The New York Times

Morgan Gibbs-White has flown out to Portugal to join the Nottingham Forest training camp.

The attacking midfielder did not initially join up with the rest of the squad when they flew out on Monday but has done so after being allowed extra time at home because of a private family matter.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are preparing for friendly games against Fulham on Saturday and Estoril on Wednesday.

Gibbs-White has found himself at the centre of a transfer wrangle with Tottenham, after the London club made a £60million bid for Forest’s most important player on July 10.

Forest were frustrated that Spurs’ bid happened to precisely match a confidential release clause in Gibbs-White’s contract and that they had not given their permission for talks to proceed with the player.

Gibbs-White played for Forest in their last pre-season game, against Monaco at Chesterfield, when the England man applauded the Forest fans, before making a heart shape with his hands, as he was substituted at half-time.

Forest are in an awkward position with Gibbs-White having two years remaining on the contract he signed when he joined in a £25m, possibly rising to £42m, deal from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2022. The player has so far not agreed to put pen to paper on a new deal.

Forest had already sold Anthony Elanga to Newcastle for £52m, a decision they might have made differently had they been aware of the situation that was arising with Gibbs-White.

In the meantime, Forest continue to work to add to their own ranks, with Dan Ndoye of Bologna and James McAtee of Manchester City high on their list of targets.

(Photo: Ed Sykes/Getty Images)

AUSTIN, Texas — Los Angeles FC is pushing hard to sign Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min in the summer window, according to multiple sources briefed on the discussions.

LAFC’s interest in Son has been previously reported, but the MLS team is pushing hard to bring the South Korean international to MLS in the coming weeks. One source said there has not yet been substantial movement toward any resolution, but talks continue and the hope in L.A. is that Son will be convinced to join the team for the rest of the 2025 season and beyond.

The MLS secondary window opens July 24 and runs through Aug. 21

Son, 33, seems to be outside of Tottenham boss Thomas Frank’s plans for Spurs — at least in his regular featured role. Asked recently about transfer speculation around the Spurs legend, Frank said it was a “tricky” situation.

“Right now, I have a player who is fully committed and training well, and will play tomorrow,” Frank said. “If a player has been at a club a long time, then there will always be a decision for the club to take.”

Son finally won a title with Spurs when they lifted the UEFA Europa League trophy in May. He finished as a Premier League runner-up in 2017 and a Champions League finalist in 2019 and was also beaten by Manchester City in the 2021 Carabao Cup final.

Spurs travel to Asia for a preseason tour this weekend, playing Arsenal in Hong Kong on July 31 and Newcastle in Seoul on Aug. 3. The Telegraph reported Son’s presence is key for Spurs due to a clause that would impact as much as 75% of their fee playing in Seoul if Son is not part of the touring squad.

Largely considered to be one of the top players in the Premier League over the last decade, Son would undoubtedly be one of the biggest signings in MLS history. The winger scored 10 or more goals in eight consecutive Premier League seasons. That streak was snapped last year when he finished with seven goals and nine assists in 30 appearances.

A hugely popular figure in South Korea and across Asia, Son would be an enormous commercial boost for LAFC in its home market, as well. Los Angeles is the metropolitan area with the largest Korean population in the U.S. (320,000), according to Pew Research Center, ranking ahead of New York (215,000) and Washington, D.C. (95,000) metro areas.

With Rodrigo de Paul set to sign in Miami, Son would also be the second major signing of the summer transfer window if LAFC is able to get the deal over the line. LAFC currently has two open designated player spots after mutually terminating its deal with Olivier Giroud.

Should he sign with LAFC, Son would be reunited with longtime Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris. The French goalkeeper signed with LAFC in 2024 and has played 52 league games over the past season-plus.

LAFC currently sits in fifth place in the Western Conference but has multiple games in hand after participating in the FIFA Club World Cup.

David Ornstein contributed to this report.

(Top photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur winger Hayley Raso is in talks over a move to Portuguese club Benfica.

The 30-year-old Australia international is into the final year of her deal at Spurs and while an agreement is yet to be reached, talks between the clubs are ongoing.

Raso joined Tottenham last summer on a two-year contract from Real Madrid and scored on her debut, a four-goal victory over Crystal Palace in the Women’s Super League (WSL).

However, Raso did not score in her 12 subsequent appearances for the club.

Raso, who has 99 senior caps for Australia, previously played for Canberra United and the Brisbane Roar in the W-League, NWSL duo Washington Spirit and the Portland Thorns, before spells in Europe with Everton, Manchester City and Madrid.

New Spurs coach Martin Ho was appointed at the north London club earlier this month, and Spurs will now look to enhance the squad and the potential exit of Raso would precede incomings ahead of the new WSL season.

The club have made one signing this summer, with 19-year-old Japan defender Toko Koga joining from Feyenoord in July on a four-year deal.

Spurs endured a difficult 2024-25 campaign under previous head coach Robert Vilahamn, including a 10-game winless run from January which saw them record an 11th-place WSL finish, just one place from the foot of the table and relegation.

(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur are facing the prospect of having to leave a significant number of first-team players out of their Champions League squad in the coming season.

Qualification comes with the opportunity to play on club football’s grandest stage, and, crucially for a side who want to progress in the competition and remain in it for seasons to come, a huge cash injection to strengthen further via the transfer market. However, it also necessitates an increased focus on how their current ranks are constructed due to homegrown player rules.

The Premier League requires that its participating clubs’ squads “must contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the ‘homegrown player’ criteria”. According to the league’s rulebook, a homegrown player is “a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)”.

Tottenham have eight fully fledged first-team players who fulfil this classification (Brandon Austin, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, Archie Gray, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Djed Spence), and also several academy graduates and homegrown talents who may remain with the squad for the season, so they are currently on target.

