Transfermarkt

On Friday Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that they had parted ways with head coach Ange Postecoglou, little more than two weeks after the Austrian tactician helped the club win their first major trophy in 17 years when Tottenham beat Manchester United in the Europa League final. Despite their success in Europe, Postecoglou’s side suffered historic levels of failure in the Premier League, with the North London club finishing 17th with just 38 points - their lowest ever finish in the Premier League era and almost half as many points as Postecoglou managed in his first season in the English top-flight.

A club statement read: "Ange will always be remembered as only the third manager in our history to deliver a European trophy, alongside legendary figures Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw. However, the board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the club for a change to take place. Following a positive start in the 2023/24 Premier League (PL) season, we recorded 78 points from the last 66 PL games. This culminated in our worst-ever PL finish last season. At times there were extenuating circumstances - injuries and then a decision to prioritise our European campaign. Whilst winning the Europa League this season ranks as one of the Club’s greatest moments, we cannot base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph."

Friday’s decision means that Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham lasted just under two years, in which he oversaw 101 games in all competitions. In that time he averaged 1.53 points per game, which was not only worse than his predecessor, Antonio Conte’s of 1.78, but was actually the lowest average for a Spurs manager since Juande Ramos’ doomed tenure in charge between 2007 and 2008. As such, Postecoglou’s success in the Europa League wasn’t enough to offset the club’s failures in domestic competitions and the hunt for his replacements is now under way.

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The special transfer window has open temporarily until June 10th with clubs able to sign players ahead of the Club World Cup. The biggest clubs in European football and clubs across the continent are already making plans for next season. Teams are working tirelessly behind the scenes on identifying targets and figuring out their budgets.

Managers will be constantly assessing their squads with sporting directors and recruitment staff scanning the market for potential deals. A plethora of players will become available in the summer where clubs famously have more money to spend and aren't as restricted by financial fair play rules. The rumour mill is beginning to pick up pace and we've collated some of the biggest current transfer stories.

Today's biggest transfer stories

Heung-min Son could depart Tottenham Hotspur this summer. The Spurs legend had a one-year extension clause activated last season but he's no longer a guaranteed started. Son has legitimate interest from Saudi Pro League clubs and could call time on his tenure in North London.

Chelsea will pay Manchester United €6 million to break their buy-option on Jadon Sancho. Stamford Blues chiefs couldn't agree on wages with Sancho and he will return to Old Trafford but he's unlikely to be part of Ruben Amorim's plans.

AC Milan are interested in signing Luka Modric this summer. The Croatian legend confirmed his departure from Real Madrid last month and he will be available on a free transfer. AC Milan want to sign Modric, who proved his worth by making 56 appearances for Madrid last season.

Brentford attacker Bryan Mbeumo wants to join Manchester United this summer with the Old Trafford club preparing to open talks. Arsenal, Newcastle United and Tottenham were also interested in the 25-year-old but he prefers a move to Man United.

Stats

R. Højlund Centre-Forward

Manchester United

Season 24/25–

Premier League

Games

Goals

Assists

One player that could be leaving United this summer is Rasmus Højlund with Inter Milan hoping to land the striker. Højlund struggled badly last season but he still has suitors in England with Inter aiming to secure a loan deal with an option to buy.

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The special transfer window has open temporarily until June 10th with clubs able to sign players ahead of the Club World Cup. The biggest clubs in European football and clubs across the continent are already making plans for next season. Teams are working tirelessly behind the scenes on identifying targets and figuring out their budgets.

Managers will be constantly assessing their squads with sporting directors and recruitment staff scanning the market for potential deals. A plethora of players will become available in the summer where clubs famously have more money to spend and aren't as restricted by financial fair play rules. The rumour mill is beginning to pick up pace and we've collated some of the biggest current transfer stories.

Today's biggest transfer stories

Heung-min Son could depart Tottenham Hotspur this summer. The Spurs legend had a one-year extension clause activated last season but he's no longer a guaranteed started. Son has legitimate interest from Saudi Pro League clubs and could call time on his tenure in North London.

Chelsea will pay Manchester United €6 million to break their buy-option on Jadon Sancho. Stamford Blues chiefs couldn't agree on wages with Sancho and he will return to Old Trafford but he's unlikely to be part of Ruben Amorim's plans.

