centre-back yet.

The squad was rocked by a couple of injuries last season. Hopefully, that does not happen again.

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Which player are you most looking forward to watching?

When I flew to Stockholm in May to watch Bergvall play for Djurgarden, I was impressed by his quality on the ball but wondered how long it would take him to adjust to the Premier League. Judging from his pre-season performances, he will have no issues. The midfielder is extremely comfortable receiving the ball from deep, driving past players and attacking the box.

Bergvall’s assist for Dejan Kulusevski’s second goal against Bayern Munich last weekend encapsulates everything he offers. He won the ball high up the pitch and then poked it with the outside of his boot straight into Kulusevski’s path. He might need a few months to fully adjust to the intensity of Postecoglou’s demands but he looks like a star in the making.

The player with a point to prove is…

There are a couple of potential options here, including Richarlison who has rejected interest from the Saudi Pro League to remain with Spurs. When Richarlison was fully fit last season he excelled in Postecoglou’s system and scored nine goals in 10 games between December and February. The Brazilian scored only once after that, though, and needs to become more consistent. He will be feeling the pressure following Solanke’s arrival.

Spence falls into this category too. Many people thought he would be sold after spending the past 18 months on loan with Rennes, Leeds United and Genoa respectively, but it appears Postecoglou is willing to give him a second chance.

“I think he’s been very, very good for us this pre-season, in terms of the way he’s trained and his general attitude,” Postecoglou said about the full-back while on tour in Japan and South Korea. “I think there’s an opportunity for him here, for sure. Thinking about building a squad, he would definitely be somebody who could (contribute) with the attributes he has.

“A lot of these things are in the players’ hands themselves. They decide their own future in many respects, and I think Djed’s in that boat. Maybe he’s learned a couple of things over the last couple of years about himself and, hopefully, we can sort of bear the fruit of that.”

Which player could have a breakout season?

It has been an incredible few months for Moore.

In May, he became the youngest player to represent Tottenham in the Premier League when he came off the bench in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City. He followed that up by scoring four goals for England at the Under-17 European Championship and then excelled on Tottenham’s pre-season tour. The 17-year-old winger signed his first professional contract this week and it is becoming hard to contain the excitement around him.

Keep an eye on Lankshear, too.

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The deal they still need to do before the end of the window…

Two years after Yves Bissouma joined Spurs from Brighton & Hove Albion, there are still question marks about whether he is the perfect No 6 for this team.

Finding an upgrade on him will not be easy or cheap, however. Spurs want a central midfielder who can play further forward too but looked to have missed out on Gallagher while Ramsey appears to be staying put at Aston Villa.

Which Euros or Copa America player would be an ideal signing?

Take your pick from Spain’s midfield.

The game I’m most looking forward to is…

Spurs host Arsenal on September 15 just after the first international break. Dragusin, Van de Ven and Romero, who missed the bulk of pre-season after starring for their countries at the Euros and Copa America, will hopefully be fully up to speed by this point along with Destiny Udogie, who is still rebuilding his fitness following injury.

Solanke will have a few games under his belt and a better relationship with his new team-mates. After losing the last north London derby in April, Tottenham will be determined to strike back and deal an early blow to Arsenal’s title chances.

The stat to watch out for this season…

Spurs conceded 16 times from set pieces last season, which put them level with Burnley and Aston Villa. Only Luton Town, Sheffield United (both 19) and Nottingham Forest conceded more (23). Bayern exposed this weakness twice on Saturday. It is a problem that refuses to go away.

How likely is the manager to survive the season

Postecoglou’s appointment represented a shift in strategy from Levy following on from the divisive reigns of Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho. It would take something pretty dramatic to pull the plug on this project when the signs so far have been encouraging.

The Australian has been backed in the transfer market with incomings and outgoings and time will be needed for this young squad to reach its potential.

What is their best XI as things stand?

(4-3-3) Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bissouma, Maddison, Sarr; Johnson, Solanke, Son

A good season means…

Securing qualification for the Champions League and tasting success in the Europa League or one of the domestic cup competitions.

Predicted league finish

Fourth.

(Top photo by Daniel Pockett and Ian MacNicol, both via Getty Images)

Ange Postecoglou always knew there would be difficult goodbyes this summer.

“I’ve got to change this squad, I have to,” the Tottenham Hotspur manager said towards the end of last season when it was clear how much work his club still had to do. “I’ve got to build a squad I think can play our football. For that to happen, there have to be exits. Sometimes, you let people go who you think: ‘He’s a good player’. But how am I going to change if I don’t do that?”

Maybe it has not been quite as painful as last summer’s window when Harry Kane left, or January when Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier left. Only Son Heung-min and Ben Davies remain as links with the Mauricio Pochettino era now.

But this summer, Spurs have still said goodbye to some of their most prominent players of what we may come to call the post-Pochettino pre-Postecoglou era: those four years of false dawns, famous managers and negative football. Tanguy Ndombele had his contract terminated and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has left for Marseille. There was not much of a fanfare for Hojbjerg, even though he had given his all to the club for four years. Perhaps that is just the way it is when you are one of the most reliable players on a poor team.