However, UEFA’s ‘locally trained’ rules will be much trickier to navigate.

As for last season’s Europa League, which they won to secure this Champions League spot, Tottenham will submit two lists: List A (the main squad) and List B (players born on or after January 1, 2004, who have been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years since turning 15).

The overall number of players (25) they include on List A is the same as for the Premier League, but the makeup of it will be markedly different. This is due to UEFA having a separate distinction between ‘association-trained’ and ‘locally trained’ players. In other words, where the Premier League does not pay attention to which English or Welsh team(s) developed a given player, UEFA necessitates that at least four of the eight association-trained players must have spent at least three entire seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21 at the club they’re currently with.

A quick glance at the eight senior players who qualify as homegrown demonstrates the pressing nature of the matter. Currently, only third-choice goalkeeper Austin is ‘locally trained’ compliant, and if Spurs do not address the issue, UEFA rules state they will have to leave three registration slots in their squad open for the coming season, reducing their total number of players from 25 to 22.

The situation has not been helped by Tottenham’s transfer activity.

Alfie Whiteman, a boyhood Spurs fan and an academy graduate, helped bolster their locally trained figures last season and earned a Europa League winner’s medal despite not playing in any of the games, but he has since been released. In his place, the club are likely to promote Antonin Kinsky to their European squad, having left him out of their Europa League group soon after signing him in January. Though this summer’s signings so far will improve Tottenham’s depth and quality, Mohammed Kudus, Mathys Tel and Kota Takai will never be eligible to fill homegrown status in the Premier League or UEFA competitions.

The proposed signing of Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest would be another addition to the association-trained contingent but not the ‘locally trained’ group. The need to strengthen a squad that new head coach Thomas Frank has declared should compete on all four fronts in the coming season must be balanced with UEFA’s squad-registration requirements, and there is some concern over the club’s ability to solve that puzzle.

Developing first-team-ready players through the academy is the optimal way out of this situation, as it requires no transfer fees and exposes young talent to elite football early in their development cycle. While it is largely dependent on the quality of those emerging from your youth setup, fellow Champions League qualifiers Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are in good positions from a club-trained perspective, with the likes of Phil Foden, Curtis Jones and Bukayo Saka now seasoned operators in Europe’s premier competition.

Given Austin is likely to sit behind Guglielmo Vicario and Kinsky on the goalkeeping depth chart, Spurs are currently without a club-trained player in the squad who is expected to make a meaningful impact on the Champions League in the coming season.

Another avenue is to re-sign club-trained players who had moved on.

Arsenal moved for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ backup goalkeeper Dan Bentley last year as they sought to address their own homegrown concerns (which have since been addressed through the emergence of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly), but fell short of the asking price for their former academy player.

Tottenham academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters was available as a free agent earlier this summer after leaving Southampton at the end of his contract and could have provided full-back cover on either side, but he has now joined West Ham United — possibly an opportunity missed. Though Noni Madueke, Arsenal’s recent signing from Chelsea, spent four years at Spurs’ academy to the age of 16, he would not have been eligible for a club-trained or association-trained slot as he spent the majority of the eligibility period in the Netherlands with PSV.

Others who fit this bill include Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Nabil Bentaleb, Dennis Cirkin, Troy Parrott and a slew of centre-backs, such as Japhet Tanganga, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Milos Veljkovic. In any other circumstances, it is unlikely that any of these will head up Hotspur Way this summer, not least because Tottenham are very well-stocked in central defence.

Oh, and then there’s Harry Kane…

Finding a way to manage the present while preventing any opportunity for Tottenham’s exciting young talents to demonstrate their qualities in the Champions League is another awkward quandary. If they were to return for Winks or Skipp, for example, how would that affect Lucas Bergvall or Archie Gray in midfield? On the same token, might a move for Carter-Vickers or Veljkovic harm Takai or Luka Vuskovic’s prospects of making the cut? With such a bloated first-team group already, it seems inevitable that quality players will be left disappointed when the club submit their final squad to UEFA after the summer transfer window closes on September 1.

As it stands, Frank will have to leave out nine first-team players. Takai, Manor Solomon, Bryan Gil, Yang Min-hyeok, Radu Dragusin (who suffered an ACL knee injury in February so will miss the new season’s opening months), Davies and Ashley Phillips (the latter two are association-trained) appear most likely to miss out at this point, but that’s only seven. And that’s before Gibbs-White, or any other potential incomings, necessitate more exclusions.

Fortunately, the long-term future looks brighter for Tottenham.

From 2026-27, Bergvall and Gray will be eligible to be registered in List B. The following season, they will become club-trained. The same will eventually apply to 18-year-old Vuskovic, should he remain at Spurs for three seasons or more.

But while their recent policy of attracting talented youngsters to their part of north London should bear fruit eventually, it won’t help them navigate this situation at present.

For now, Tottenham’s new-look boardroom has the unenviable task of addressing a pressing issue that could otherwise have a significant impact on the ability of Frank’s team to perform at their best in the Champions League next season.

(Top photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

As he made his way towards the tunnel after completing his warm-down exercises on the pitch, Morgan Gibbs-White was serenaded with noisy chants of his name from the Nottingham Forest fans.

The midfielder raised his hands above his head to applaud before then clasping them together into a heart shape to convey a simple message to those in the stands.

Will the 45 minutes and nine seconds of football Gibbs-White played in the first half of a 0-0 draw with Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 on Saturday be the last he plays in a Forest shirt?

The question of whether this was a goodbye will be answered in the coming days and weeks.

It does feel as though the saga — which began when Tottenham Hotspur made an offer of £60million for Forest’s talismanic player 10 days ago — is not yet definitively over.

