Sport Witness

Patrick Dorgu is one of the most impressive youngsters in Serie A right now and probably won’t stay around at Lecce for long.

He recently scored on his debut for the Denmark national team, showing his worth at the highest level as well as underlining that this is going to be a key season for him.

As his value continues to increase, Tottenham and Chelsea are pulled into the picture.

La Gazzetta dello Sport report that while Spurs and the Blues are in ‘pole position’ to land the Dane, his initial valuation could now be €40m.

In the summer, Lecce wanted around €30m for the teenager but his valuation has now increased and his sale should pocket the Italian side a record profit.

Lecce have already informed Dorgu’s agents about their desire for a contract renewal and that could play a role in the the player’s value.

Of the two London club, Tottenham were linked more strongly over the summer, and Chelsea look like they’re reviving old interest.

Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United are all in the mix to sign Bayer Leverkusen star Jonathan Tah, according to this week’s edition of SportBild.

The centre-back was keen on joining Bayern Munich in the summer window, but the deal didn’t take shape.

Tah has less than a year left on his deal and has confirmed he won’t sign a new contract. Despite this, the Bundesliga winners will make another attempt to extend his deal.

Without an extension, the 28-year-old can leave the German club as a free agent at the end of this season. SportBild claim a move to Bayern is no longer on the cards.

The Germany international’s desire is to play for an English club. He’s not short of options there as Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United are all keen.

Barcelona are also in the picture, after a failed attempt in the last window. The La Liga side’s sporting director, Deco, personally called Bayer CEO Fernando Carro to make a last-minute attempt.

Among Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United, the Reds look best placed to sign Tah. Virgil van Dijk’s contract expires in 2025 and his future beyond this season remains uncertain.

It’s not yet clear whether Van Dijk will sign an extension. Taking this into account, Arne Slot’s side can start talks with Tah soon over a potential free transfer next summer.

The Red Devils are unlikely to be thinking about a centre-back, after signing Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt in the last window. Tottenham have the same position well covered and it’s not clear whether they would consider signing Tah.

Tottenham’s Cristian Romero again showed a bit of emotion on Tuesday evening, this time for his country.

Known for wearing his heart on his sleeve, this time he was reacting to disappointed as Colombia got revenge for their Copa America final defeat.

He was part of the Argentina side that lost to Colombia yesterday in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Things ended on an ugly note, with Argentina angry at a penalty that was given against them.

More so, they were just hugely disappointed with the defeat and couldn’t keep that emotion under check.

Clarin report that Romero was at the centre of protests. For his actions, the Tottenham man was shown a yellow card due to which he has reached his limit of cautions. As a result, he has been suspended for Argentina’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against Venezuela.

It is a blow for Lionel Scaloni, with the defender being one of the players he relies on.

For Tottenham, it might be a positive as the centre-back will play one game less in a potentially packed season.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Alejo Véliz made a switch to Espanyol on a loan deal in the last window.

The striker has scored a goal from four games for the La Liga side this season. He’s had a detailed chat with La Grada Ràdio, discussing various topics, including his transfer to Tottenham.

Véliz arrived at Tottenham from Argentine side Rosario Central in August 2023 and signed a deal until 2029.

The frontman managed 11 goals and an assist from 24 matches in the first half of 2023 for Rosario Central. Véliz was enjoying life in Argentina and was surprised when he learnt about Spurs’ interest to secure his services.

“It was something very crazy; I was living a beautiful moment in my career, nothing could go better, I was very happy with the club and the people and when my agent announced to me that there was this possibility, we all went into shock, it was an incredible thing, you still can’t quite believe it,” he said.

“You have to enjoy everything, football is an up and down, when the opportunity came from Tottenham it was crazy.”

The Argentina U21 international knew he couldn’t let the opportunity to join Spurs slip away.

Ange Postecoglou hasn’t found a meaningful place for the player at Tottenham, and the club let him join Sevilla on loan in January, but his situation didn’t improve in Andalusia.

The South American is now enjoying life at Espanyol and is hopeful of having a successful career at Tottenham.

“Today I’m here, and hopefully one day I can add a little more to the club that set their eyes on me and bought me,” Véliz explained.

The Tottenham owned player now needs to play a big part in La Liga and convince Postecoglou to consider him for next season.

Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak has told the Swedish media that Tottenham Hotspur’s Dejan Kulusevski is terrible at the Mafia game which has taken over much of the Sweden squad.

The game involves two groups that interrogate each other to find out who are mafia members or not. It’s a bit like the TV show Traitors.

Speaking to Fotbollskanalen, Isak was asked about his national teammates playing the game and who he thought struggled with it.

The Newcastle United player instantly said Kulusevski was terrible at the game as he just can’t hude what he’s thinking.

“Yes, ouff… He was a disaster. I saw through him immediately. As soon as he became a mafia, I looked him in the eyes and then I knew immediately,” said the Newcastle man about Kulusevski.

Sweden got off to the perfect start to their Nations League campaign after wins over Azerbaijan and Estonia.

The Tottenham attacker was made the stand in captain in the absence of Manchester United’s Victor Lindelöf, whilst Isak provided goals in both games.

Kulusevski appears to have created a great environment around the squad, with these games just one example. The Swedish media believe there’s bonding on show which hasn’t been there for a long time, and a lot of that has to be down to the Tottenham player.

Even if he is rubbish at Mafia.

Tottenham Hotspur allowed Jude Soonsup-Bell to complete a permanent move to Córdoba CF in the summer window.

Last month, the Spanish media stated Córdoba were thrilled to have signed the 20-year-old from Tottenham.

