Sport Witness

Fulham’s Joachim Andersen has revealed he came close to joining Tottenham Hotspur earlier in his career.

The Denmark international has had a chat with Arbejdstitel about Tottenham interest and PL Bold have relayed his comments.

Tottenham showed interest in the 28-year-old when he was on loan at Fulham from Lyon during the 2020/21 season.

The centre-back was a regular at Fulham, making 31 league appearances during his loan spell. José Mourinho was then in charge at Tottenham, and they parted ways with him in April 2021, a month before the end of that season.

Spurs appointed Nuno Espírito Santo as his compatriot’s permanent successor and his stay at the north London club was short.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s arrival blocked Andersen’s move to Tottenham and Lyon eventually sold the defender to Crystal Palace in in July 2021. The player spent three years with the Eagles before joining Fulham on a permanent transfer last summer.

“When I was at Fulham, I had spoken to Tottenham, and it was actually pretty close to being finalised with a contract and stuff like that. It was when Mourinho was the coach actually, but then a new coach came in who didn’t want me, and then it died,” he said.

In the summer of 2021, Spurs ended up signing Cristian Romero on loan from Atalanta and made his stay permanent a year later.

Fabio Paratici’s stint at Tottenham Hotspur saw the London giants sign a host of players from Italy, and he’s continued to be an external advisor to Spurs.

Rodrigo Bentancur, Destiny Udogie, Dejan Kulusevski and Guglielmo Vicario have all arrived during the Italian director’s time at the club and have all been successes, to a large extent.

Paratici currently finds his future uncertain. While AC Milan have been pursuing his signature, there is now the possibility of the ex-Juventus director returning to Tottenham.

RadioRossonera have looked at the 52-year-old’s situation and state that while Milan are the favourites to sign Paratici, Spurs have ‘forcefully entered’ the race.

Tottenham CEO Daniel Levy has held a key meeting with the former sporting director in an attempt to convince him to return in a more official and exclusive capacity, after his current ban has expired..

The report believes Spurs’ intentions are serious and are proving to be a real challenge to the Rossoneri. As a result, Tottenham are about to make an offer to Paratici and will put forward a very tight deadline for the Italian to make a final decision.

It now remains to be seen how Milan approach the scenario, as they continue to look for a new sporting director amidst a rather chaotic season, where manager Sergio Conceicao’s future is already uncertain.

Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have been linked with a move for Fiorentina’s Moise Kean in the past few weeks.

The striker has impressed in Serie A this season, finding the back of the 15 times, and a couple of days ago he scored a brace for Italy against Germany in the second leg of the UEFA Nations League quarter-final.

As interest in the forward continues to rise, more information about Kean’s future has been provided by La Nazione today.

They state, as relayed by ViolaNews, that Tottenham, Arsenal and Aston Villa are ‘especially’ interested in the 25-year-old. His release clause of €52m is proving to be a major ‘opportunity’ for clubs and the outlet hints at how a summer exit can now be a possibility.

They state that while Fiorentina can attempt to extend Kean’s contract and increase his release clause, there is no certainty about whether the player would want the extension.

If the former Everton man doesn’t agree on a renewal, Kean could leave in the summer and this would give Tottenham an opportunity to pounce.

The belief is that Fiorentina initially thought that the €52m clause will protect their player but it has just attracted more suitors.

Alejo Véliz arrived at Tottenham Hotspur from Rosario Central in August 2023 and found it difficult to enjoy regular minutes at the north London club.

Ange Postecoglou handed him 45 minutes from eight Premier League games and Spurs sent him on loan to Sevilla in January 2024.

The striker struggled at the Andalusian club and Tottenham let him join Espanyol on loan last summer. He’s scored four goals in 1,126 minutes from 23 games this season.

Véliz’s future beyond this season remains uncertain, according to journalist Uriel Iugt. He took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to state that the player will return to Tottenham after this season.

Iugt states ‘nothing is planned’ for the 21-year-old for next season and the frontman will have to make a decision with the Premier League club on his future. The journalist adds a permanent exit from Tottenham in the summer window is ‘not ruled out’.

Bolavip state the Argentina U21 international will return to Tottenham after his loan spell at Espanyol.

Dejan Kulusevski has arguably been Tottenham Hotspur’s best player this season.

The Sweden international has ten goals and just as many assists in all competitions, having contributed to goals consistently before he fell to an injury some weeks ago.

With Tottenham clearly struggling to make it to European football owing to their poor league position, there is now a possibility of them losing Kulusevski in the summer.

Calciomercato have reported today that AC Milan and other Premier League clubs came forward for Kulusevski in January, but Spurs rejected any approaches for their key player. They want to build around the 24-year-old and see him as arguably their most important player.

It’s believed things could change if Tottenham do not make it to Europe.

Fabio Paratici, who is likely to become Milan’s next sporting director, could look to reunite with him at the Rossoneri.

Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna knows Kulusevski from his time at Juventus and he still holds the Swede in high regard.

The indication is that the Lilywhites would not even open negotiations ‘for less than €50m’ and only a big offer will make them consider a sale.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah in the summer window.

That’s according to Monday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo, and they mention Liverpool and Tottenham when covering the latest on Barcelona.

The centre-back is set to leave Xabi Alonso’s side when his contract with them expires in June.

Bayer Leverkusen have made several attempts to renew his contract, but Tah has refused, in order to join Barcelona.