Forest were frustrated that Spurs’ bid happened to precisely match a confidential release clause in Gibbs-White’s contract. But while those feelings are understandable, it will not guarantee an end to the London club’s interest in Forest’s most creative player.

Behind the scenes, it has been business as usual at Forest’s Nigel Doughty Academy, where Gibbs-White has been working hard with his team-mates since reporting back to begin pre-season training on Monday after England duty earlier in the summer.

When it comes to Gibbs-White, there have been no issues with the rest of the dressing room nor with the head coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, even if the club opted to keep him out of the limelight once more, with Nuno again not conducting post-match interviews after yesterday’s game, which saw him field entirely different teams in each half.

Ola Aina, who signed a new contract that runs until 2028 earlier this month, says the topic has been discussed in the dressing room, where Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi — who is into the final year of his current deal — have been the subject of some lighthearted flak.

“We have a bit of banter about stuff like that! But it’s that person’s business,” says Aina. “Of course I would (like to see Gibbs-White stay). But I don’t know what’s going on. You’d have to ask Morgan. I don’t think it will be forgotten (what Gibbs-White has done for the club). Never. He’s a terrific player, and his football speaks for itself.

“Everyone is being professional. Right now, we just need to get our heads down and focus on pre-season. This is going to be another important season for us, and we look forward to that. We need to build on last season. We need to try to progress as players, a club and a team. We want to go a step further again.”

It is hard to assess a player’s mood when they are warming up in pouring rain for a pre-season friendly, but Gibbs-White looked lively enough as he went through a series of stretching exercises with Jota Silva.

Gibbs-White’s previous appearance in a Forest shirt had been in the frustrating 1-0 home defeat against Chelsea in May, which confirmed that the club would not secure the Champions League football that had been such a tantalising possibility for much of the campaign.

He stepped out yesterday in their smart new kit, which carries something of a resemblance to the pin-striped offering Forest wore in 1992-93, a season that began with them selling one of their best players — Teddy Sheringham — to Tottenham and ended, ultimately, in relegation from the top flight.

Forest want to build on the seventh-placed finish they secured last time out, as they prepare themselves to play on the European stage for the first time in three decades. But losing their most influential player in the build-up to the new campaign would not be the ideal preparation.

The fact that Gibbs-White has not been persuaded to sign a new contract, with two years left to run on the one he signed when he joined in a £25million — potentially rising to £42m — move from Wolves in the summer of 2022, leaves Forest in a vulnerable position.

Wolves went through a similar situation themselves last season with Matheus Cunha, their own attacking talisman. Arsenal and Forest had been interested in the Brazilian, but he signed a new contract in February, which included a release clause that fairly reflected his value — and ultimately led to a £62.5million move to Manchester United a few weeks ago.

When Gibbs-White’s name was on the team sheet yesterday for what was Forest’s second pre-season game, it raised the question of how he might be received amid the prospect of his potential departure, which had even seen Tottenham schedule a medical for him on July 11, prior to Forest seeking legal advice over their approach. But he was cheered as loudly as any other Forest player when the line-ups were read out.

Forest played with their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Gibbs-White in his usual position in the 10, playing just behind striker Chris Wood, with Hudson-Odoi and Jota on the flanks.

In what was a competitive game for a friendly, there were a few moments where Gibbs-White demonstrated exactly why he had become such an integral figure for this team.

After drifting out wide towards the right, he looked up before delivering a high, looping ball towards the far post, into the path of a run from Wood, who could not quite control the pass. When Hudson-Odoi played Gibbs-White into space, he cut into the box purposefully, before holding his head in his hands after opting to shoot — with an effort that cleared the bar — rather than to fire the ball across goal.

More than once he received the ball at his feet, turned, and advanced gracefully forward into space, as we have seen him do so many times during his 118 official appearances for the club. Gibbs-White even attempted to win a header against Eric Dier. But the force of the former Spurs and Bayern Munich man’s robust challenge even left his own team-mate, Pape Cabral, down in a heap.

Gibbs-White is expected to be part of the Forest squad that flies to Portugal for a pre-season training camp next week. Beyond that, the future remains uncertain.

Has he burned his bridges at Forest? It does not feel that way. He remains a popular figure in the dressing room and the reception he received from the fans on Saturday suggests many of them remain onside with a player they know very well it would be hugely difficult for the club to replace.

(Top photo: Neal Simpson/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, Destiny Udogie uploaded a video to social media that showed his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Pedro Porro dancing in the dressing room at the training ground.

It was a funny and wholesome moment — but there was a tiny, hidden detail in the video which Udogie unintentionally revealed.

Sarr was dancing in front of a large television screen which briefly displayed the first-team squad’s schedule as they prepare for the coming season. All players were due to go for a swim, it read, then head to the gym. After lunch, they would participate in a session called ‘back-to-back goals possession.’

But if you take a closer look at the bottom of that TV, you might make out a collection of fuzzy words which seem to read ‘long throw auditions’. Naturally, Spurs fans have seized on this. After all, long throws aren’t naturally associated with the game’s most glamorous or successful teams.

Lots of people describe the tactical approach of Tottenham’s new head coach Thomas Frank as pragmatic.

While he was in charge of previous club Brentford, they set up in a 3-5-2 system during their 2021-22 debut season in the Premier League, and one of their main routes of attack was goalkeeper David Raya pumping long balls towards 6ft1in (185cm) striker Ivan Toney. They were a potent threat from set pieces, too.

People who have known Frank throughout his coaching career prefer to call him open-minded.

He is prepared to try different ideas and adapts to the strengths and weaknesses of the players at his disposal. The best example of this is how throw-ins became a valuable weapon for him at Brentford — and he apparently wants to repeat the trick with Spurs after moving across London this summer.