AC Milan are interested in signing Luka Modric this summer. The Croatian legend confirmed his departure from Real Madrid last month and he will be available on a free transfer. AC Milan want to sign Modric, who proved his worth by making 56 appearances for Madrid last season.

Brentford attacker Bryan Mbeumo wants to join Manchester United this summer with the Old Trafford club preparing to open talks. Arsenal, Newcastle United and Tottenham were also interested in the 25-year-old but he prefers a move to Man United.

Stats

R. Højlund Centre-Forward

Manchester United

Season 24/25–

Premier League

Games

Goals

Assists

One player that could be leaving United this summer is Rasmus Højlund with Inter Milan hoping to land the striker. Højlund struggled badly last season but he still has suitors in England with Inter aiming to secure a loan deal with an option to buy.

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English football has enjoyed an impressively unexpected season. Not only did Liverpool tug the Premier League title away from Manchester City’s tight grip, but Crystal Palace’s emphatic FA Cup win over Pep Guardiola’s side ensured new champions for both of the country’s two main domestic trophies. Add to that an all-England final in the Europa League, in which Tottenham Hotspur overcame Manchester United, and it certainly seems to have been a season for unlikely winners. But will the UEFA Conference League follow the same pattern?

Club Comparison

Chelsea FC

Real Betis Balompié

Premier League

LaLiga

€922.00m

Market Value

€173.10m

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€276.00m

Expenditures 24/25

€41.05m

Enzo Maresca

Managers

Manuel Pellegrini

Full Club Comparison

In no uncertain terms, the English participants in Wednesday night’s final are anything but minnows in need of a long-awaited title. When Chelsea take to the field to take on Spanish side Betis, they’ll dwarf their opponents in terms of star power, market value and expectations. Although Enzo Maresca has largely used his back-up players throughout the competition, Chelsea fans will still be demanding the very best from their team as they set their eyes on a seventh European title to go alongside their two Cup Winners Cup trophies, two Europa Leagues and two Champions Leagues.

While the London club have struggled to regain their footing at the top of the Premier League table and seem a number of years off challenging for the Champions League, Chelsea can lay claim to more European trophies than any other English side bar one. Out in front my a considerable distance are none other than Liverpool, who have won an impressive five Champions League titles and three Europa League titles. Giving them a two-title lead over second-placed Chelsea.

It’s an all-English final in the Europa League with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United vying for glory in Bilbao. Both sides have endured horrific campaigns in the Premier League but UEFA's second most prestigious club competition has provided significant solace. Only the three relegated clubs sit below Tottenham and United in the Premier League table but winning the Europa League would secure Champions League qualification for next season.

Victory would seal Tottenham’s first major trophy in 17 years since lifting the League Cup in 2008 and it would represent United’ third trophy in three years. Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecgolou have faced mounting pressure with the Tottenham manager’s position uncertain even if Tottenham triumph. Tottenham’s squad value of €836 million is the fifth highest in the Premier League and €137m more valuable than sixth place United. But which players make the most valuable combined XI? Let’s find out!

Tottenham vs Manchester United: Most valuable XI

The combined XI would have a market value of €545m with six Tottenham players and five Man United stars featuring, based on Transfermarkt’s famed market values. Despite his significant struggles this season, Rasmus Højlund takes the centre forward spot as he’s younger than Dominic Solanke - both valued at €45m. Brennan Johnson (€50m) and Alejandro Garnacho (€45m) take the wing spots despite question marks over their prospects of starting.

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On Wednesday night Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United will lock horns to see which club will be crowned champions of the Europa League for the 2024/25 season. While the trophy in itself is a major achievement for any European club, the tie itself will likely be remembered as something of a one-off showdown to see which of these two underperforming Premier League giants can salvage some semblance of success and respect from what has been a horrid season for both sets of fans.

With one final matchday of the league campaign to play, Spurs and Man Utd currently occupy 17th and 16th in the league table respectively and will both be hoping to not only win Wednesday’s final for the prestige of adding more silverware to their trophy cabinets and the added bonus of qualifying for next season’s Champions League as Europa League winners. And while neither squad looks nearly capable of competing at such a level, based on their domestic form, the market values of each club would suggest that they’re currently lurking well below their apparent level in continental competitions.