Hansi Flick previously managed the Germany international for the national team and is in favour of his arrival at the Camp Nou. The 29-year-old has given his word to the Catalan club.

Despite this, Mundo state Barcelona have to manage their finances and make room in the centre-back position before signing Tah.

The defender is willing to wait for the Spanish giants, but his contract situation has seen him attract interest from elsewhere. The newspaper states he continues to receive offers and Premier League clubs have set their sights on him.

This is when Liverpool and Tottenham are mentioned as they are the latest clubs to show interest in Tah.

The report doesn’t specify or suggest whether Liverpool or Tottenham have made offers to him. Either way, the Premier League duo have to convince Tah to pick them over the La Liga club, if they wish to secure his services.

Djurgårdens IF Fotboll sporting director Bosse Andersson claims Barcelona were clearly unhappy over missing out on Lucas Bergvall to Tottenham Hotspur.

The Swedish club’s official was recently a guest on Carina Bergfelt’s talk show, where he discussed the 19-year-old, and Aftonbladet have relayed his comments.

In February 2024, Tottenham reached an agreement with Djurgårdens IF Fotboll for the midfielder to arrive at the north London club last summer.

Bergvall’s development at the Swedish club had caught the attention of several clubs and Spurs and Barcelona were battling for him in the end.

The 19-year-old had travelled to Spain to visit Barcelona’s facilities, and the La Liga side were quite confident of securing his services. That didn’t happen in the end and Spurs were successful in overcoming tough competition.

According to Andersson, the Catalan club weren’t expecting the Sweden international to snub them for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

“Lucas Bergvall is an interesting footballer and has always been talented,” he said.

“We had the privilege of discussing with perhaps one of Europe’s biggest football clubs, Barcelona, who were interested.

“I think Barcelona were quite surprised, because you don’t just go to Barcelona to watch, go there and eat tapas and see if it’s nice. I think they were extremely disappointed that he went to Tottenham.”

The youngster has been a regular for the Premier League club this season, playing 1,875 minutes from 38 matches. His former club’s director is of the belief Bergvall made the right choice by picking Tottenham over Barcelona.

“But the choice itself has proven to be absolutely right, he has come to Tottenham and has become an established Premier League player,” Andersson explained.

Hajduk Split’s Luka Vušković turned 18 years of age last month, and he will arrive at Tottenham Hotspur in the summer window.

In September 2023, Tottenham secured an agreement with Hajduk Split for the defender to move to the north London when he turns 18-years-old.

The Croatian club sent the incoming Spurs player on loan to KVC Westerlo in July 2024, after a temporary spell at Radomiak Radom.

Friday’s edition of Večernji list BiH covers the centre-back in a report that focuses on the upcoming young talents in Croatia. Their senior team currently have seven players who are of 30 years and above.

The newspaper has identified young Croatian talents below the age of 21, with a valuation of €1m or above on Transfermarkt.

Vušković has a valuation of €10m and is second in the list behind Dinamo Zagreb’s Petar Sučić [€12m].

Vecernji highlights the defender is enjoying an impressive season in Belgium. They state that for his age, he has ‘shown incredible high level of defensive play’ at Westerlo.

Vušković also has ‘insane’ stats for a defender, managing seven goals and two assists from 28 matches for the Belgian club.

There’s excitement in the Croatian press with Vušković’s development and he could take further steps once he arrives at Tottenham.

Mathys Tel arrived at Tottenham Hotspur on a loan deal in the winter market and has so far played 487 minutes from seven games for the Premier League club.

The striker has scored only one goal for Tottenham, and that came in their 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa last month.

Tel struggled for regular minutes at Bayern Munich and that led to him joining Tottenham on deadline day of the winter market.

His situation at Bayern didn’t stop him from receiving call ups from France U21 manager Gérald Baticle for the past three international breaks. Baticle also included the 19-year-old in the squad for the two friendlies this month.

The national team coach has talked about some of his players, including the Spurs youngster, at a press conference this week and Thursday’s edition of Ouest-France relays his comments.

Baticle claims the youngster has the “mentality and appetite of a real goalscorer.” At the same time, he has asked Tel to improve certain aspects in order to take his game to the next level.

“He’s a player with great potential, who needs to develop his professionalism to establish himself. He must show that he’s efficient and effective to reach even higher levels. There’s still work to be done, but the foundation is very interesting,” he said.

It’s that time again, an international break during which fans and managers keep their fingers crossed and hope players come through training and matches in one piece.

For Tottenham and their manager Ange Postecoglou the situation is even more worrisome than usual, with Spurs the subject of many injury issues this season and obviously not wanting to add to those problems they’ve been facing.

Lucas Bergvall has been expected to have a big international break for Sweden, with national team manager Jon Dahl Tomasson already making it clear he’d start the next game against Luxembourg.

However, he’s out of training today.

Perhaps thankfully for Tottenham, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet report it’s an illness issue and not an injury.

According to the report, Bergvall is ill and has had to stay behind at the squad hotel whilst all the other players have travelled to training today.

The Tottenham youngster is the only one missing.

Aftonbladet quote the Sweden manager as saying: “We are one player short today, we will see how he feels tomorrow.

“He has a cold and is not in top form. Now he had to stay in bed, so we will see how he feels during the day. We will have to wait and see how the match goes on Saturday, we cannot decide that now. He could have maybe been a little bit involved today, but there is no reason to take any risks.”