Part of the reason why Frank has this attitude is because Brentford have a long history of employing specialist coaches, including throw-in expert Thomas Gronnemark, sleep consultant Anna West and Bartek Sylwestrzak, who helps players to improve their ball-striking technique. Andreas Georgson spent the 2019-20 season as their set-piece coach and will now perform the same role at Spurs. Keith Andrews, who was in charge of Brentford’s set-pieces last season, has even replaced Frank as their head coach.

Brentford hired all of these specialists out of necessity. When they were in the second-tier Championship, they did not have the money to go out and buy top players, so they focused on improving the talent present within their squad via any means necessary. On the opening day of that 2021-22 season, in Brentford’s first game in the English top flight for 74 years, Christian Norgaard scored from a throw-in routine to seal a famous 2-0 win against Arsenal.

Long throw-ins have become fashionable again in the Premier League but nobody has come close to matching the efficiency of Brentford, who were responsible for six of the 20 goals scored from them in the division last season.

According to The Athletic’s data model, Spurs generated 0.2 xG (expected goals) within 10 seconds of their attacking throw-ins last season — only Chelsea created less. Under Frank’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou, their full-backs tended to wait for James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall or Dejan Kulusevski to offer for the ball from midfield, before playing a quick one-two and recycling possession.

Keane Lewis-Potter and Michael Kayode, Brentford’s starting full-backs towards the end of that 2024-25 campaign, took a lot of their throw-ins, but sometimes centre-back Ethan Pinnock, central midfielder Mathias Jensen or forward Kevin Schade stepped up.

It was a strange sight to see Schade, their third-highest scorer (with 11) behind Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, drying the ball with a towel on the touchline, but he had one of the most powerful throws in the squad. Maybe Mohammed Kudus or Mathys Tel will become a secret weapon for Tottenham with their throw-ins; this is the whole point of Frank’s auditions.

Brentford generated 5.9 xG from throw-ins last season, which was comfortably the highest figure in the division. Nottingham Forest were a distant second at only 1.4. By way of direct comparison, Brentford attempted 98 more throws directly into the opposition penalty area in 2024-25 than Spurs did.

Do not be fooled into thinking that Porro, Udogie, Djed Spence or Archie Gray will suddenly start aimlessly hurling balls into the box. A lot of planning and creativity went into Brentford’s throw-in moves.

For example, in their penultimate game of last season, they caused west London rivals Fulham a lot of problems. Kayode can propel the ball powerfully across large distances and still retain accuracy. In the 21st minute against Fulham, he shaped his body to throw one into the box but shifted it at the last moment and instead found Lewis-Potter.

He receives the ball just inside Fulham’s half and rolls Emile Smith Rowe before clipping a pass towards Norgaard on the left wing. Brentford have changed the angle of their attack in an attempt to catch Fulham off-guard.

Fulham temporarily clear the ball, but Adama Traore is dispossessed by Wissa. The visitors’ defensive structure is now all over the place, with Calvin Bassey much deeper than his centre-back partner Joachim Andersen, and full-back Antonee Robinson nowhere near Mbeumo.

Mbeumo strides into the box and equalises with a drilled shot low into the corner.

Brentford might not have scored directly from a throw-in in this situation, but it all stems from their desire to be bold in such situations.

Brentford took the lead just before half-time in the same game from another throw-in.

Kayode is in charge again, and Fulham are wary of him picking out Yehor Yarmoliuk on the edge of the area. This unpredictability can create confusion among opposition defences and potentially lead to mistakes.

Fulham have all their outfield players in the penalty area to Brentford’s five, yet Sepp van den Berg manages to rise above everybody to flick the ball on…

… and Norgaard nudges it back across the box to provide Wissa with a simple finish. No Fulham player tracked the midfielder’s back-post run because they were all too worried about trying to win the initial ball.

Brentford are experts when it comes to every kind of set piece. They even scored straight from kick-off in three consecutive games last season. There are charts on the walls in the canteen at their training ground which show how many chances they are creating and conceding from set pieces. (Don’t be surprised if something similar is now introduced at Hotspur Way.)

After they beat his Liverpool side 3-1 in January 2023, Jurgen Klopp said Brentford “stretch the rules”.

“If you singled out every situation, you would find five fouls,” Klopp added. “But because it’s so chaotic, nobody sees it. That’s what they do, and it’s really good; they react to different things.

“They play like this against us, but against other teams, they play football, and it’s fantastic. You cannot defend long balls all the time. They were super-direct. That limits them in some aspects, but in this kind of game they are able to create chaos and they organised that extremely well.”

As more teams became aware of their threat from set pieces, Brentford responded by coming up with new ideas and cleverly disguising their intentions.

It happened in May against Fulham, and there is another example from the 3-1 defeat of Southampton last August.

Here, Mbeumo and Wissa drop off to potentially receive from a Jensen throw-in.

But the Denmark international takes a few steps back, signalling his intention to send it long, so his two strikers turn back and head off towards goal. At the same time, Nathan Collins and Pinnock, Brentford’s centre-backs, have moved from the penalty spot to the near post. Their presence will prevent goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from catching the ball.

Jensen’s delivery spins towards that front post, and Collins nips in front of the Southampton defenders to flick it on. Wissa makes an arcing run towards the back post…

… and is rewarded with an incredibly easy finish.

Southampton were tricked into thinking Brentford would throw the ball short, which meant they were poorly organised for Jensen’s longer effort.

Udogie’s innocent, behind-the-scenes video from Spurs training inadvertently highlighted the biggest difference between Frank and Postecoglou.

The latter largely stuck rigidly to his philosophy and dismissed the importance of set pieces, even comparing them to a rugby scrum. Frank will try anything if it helps his team gain an advantage.