Club Comparison

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United

Premier League

Premier League

€836.10m

Market Value

€699.25m

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€175.35m

Expenditures 24/25

€246.30m

Ange Postecoglou

Managers

Ruben Amorim

Full Club Comparison

Indeed, with a total squad market value of €836.1 million Tottenham actually boast the ninth most valuable squad in all of world football. And, despite their troubles in recent years, their Old Trafford rivals on Wednesday also squeeze just inside the top 10 across the world with an overall squad market value of €699.25m. Not only do such numbers underline both club’s financial dominance of the Europa League this season - with the third most valuable squad in the competition being Real Sociedad at €388m - but it also means that Wednesday’s final is the most valuable in the competition’s entire history.

As we can see in the graphic above, the combined market value of both squads ahead of Wednesday’s final stands at a staggering €1.53 billion and is the highest such figure for any final in the competition’s history. Although the Europa League is Europe’s second-tier competition, it has featured a number of the biggest clubs in the world in recent years, which is evident from the top 10 list. In second place is the London showdown between Chelsea and Arsenal in 2019 which stood at a combined market value of €1.51b, while Man Utd’s previous final in 2021 against Villarreal ranks third with a combined market value of €966m.

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou didn’t waste much time in revelling in his team’s success on Thursday night, before turning to address the criticism that he has faced at the North London club this season. Spurs beat Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final clash, winning the tie 5-1 on aggregate to set them up for a tantalising Europa League final against Manchester United. And the Australian manager clearly felt the success was proof that he knows what he’s doing at Tottenham.

"It's going to upset a lot of people isn't it," Postecoglou said after the game in regards to Tottenham and Man Utd reaching the final, despite their dreadful domestic form this season. "The debate's now raging. The latest one is that neither of us will be able to get a trophy if we win, they're just going to take a team photo because we're not worthy. I mean, who cares if we're struggling in the league? It's a separate thing. It's got nothing to do with league form. I couldn't care less who's struggling and who's not. I think both us and Manchester United have earned the right to be there."

Club Comparison

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United

Premier League

Premier League

€836.10m

Market Value

€699.25m

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€175.35m

Expenditures 24/25

€246.30m

Ange Postecoglou

Managers

Ruben Amorim

Full Club Comparison

Indeed, despite sitting 16th in the Premier League table, Tottenham fans will be ecstatic at the thought of the club winning its first piece of European silverware in 41 years, when Spurs beat Anderlecht to win the UEFA Cup. Prior to this coming final, Tottenham’s last trophy came in 2008, when they beat Chelsea to win the English League Cup, which means the North London side have only won one piece of silverware in the last 24 years. As such, Postecoglou has not only gone some way to redeeming his reputation among many Spurs fans, but his team’s form in Europe this season has been somewhat unprecedented from a Tottenham point of view.

Postecoglou’s impressive European form

Although Tottenham have a storied history of challenging for the top four in the Premier League, the club’s record on the continent is far more patchy. As previously noted, the club haven’t reached the final of the Europa League/UEFA Cup since winning it in 1984, and while they did make a startling run to the Champions League final in 2019, that was only the second time that they’ve ever gotten beyond the Last 16 of the competitions. In no uncertain terms, Tottenham’s record in Europe has left a lot to be desired and Postecoglou’s dash towards this season’s final is somewhat unprecedented.

For example, when we take a look at Postecoglou’s record since making the move to Tottenham, we can see just how much of an outlier his team’s form in Europe has been. In the Premier League Tottenham have averaged just 1.42 points per game and in the FA Cup and League Cup Spurs haven’t been much better with just 1.50 points per game. However, when it comes to Europe the Tottenham manager can call upon a very impressive 2.14 points per game. And when we compare that to his predecessors it once again underlines how impressive this season’s run has been.

In the summer of 2023, after 14 years as a player at Tottenham, Harry Kane finally left north London in pursuit of winning his first major trophy to accompany his many individual accolades. Kane won the Premier League golden boot three times while at Spurs. If you want guaranteed trophies, there's not many better teams to sign for than German giants Bayern Munich. In a €95m deal, Kane joined the Bavarian side who had won the last 11 Bundesliga titles back-to-back. Add to that the Champions League in 2020 and it was clear that one of the world's best strikers was joining serial winners. More incoming trophies seemed a foregone conclusion. But misfortune followed Kane to Germany, as he stared down the barrel of the club's first trophy-less season in 13 years. Fast-forward 12 months and the curse is finally broken.