Córdoba CEO Antonio Fernández Monterrubio pointed out big data convinced his side to bet on the striker. The youngster made his debut for the Segunda División when he came off the bench against Malaga at home last weekend.

El Día de Córdoba aren’t pleased with what they saw from the Englishman so far. He arrived at the Spanish club without making an appearance for Tottenham’s senior team.

Tottenham signed Soonsup-Bell from Chelsea in January 2023, and he featured for Spurs U21 side for the last 18 months. He’s experiencing senior football for the first time and there’s been expectations for him to perform at his new club.

The attacker received a ‘loud ovation’ from the home supporters when he was brought on. He was moved to the left wing, but ‘looked quite lost’ on his debut.

El Día de Córdoba suggests the former Tottenham youngster could have been nervous to play in front of around 20,000 fans. This is something he has never experienced before. He needs time to adapt and adjust to the new surroundings, both on and off the pitch.

The newspaper states: ‘The Brit showed the courage to seek the limelight but also showed a lack of adaptation and a huge margin for improvement to start to be an element that adds to the team coached by Iván Ania.’

They have asked the Córdoba supporters to be patient with their summer signing as he needs time. This was given, but the media local to the Spanish club didn’t take it into consideration when they initially created huge hype around Soonsup-Bell.

Yago de Santiago ‘could not have landed on a better footing’ at Elche after moving from Tottenham this summer.

That’s according to Galicia Press, who cover the player today and how he has quickly become ‘one of the great sensations’ for the Spanish club.

The youngster left Tottenham’s U21 set up this summer in search of first-team football elsewhere, after five years in Spurs’ youth system following a move from Celta Vigo in 2019.

He never made a first team appearance for Tottenham but was a star in their U21 side, managed 18 goals and 12 assists in 80 games in total as well as four goals and five assists in 33 games for the U18s.

That lack of first-team opportunity led him back to Spain with Elche in search of regular minutes and development, albeit in the second tier of Spanish football.

It seems that’s working out so far, with Galicia Press reporting that he is one of the ‘great sensations’ in the current squad despite a slow start to the season for the team.

He’s already scored his first goal for his new club in the 3-1 win over Cordoba, his side’s first of the season, and appears to be winning over fans quickly with his performances.

His quick rise has been slightly halted by an untimely injury ‘just when he was beginning to take off’ but the hope is that he’ll be missing for weeks and nothing more.

Any absence is already being seen as a major disappointing, though, further highlighting how he’s quickly establishing himself as a key player and perhaps justifying his exit from Tottenham.

Giovani Lo Celso left Tottenham Hotspur to join Real Betis on deadline day of the last transfer window.

The Argentina international spent five years at Tottenham before returning to the La Liga side on a permanent transfer.

Last week, journalist Alonso Rivero said Tottenham have received €5m plus bonuses from Lo Celso’s exit.

Tuesday’s ABC Sevilla provides an insight into efforts put in by the player to leave Spurs for the Spanish club. They planned this operation a month before deadline day but only took firm steps after Nabil Fekir’s sale to Al-Jazira became firm.

Lo Celso has signed a four-year deal with Manuel Pellegrini’s side. The report claims the contract includes a high release clause over €60m, but less than €100m. This has been done to fend off any potential approaches from Saudi Arabia or other Middle East countries in the near future.

Real Betis lost Ayoze Pérez and Germán Pezzella for cheap in the last window and want to avoid repeating it with Lo Celso in the future. Therefore, they have included a high buyout clause, after buying him for a low price from Tottenham.

ABC Sevilla point out Lo Celso was keen on returning to Real Betis and this is shown by his willingness to accept a high termination clause.

Bryan Gil has had a disappointing at Tottenham Hotspur so far and perhaps, his best has come in his loan stints away from the North London giants.

He was loaned out to Girona in the summer window and has already scored for the Spanish side, showing signs of his abilities.

Despite that, it seems likely that the winger will return to Tottenham at the end of the season.

Sport in Spain state that while Gil has come up with good creation statistics and is winning the trust of Girona boss Michel, he will go back to Spurs next summer ‘unless something extraordinary happens’. The report praises the 23-year-old’s 1v1 ability and how he is impressing the manager, under who he looks likely to get more game time if what has happened already is anything to judge on.

However, the Catalan newspaper believes he’ll be sent back to Tottenham at the end of his loan regardless, which is perhaps a reflection on the potential transfer fee and wage costs.

Tottenham Hotspur attacker Dejan Kulusevski has spoken to the Swedish media about how players react to managerial choices, and he brought up his own situation.

Expressen have reported on comments made by Kulusevski in the mixed zone after his country’s 3-0 victory over Estonia last night. The Swedish stand-in captain was asked about the situation with Hugo Larsson following speculation the Frankfurt youngster walked on the squad after being left out of the starting eleven.

The 24-year-old compared the situation to his when Ange Postecoglou left him out of the starting eleven when they travelled to Leicester City. Kulusevski said it hurt not being selected for that game but he believes it’s something you need to expect in football and deal with.

“It happens to all of us. I was benched the first game in the Premier League with Tottenham, and it burns, but as I said, try to be as good as possible so you are never on the bench. But those are my thoughts, maybe they are not someone else’s thoughts” said the Tottenham star.

With Victor Lindelöf not in the squad for this international break the Tottenham player was made captain by Jon Dahl Tomasson, helping his country to Nation League victories over Azerbaijan and Estonia.

His situation has also improved since the Leicester City game, starting the last two Premier League games against Everton and Newcastle United.

It’s surely unlikely Kulusevski will have to worry about being benched too much this season.