Additional reporting: Thom Harris

(Top photo: Andrew Kearns/Getty Images)

It used to be said of Tottenham Hotspur that they were so keen on finding value in the transfer market they would ignore players who were right under their noses.

When Spurs full-back Danny Rose famously told UK newspaper The Sun in 2017 that he wanted them to sign players he did not “have to Google”, it struck a chord with the fanbase for a reason. This was an era when the club’s transfer business was necessarily constrained by the new-stadium build, a huge billion-plus project they had to pay for themselves, with no hand-outs from anyone else.

What is so striking about Tottenham’s transfer business in this window is how commonplace it is for them to target players who require far less research.

Of course, there is still a hunt for bargains, for young unknowns who can develop and then shine at Tottenham. That was the case when Fabio Paratici was in charge of their recruitment, and even more so now Johan Lange is technical director. The recent purchase of Kota Takai from Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale — not a player many of us had heard of — is the perfect example of this type of signing. A highly-rated youngster with great data who Spurs could beat the competition to. Antonin Kinsky, the goalkeeper signed from Slavia Prague in January, was another example of a similar trend.

Go back slightly further, and the likes of Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall, though highly regarded by those well-versed in global youth football, were hardly household names before arriving in north London. Both ended the 2024-25 season having played a huge role in the club’s Europa League triumph.

But while Tottenham continue to go for players such as Takai and Kinsky — ones you can be forgiven for needing to Google — they have also made a habit of adding players who require no introduction. Which is what we have seen this month with the arrival of Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United for £55million, and the attempt — still unresolved — to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest for £60m.

Take a step back, and this is perhaps the defining trend in Spurs’ transfer business in the past few years. And it is not the behaviour of a club shy about making their presence felt in the market.

When Rose made those famous comments eight years ago, it was not quite true that Tottenham never bought from other Premier League sides. For example, they signed Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama in summer 2016 for £11million. He made an instant impact in elevating the level of the team. Which is what you want when you buy an established player from a team in the same division. And a few weeks after Rose’s intervention, Spurs signed Fernando Llorente from Swansea City for £12m, although in truth the Spanish striker was always a high-level Plan B during his time at the club rather than a guaranteed starter.

After Llorente, however, Tottenham did not sign another player from a fellow Premier League side for another three years. (When Ryan Sessegnon and Jack Clarke were bought in summer 2019, from Fulham and Leeds United respectively, those sides were in the second-tier Championship.) It was not until 2020, when they added Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton and Matt Doherty of Wolves, that they started to buy from their own division again. And neither of those deals involved a big fee either, with each player costing roughly £15million.

It was only really in summer 2022 that Spurs started to behave like they routinely do now.

Remember that this was after one full season of post-pandemic football. Antonio Conte wanted some more experienced additions to his team after finishing in fourth and sealing Champions League football. It was no secret that Everton needed to sell Richarlison before the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) reporting deadline of June 30. Spurs managed to get him for a deal of £50million, plus a potential £10m more in add-ons. It was one of the biggest deals in Tottenham’s history, and a clear change in policy. Later that summer, they signed Yves Bissouma from Brighton & Hove Albion for £25m.

The next summer, when Ange Postecoglou came in as manager, Spurs went again to sign established top-flight players for significant fees. Leicester City had just been relegated, but Tottenham had been tracking their midfielder James Maddison for years. They persuaded him to join and bought him for £40million in late June. At the end of the window, they targeted Brennan Johnson of Nottingham Forest, another club who needed to sell for PSR reasons, and landed him for £47.5m.

In Postecoglou’s second (and last) summer, Spurs broke their transfer record with another big Premier League purchase. Bournemouth were not in quite the same situation as Everton in 2022 or Forest in 2023, but Dominic Solanke had two years left on his deal, and it was their last chance to make money on him. Tottenham picked him up for an initial £55million, with another £10m in potential add-ons.

Put those four deals together — Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson and Solanke — and it establishes a clear pattern. Spurs are not afraid to pay fees that used to be far beyond them for proven Premier League talent. Especially when they know the selling club, for whatever reason, are not in much of a position to resist.

While it may be tempting to suggest these players (and Bissouma) have sometimes flattered to deceive at Tottenham, it is worth remembering all bar Maddison started that Europa League final, and all played a part in that long-overdue trophy win.

Remember too that there is precedent for a strategy like this.

Liverpool — the Premier League’s best case study in how to spend money smartly — built some of the foundations for their recent successes on the signings of players who had been relegated from the Premier League: Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle United in 2016, Andy Robertson from Hull City the year after. Sadio Mane — who Spurs also wanted — came in from mid-table Southampton.

But given what we have seen from Tottenham in the past three years, it should perhaps be no surprise that they started their summer by targeting Kudus, given how valuable that money would be to West Ham in the market. And even the move for Gibbs-White, if unexpected, was still consistent with that strategy. Of course, they certainly might have added more established players than they did last summer, and the struggles of the team to compete on multiple fronts can be attributed in part to the fact that Solanke was their only experienced signing.

And transfer fees are not the same thing as wage bills, and it is in salary terms that Spurs have lost ground relative to their rivals in recent years. Even though the club has spent more on fees than ever before, some observers have pointed to the reduced wage bill as being at least as important.

Maybe this window is an attempt to make up for all that, to give new head coach Thomas Frank the tools to compete on multiple fronts. And to give the fans players they do not need to look up in advance.

(Top photo of Gibbs-White and Kudus; Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

Aston Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey is of interest to Nottingham Forest.

Forest’s interest in Ramsey comes with Tottenham Hotspur bidding for their attacking midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White.

The Athletic previously reported that Tottenham pushed to get Ramsey last summer but could not complete a deal.