And so to Emerson Royal. The right-back flew to Italy over the weekend to tie up a move to AC Milan, bringing to an end his three-year spell in north London. During that time, he played 101 times for Spurs — at right-back, wing-back, and as a centre-back in a two or a three. He has never been one of Tottenham’s best players and has always had to deal with the sense that they could improve on him. At times, he was even booed by the home fans.

But, despite all of that, Royal will leave with a place in the hearts of many fans; a deeper legacy than you might expect based on what he did on the pitch.

Because at first glance, Royal’s story at Spurs is unremarkable. He was signed by Fabio Paratici in the summer of 2021. This was Paratici’s first window and he was trying to pick up bargains from across Europe while bringing the average age of the Spurs squad down. The 22-year-old Royal was on the fringes at Barcelona at the time and Paratici moved just as Spurs terminated Serge Aurier’s contract.

The idea was that he would come in and play as a conventional right-back in Nuno Espirito Santo’s system. Not a bad idea for a defensively solid but technically limited player, but there was a problem. Nuno only lasted 10 league games before Antonio Conte came in and wanted to train and play in a completely different way: a hard-running 3-4-3 with wing-backs providing all the attacking width.

If Spurs still had Aurier (or an even better Kieran Trippier), they would have been well set, but Royal had to learn a role that never suited his natural game. It did not take long for opponents to learn that they could let Royal have the ball, safe in the knowledge that he would not be able to hurt them. It became an image of that early phase of Conte: Royal overlapping into space, lining up a cross, a defender easily heading away.

Spurs considered going for Adama Traore in the January 2022 window, but he ended up at Barcelona instead.

Royal lost his place to Matt Doherty in February 2022, but he got it back after the Irishman suffered an injury, and scored in a 5-1 win over Newcastle United. He was roared by the fans, just as he was when he scored from a deflected cross against Brighton, which was eventually given as a Solly March own goal.

Of course, we all know now that the positive energy from the end of that season did not last into the next year. Performances started to dip — and so did results — and everyone was looking for someone to blame. After Royal was sent off in a tight north London derby at the Emirates, some fans started to turn. They wanted Djed Spence — or even a returning Doherty — in the team instead. When Conte angrily insisted Royal had to play, it was a sign of the growing gap between him and the crowd. And Royal paid the price, unfairly booed by some fans simply for being picked to play.

Ultimately, Royal’s status at the club changed when Pedro Porro was signed from Sporting Lisbon in January 2023. Even though Royal played brilliantly immediately after the signing — especially in the 1-0 win against City — it was clear that Porro would have to come in. From then on, chances were limited: he did not feature under Cristian Stellini but came back in under Ryan Mason at the end of that season.

When Postecoglou took over in the summer of 2023, he had a new set of tactical ideas: a 4-3-3 with inverting full-backs and an emphasis on possession through midfield. It was yet another system for Royal to learn. He started well, scoring in the first game of the Postecoglou era, a 2-2 draw at Brentford — but as soon as Porro was ready, he had that right-back role locked down.

Royal’s main opportunities last season were filling in at left-back or centre-back. When he did try to invert into midfield from full-back, he never looked comfortable. He had a lot to do during Spurs’ pre-Christmas centre-back crisis and did as well as he could, without ever looking like a perfect fit.

It was ever thus for Royal at Tottenham. He never looked like a permanent fixture in the team, but when he did get a proper run under Conte, the team defended better than they have done for years before or since. He ended up playing plenty of different positions in different systems for very different managers and while his own talents were for physical solidity and one-on-one defending, he was willing to be pushed outside of his comfort zone, trying things that did not come easily to him.

And perhaps the reason so many people warmed to him was that he exuded such a sense of enjoyment about his three years at Spurs. Elite professional football is such a deadly serious industry now that supporters can sometimes warm to someone who plays like they are having fun with their friends.

Who could possibly forget Royal’s legendary no-look pass in a Champions League game against Sporting, when Spurs were on top and chasing a goal? (The ball rolled beyond Bryan Gil and out for a goal kick.) Or the high-production compilation videos he made of his own performances — music and visual effects to accompany his diligent tackling, blocking and defensive headers. Or the moment against Marseille when referee Slavko Vincic tried to send off Chancel Mbemba and dropped his card, allowing Royal to pick it up and brandish it instead.

It often feels as if modern football is shorn of characters. And while Tottenham will probably be able to replace Royal as a utility player who can fill in at right-back or centre-back, replacing his personality might be harder.

(Top image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Dominic Solanke has completed his move to Tottenham Hotspur in a £65million deal from Bournemouth.

The 26-year-old striker has signed a six-year contract with the north London club, putting pen to paper overnight on Friday after undergoing a medical.

The deal is a club-record transfer fee for Spurs and a record sale for Bournemouth.

The forward enjoyed his best-ever scoring campaign in the top flight last term scoring 19 times as Bournemouth finished 12th.

A product of the Chelsea academy, Solanke joined Liverpool on a free transfer in 2017 before moving on to Bournemouth in 2019.

Liverpool hold a 20 per cent sell-on clause from that deal.

Solanke has gone to make 216 appearances in all competitions for the south-coast club, scoring 77 goals.

Despite his fine season he missed out on selection for Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024, with Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa and Brentford’s Ivan Toney preferred.

Tottenham haven’t signed a senior striker since Harry Kane left for Bayern Munich a year ago.

They begin their Premier League season away at Leicester City on Monday, August 19.

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(Photo: Getty Images)