Having scored 360 club career goals whilst playing for top-five league clubs, Kane has finally added a major trophy to his cabinet, after Bayern sealed the Bundesliga title with their 3-2 comeback win against RB Leipzig. The Bavarian lager will be tasting sweeter than ever for the England captain. No player this century was anywhere near his tally of 360 goals without a major trophy, but which star now holds that unwanted accolade? At Transfermarkt, we have listed the top 20 players with the most goals for top-five league clubs since 2000, without ever winning a major trophy. A major trophy has been counted as any top-five league title, any top-five league main domestic cup, the EFL Cup in England, the Champions League, the Europa League, The Europa Conference League, the World Cup and the European Championships.

Most goals in Europe's top-5 leagues since 2000 without a major trophy

Following Kane leaving this unwanted group, the new leader is French striker Wissam Ben Yedder. The forward has scored as many as 259 goals for Monaco, Sevilla and Toulouse but has never won a major trophy with any of those clubs. In second is Italian cult hero Antonio Di Natale, who scored 247 career goals for Udinese and Empoli, but was never able to get over the line and win a trophy. In third spot and rapidly rising up the list is Kane's former teammate Heung-min Son. The South Korean has scored 222 goals for Tottenham, Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg but never tastes ultimate glory. The closest he came was the 2019 Champions League final, in which Spurs lost 2-0 to Liverpool.

In fourth place is former Spanish striker Aritz Aduriz, who scored 219 goals for various LaLiga clubs with no major trophies to his name. Fifth goes to former Bayer Leverkusen striker Stefan Kießling, who scored 177 goals with an empty trophy cabinet. In sixth is Vedad Ibisevic with 156 goals. He is followed in seventh by Andrej Kramaric with 147 goals. Eighth goes to former Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi with 144 goals. In ninth place is Marseille and West Ham legend Dimitri Payet with 142 goals, whilst former French striker Anthony Modeste completes the top 10 with 135 goals.

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Liverpool fans would struggle to pick faults in their team so soon after winning the Premier League title, but luckily for them the club itself are already working hard on preparations for next season. That, naturally, involves signing new players to provide upgrades on some stars that have perhaps passed their peak or to simply bolster positions that looked a little understocked throughout this season. And if reports are to be believed, the Anfield club are ready to splash the cash to add additional firepower to Arne Slot’s side.

Market Value

H. Ekitiké Centre-Forward

€55.00m

According to the Daily Mail, Liverpool have identified no less than three players that they’ll make priority signings in the summer. Two are defensive stars at Bournemouth in the form of Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez, but the third is none other than Eintracht Frankfurt’s star striker Hugo Ekitiké. According to the English publication, Liverpool expect to sell Darwin Núñez in the summer and the Bundesliga talisman has been earmarked as the perfect replacement. So how good is Ekitiké and could he be the answer to Liverpool’s problems in attack next season?

From Ligue 1 flop to Bundesliga talisman

Ekitiké began his career in France for Ligue 1 side Stade Reims. At the French club, the young striker burst onto the scene in his debut season in the first team bagging no less than 11 goals and five assists in 27 games. That quickly led to a €28.5 million move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2023, but after just eight goals and assists in 33 games for the Parisian giants he was then sent out on loan to Frankfurt in January of last year. After an impressive six months at the club, he then joined the Bundesliga side permanently last summer for just €16.5m and has been one of the bargains of the season ever since.

With a return to regular game time has also come a consistent stream of goals and assists that has quickly projected Ekitiké back into the list of top talents in European football under the age of 23. As we can see in the table above, only two players in the Frankfurt striker’s age group - Barcelona star Lamine Yamal and PSG winger Bradley Barcola - have bagged more goals and assists than Ekitiké this season in all competitions. Which certainly goes some way to explaining why the player is reportedly on Liverpool’s shopping list but has also been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in recent months too.