The 24-year-old is a Villa academy graduate, representing pure bookable profit for the West Midlands club if he is sold. While Ramsey’s salary is manageable, a sale would further help Villa in their battle to reduce their wage bill below 70 per cent of overall turnover, complying with UEFA’s guidelines and, in July, Villa were fined by UEFA for breaching its financial rules. At the start of the summer, Villa’s wage bill stood in the mid-eighties, though have been gradually trimming this figure since.

However, Ramsey would serve as ‘club-trained’, which Villa need when registering players in this season’s squad for their Europa League campaign. It remains to be seen as to whether Villa would sanction a sale, with Unai Emery a firm advocate of the midfielder’s ability and the club wanting to move on other players, such as Alex Moreno, Leander Dendoncker and Leon Bailey.

Ramsey made his league debut in September 2020 as a 19-year-old and has made 167 senior appearances for Villa. Last season, the Englishman played 45 games across all competitions. He registered one goal and five assists over 29 appearances in the Premier League, having struggled with injuries.

The Athletic reported on July 10 that Forest midfielder Gibbs-White was set for a medical at Tottenham, in line to follow wingers Anthony Elanga and Ramon Sosa leaving the club this summer.

‘Ramsey would perfectly fit Forest’s recruitment model’

Analysis by Nottingham Forest correspondent Paul Taylor

Forest’s need to bolster their attacking arsenal was already increased by the £52m sale of Elanga to Newcastle.

Although it is Gibbs-White who Ramsey would be more of a replacement for. It remains to be seen whether Gibbs-White will complete a move to London, after Forest were upset by the manner of Tottenham’s £60m bid for their most influential player.

But the versatile attacking player, who can play wide on the left or in the number 10 role that Gibbs-White has made his own, would perfectly fit Forest’s recruitment model, as a relatively young player who would still improve.

Ramsey was on the radar of England manager Thomas Tuchel last season and playing regular football at Forest could aid his international ambitions.

The fact that he can play in more than one position would also be an important factor for head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who values such attributes in his players.

Forest have already bolstered their options in the final third with the addition of Igor Jesus from Botafogo, while they remain keen on Brentford’s Yoane Wissa.

But Ramsey could also be an astute addition, if the club can get a deal over the line.

(Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur have signed winger Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United in a deal worth around £55million ($74.7m). The 24-year-old has signed a six-year contract.

As part of this summer’s transfer coverage on The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals.

Give me his backstory in 100 words…

Kudus was born in Ghana and trained at the Right to Dream Academy, which has a direct pipeline to several professional clubs — including Danish Superliga side Nordsjaelland (FCN), who Kudus joined in 2018, aged 17.

In two seasons in Denmark, the forward made 57 appearances across all competitions, scoring 14 goals. He signed for Ajax ahead of the 2020-21 season and spent three seasons with the Dutch side, scoring 27 times in 87 appearances — a total limited by injury problems. West Ham signed Kudus in summer 2023 and he made 80 appearances in two seasons, scoring 19 goals and registering 13 assists.

Cerys Jones

What should and shouldn’t I expect to see?

Kudus’ game is characterised by dribbling. He likes to take players on and is extremely difficult to dispossess. He can hold the ball up and his movement off it is smart, too. In terms of position, expect him to primarily play on the wing, although he has played across the front line and midfield.

One caveat: don’t expect him to successfully finish every chance. His percentage of shots on target is relatively low, so while he can create plenty for himself and his team-mates, it might require some patience to see the end-product.

Cerys Jones

How will he fit in tactically?

Tottenham’s new head coach Thomas Frank will relish having a player as dynamic as Kudus among his options for a variety of reasons.

Chief among them is the Ghanaian’s explosive ability in one-v-one situations. Boasting quick feet and a rapid change of direction, Kudus’ 7.2 take-ons attempted per 90 minutes played trailed only Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku in the Premier League last season.

This should help Spurs break down stubborn low-blocks, but his ball-carrying is an invaluable tool in transition.

They scored 10 goals from fast breaks last season, second only to champions Liverpool (14). While it’s unlikely Frank will maintain the gung-ho, helter-skelter style of Ange Postecoglou, it’s clear that counter-attacking at speed is one of this squad’s collective strengths, and Kudus’ ability will only help amplify this.

Conor O’Neill

What’s his injury record?

As mentioned, Kudus’ Ajax career was peppered with enforced absences. A knee injury kept him out from October 2020 to February 2021 (bar a 10-minute cameo in the January), he missed the beginning of the 2021-22 season with an ankle issue, before a fractured rib ruled him out again from November to February. He was also absent for four games in the following campaign because of a hamstring problem.

Since moving to the Premier League, though, none of those injuries have reoccurred.

Cerys Jones

Someone who knows him says…

Flemming Pedersen, technical director and former first-team manager at Nordsjaelland, told The Athletic in 2023: “He always stayed behind after training, because he had that desire to improve his goalscoring record. I demanded that he improve his offensive ability and I’ve noticed he’s become a lot more clinical with his finishing.

“The most important thing is to give him a lot of trust, and then you get the best version of Kudus. I didn’t try and control him when I was his manager. I tried to get closer to Kudus the person, so he could express himself on the pitch. Just through that extra bit of love, he started doing amazing things with the ball. He played with freedom. Performance-wise, he’s one of the best players I’ve worked with.”

Cerys Jones

What do we know about the finances of the deal?

Kudus has joined Tottenham on a six-year contract, which expires in June 2031. Spurs are paying West Ham around £55million — a big saving on the £85m release clause that was in place should any Premier League club have wished to sign the player before July 10.

Chris Weatherspoon

What impact will this have on both clubs’ PSR calculation?

Assuming agent fees of 10 per cent, plus a four per cent transfer levy, Kudus’ signing will add £12.2million to Spurs’ amortisation costs in 2025-26, then a further £12.5m annually until the end of the 2029-30 season.

Just a further £309,000 will then be booked into their 2030-31 figures, despite Kudus’ contract running to the end of that season. This is a by-product of Premier League (and UEFA) rules, which only allow clubs to spread transfer fees across a maximum of five years.

There will therefore be a disconnect between amortisation costs in Tottenham’s annual accounts and their respective PSR calculations. In the former, Kudus will cost £10.5million annually — £2m per year less than in their PSR (profitability and sustainability rules) submissions.

In total, across the fee paid to West Ham and associated costs, Kudus will set Spurs back an estimated £62.7million. That’s without including his weekly wages. The total cost of buying and employing the Ghana international over his full contract term will almost certainly exceed £100m.

Kudus’ West Ham contract wasn’t due to expire until June 2028, and his estimated book value at the club (again, after some assumed agent fees and the applicable transfer levy when buying him from Ajax two years ago) is estimated at £26.6million.

As reported by The Athletic at the time of that deal, Ajax secured a sell-on clause on Kudus of 10 per cent of West Ham’s future profit. There’s not a huge amount between Spurs’ fee and the money spent to take him to the London Stadium two years ago, so we project the Amsterdam side will bank between £1million and £2m.

Deducting Ajax’s share leaves West Ham’s profit on the deal at around the £27million mark. That’s a good amount, but the east Londoners don’t appear in need of PSR-related boosts, so it’s unlikely this sale has been sanctioned with that as the driving reason; they booked £57m in profit in 2023-24, a figure which remains in their PSR calculation in 2025-26.

Chris Weatherspoon

(Top photo: Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic’s daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox.

How did a footballer on the verge of the big time at Liverpool later find himself at the centre of a massive cocaine bust? We have a first-hand account for you.

Plus: what Arsenal knew about Thomas Partey allegations, Morgan Gibbs-White set for Tottenham medical, and the New York Cosmos are back.

Player to dealer: How ex-Liverpool youth star Cassidy was jailed over £28m drugs plot

Jamie Cassidy made headlines last year when he and his brother, Jonathan, were jailed for their part in smuggling £28m worth ($35.8m) of cocaine into the UK. The case drew attention because Cassidy, now 47, was better known for being a former professional footballer at Liverpool.

Simon Hughes covered the sentencing hearing for The Athletic, and there was an air of finality about his extensive backgrounder. Cassidy received a prison sentence of 13 years and three months. Police first arrested him in 2020 and, having served time in between on remand, he was released on parole last month, which is where this story gets even more interesting.

Upon leaving jail, Cassidy sought Simon out. He had read the coverage of his conviction and wanted to speak about the events which led him to become part of a smuggling network that imported 356kg of cocaine into England from South America, via the Netherlands. Their conversations form the basis of a phenomenally compelling feature, published this morning.

To recap briefly, Cassidy was a supremely gifted, left-footed midfielder who came close to breaking through at Liverpool in the 1990s. Some of his peers, such as Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen, made it big there, and Cassidy believed he would do the same. He made England’s training squad for Euro 1996. A breakthrough was close enough to touch.

How, then, did he spiral from those heady heights to the end of his professional career in his early 20s and a future role in the global narcotics trade? The crux of the matter is injury: a torn ACL from which he never recovered. Cassidy describes himself as “completely lost” during his adult life, something he says he intends to change.

‘It happens over a period of time’

I’m wary of showing Cassidy too much sympathy and, in fairness to him, he’s not asking for any. His interview with Simon is full of contrition. “Nobody put the Encro (EncroChat — an encrypted messaging service used by drug dealers to communicate, which police broke into to bust Cassidy’s operation) in my hand but me,” he says. When the time came to plead, he pleaded guilty.

But there is more than a vague element of misfortune in Cassidy’s story. The demise of his career earned him little emotional support. His father — who stood by Cassidy and who he talks about incredibly fondly, and who died the day after Cassidy was released from jail — responded to the question “why me?” by simply asking “why not you, lad?”. “It was a different time,” Cassidy says. “If there was a problem, you had to try and get on with it.”

Carragher referenced Cassidy in his autobiography, extolling his ability. Cassidy felt so low that he reached the point where he could hardly bring himself to watch Liverpool. He moved into the building trade, where he came into contact with the city’s criminal underworld. Gradually, he found himself crossing the line. “It happens over a period of time,” he says. “In jail, some say lads want to be either a footballer or a drug dealer. Unfortunately, I’ve been both.”

It’s an important story because aftercare for players who chase a career in football but don’t succeed in creating one is a long-standing concern. Cassidy, who worked to support suicidal inmates in jail, says that when he left Liverpool after almost 12 years, “I couldn’t change a plug and suddenly I was out like an old stray dog.” It wasn’t easy for him to know what came next and it will be harder to predict what comes after prison. But to take his comments at face value — and I really would give Simon’s interview your time — he’ll seek to wipe the slate as clean as he can.

Transfer talk: Tottenham sign Kudus for £55m and target £60m Gibbs-White

Have Tottenham Hotspur undergone a personality transplant? For so long derided as a club devoid of adequate ambition — unwilling to spend what needs to be spent in the Premier League — they’re sinking £115m or thereabouts into two back-to-back signings.

Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United is already done. That’s a £55m transfer. But more eye-opening again is Spurs’ £60m approach for Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, a midfielder who Manchester City gave consideration to buying. No sooner had David Ornstein broken the exclusive than Gibbs-White was booked in for a medical today.

The deals represent concerted backing for new head coach Thomas Frank, and Gibbs-White in particular is a demonstration of how Spurs winning the Europa League, thereby qualifying for the 2025-26 Champions League, gave them a) more pulling power and b) more revenue to dabble with. Suffice to say, they ain’t finishing 17th next season.

Also going down in the livestock ring:

Forest would like to spend some of the funds from Gibbs-White (assuming the sale goes through) on Brentford forward Yoane Wissa. The trouble is, Brentford are playing hardball this summer, as is their prerogative, and Forest are well short of Wissa’s valuation.

Arsenal’s bid for Chelsea’s Noni Madueke looks like it’s on. The clubs are expected to shake hands on a fee worth £52m. That will burn a hole in Chelsea’s pocket, no doubt.

Breaking this morning: two years on from trading Liverpool for Saudi Arabia, Jordan Henderson is returning to the Premier League. Brentford are handing the 35-year-old a two-year contract after his exit from Ajax.

Real Madrid’s long-winded pursuit of Benfica left-back Alvaro Carreras — once of Manchester United — is also getting there. United stand to profit from a 20 per cent sell-on clause.

An interesting one in Major League Soccer: Inter Miami are speaking to Atletico Madrid about midfielder Rodrigo De Paul. He’d be a cracking asset for them.

News round-up

Crystal Palace shareholder John Textor thinks the club will retain their Europa League place, despite the ownership tangle involving one of his other projects, Lyon. So he told a radio station, anyway.

Endrick could do with a change in luck at Real Madrid. The 18-year-old has suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Club World Cup. He might miss the start of the new season.

Ex-Madrid winger Gareth Bale is pushing on with attempts to buy League One club Cardiff City. The consortium he’s part of have upped their offer and want full control. Cardiff are the Welshman’s hometown team. His old Bernabeu team-mate, Luka Modric, is just down the road at Swansea City. Small world.

Hosts Switzerland sneaked into the knockout stages of Euro 2025 by the skin of their teeth last night. A 92nd-minute equaliser squeezed out Finland. Switzerland will most likely meet Spain in the quarter-finals, which should mean curtains for them.

Atlanta United president and CEO Garth Lagerwey is stepping away from the franchise to undergo treatment for cancer.

Partey timeline: When did Arsenal know about rape allegations?

More now on Thomas Partey, the former Arsenal midfielder who earlier this month was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. The 32-year-old denies all the charges and is due to appear in court in just over three weeks’ time.

Until he was charged, UK law prevented The Athletic from identifying Partey as the footballer under investigation. While the case is live, there are also strict limits on what we can report. But questions are being asked of Arsenal’s management of him — their decision to continue playing Partey while police looked into the claims against him — and James McNicholas has worked hard to establish what the club knew and when.

It turns out that they were first made aware of a complaint against Partey in September 2021, almost four years before he was charged. They also knew that England’s Crown Prosecution Service was still considering whether to charge Partey while Arsenal were discussing a contract extension with him towards the end of last season. While James’ article makes for uncomfortable reading, it’s an essential piece of work.

Around TAFC

Three years after her last professional appearance, it’s the end of the road for USWNT legend Tobin Heath. A nasty knee injury got the better of the two-time World Cup winner and she announced her retirement yesterday, aged 37. Meg Linehan chased down a lovely interview with her.

In the aftermath of their Gold Cup defeat, Adam Crafton spoke to the USMNT’s Tyler Adams about where the team go from here. They got into the subject of how to attract more U.S. fans to matches.

Don’t miss Nick Miller’s feature on how clubs deal with the tragic loss of a player such as Diogo Jota. Even now, I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of the death of Phil O’Donnell in Scotland just after Christmas in 2007. He was only 35.

What’s the score with Jhon Duran? Jacob Tanswell is tackling that question this morning because Duran, for all his wealth of talent, hasn’t managed to settle anywhere. Fenerbahce, with Jose Mourinho, is his latest partnership.

Quiz question: seven players have registered more than 100 goals and assists in the Premier League in the 2020s. Name them for us please. As per, answers here later today and in Monday’s TAFC.

Most clicked in Thursday’s TAFC: PSG’s demolition job on Madrid.

Catch a match

(Selected matches; times ET/UK)

Friday: UEFA European Women’s Championship: Group B: Italy vs Spain; Portugal vs Belgium, both (3pm/8pm) – Fox Sports/BBC.

Saturday: UEFA European Women’s Championship: Group C: Poland vs Denmark; Sweden vs Germany, both (3pm/8pm) – Fox Sports/ITV; MLS: FC Cincinnati vs Columbus Crew, 7.30pm/12.30am (Sunday, UK) – MLS Season Pass/Apple TV; Inter Miami vs Nashville, 7.30pm/12.30am (Sunday, UK) – Fox Sports, Fubo, MLS Season Pass/Apple TV; Chicago Fire vs San Diego, 8.30pm/1.30am (Sunday, UK) – MLS Season Pass/Apple TV.

Sunday: FIFA Club World Cup final: Chelsea vs Paris Saint-Germain, 3pm/8pm – TBS, Fubo, DAZN in US and UK/Channel 5.

UEFA European Women’s Championship: Group D: England vs Wales, (3pm/8pm) – Fox Sports/ITV, BBC; Netherlands vs France, (3pm/8pm) – Fox Sports/ITV.

And finally…

I can’t think of the New York Cosmos — and you won’t either — without thinking of Pele. The majestic Brazilian played for them between 1975 and 1977, back when soccer in the United States was rather experimental. The club all but drifted off the map in the 1980s.

Over the years, various attempts have been made to revive and sustain them. And once again, they’ve found a pulse. In 2026, the Cosmos will compete in League One in the United Soccer League (USL), the culmination of plans to launch a team in New Jersey. Their iconic old badge is on the way back. It’s got wholesome vibes, and it’s what Pele would have wanted.

(Top photo: Cameron Smith – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)