Stats

H. Ekitiké Centre-Forward

Stade Reims

Career stats–

All competitions

Games

Goals

Assists

As a result of his rebound at Frankfurt, Ekitiké’s market value has unsurprisingly shot through the roof over the course of the last 18 months. Prior to leaving PSG, the young forward’s market value had fallen to just €15m but since swapping Paris for Frankfurt, Ekitiké’s market value has risen by a remarkable €40m where it now stands at €55m. This makes the young forward the most valuable player at Frankfurt and the eighth most valuable in the Bundesliga, as well as the 14th most valuable centre forward in the world. But that will likely change in the coming years.

Rumour H. Ekitiké Centre-Forward

E. Frankfurt 30 % Liverpool Bundesliga Premier League

Rumour H. Ekitiké Centre-Forward

E. Frankfurt 48 % Tottenham Bundesliga Premier League

Rumour H. Ekitiké Centre-Forward

E. Frankfurt ? Arsenal Bundesliga Premier League

The perfect striker partner for Salah?

While Ekitiké’s goals and assists certainly speak for themselves and would have most Liverpool fans salivating at the prospect of him playing for the Anfield club next season, there is also an additional bonus to him potentially making the move to the club: he may be the perfect striker partner to play alongside Mohamed Salah. While Núñez has struggled to fit into Slot’s tactics, which clearly prioritises passes out right to Salah’s feet, Ekitiké has plenty of experience of playing alongside wide players that are the main contributors of goals and assists in their team. After all, he played alongside Kylian Mbappé at PSG, but what will intrigue Slot and his backroom staff is the partnership Ekitiké struck with Omar Marmoush at Frankfurt this season.

Player Comparison

Omar Marmoush

Mohamed Salah

Manchester City

Liverpool FC

€75.00m

Market Value

€55.00m

Age

Centre-Forward

Position

Right Winger

Jun 30, 2029

Contract until

Jun 30, 2027

Full Player Comparison

Like Salah, Marmoush was a pacey winger who loved to cut inside from the wing to score or create goals in the box. Alongside Ekitiké as his traditional No.9, Marmoush bagged a remarkable 20 goals and 14 assists in just 26 games for Frankfurt, before moving to Manchester City in the January transfer window for €75m. And to Ekitiké’s credit, while he certainly thrived alongside Marmoush, he’s been just as impressive for Frankfurt without the Egyptian forward and in many ways stepped into a leading role to help guide the Eagles to a top-four finish in the Bundesliga.

As we can see in the graphic above, while Marmoush was at the club this season Ekitiké averaged 0.85 goals and assists per 90 minutes in all competitions for the club. While that figure certainly dropped after the Egyptian departed for the Premier League, it only fell slightly to 0.79 goals and assists per 90. Which not only suggests that Ekitiké adapted to life without his strike partner, but that he’s perfectly adaptable at either playing in a front two or as the lone striker in a 4-3-3 formation. And that should be music to Slot and Liverpool’s ears, should they make a serious move for the striker this summer.

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The Europa League has a habit of offering up unexpected away days for football fans, as clubs travel to all corners of Europe to compete for the continental competition. As such, die-hard fans are expected to rack up the air miles, but when it comes to Tottenham Hotspurs’s opponents on Thursday, they’ll be used to the long flights. To make the trip to North London for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash against Spurs, Bodø/Glimt and their most loyal fans will need to depart the Arctic Circle and travel 1,926 miles southwest. And for every single one of them, it’ll be a trip worth making.

With Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United locking horns in the other Europa League tie, Bodø/Glimt are unquestionably the only minnows left in this season’s European competition. However, after finishing ninth in the initial group table, only to then beat FC Twente, Olympiacos and then Lazio in truly dramatic fashion on penalties, the Norwegian side have certainly made a habit of upsetting the odds in Europe. Not bad for a club that only returned to the top flight of Norwegian football in 2018 and are based in a village with a smaller population than most Spurs home games. So how did Bodø/Glimt go from irrelevance in the Tippeligaen to giant killers in the Europa League?

Club Comparison

Tottenham Hotspur

FK Bodø/Glimt

Premier League

Eliteserien

€836.10m

Market Value

€43.15m

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€175.35m

Expenditures 24/25

€6.99m

Ange Postecoglou

Managers

Kjetil Knutsen

Full Club Comparison

The Kjetil Knutsen factor

The one man that has been a constant throughout Bodø/Glimt rise up the ranks domestically and on the continent is manager Kjetil Knutsen. Hired half-way through their first season back in the top-flight, Knutsen has guided the club to four of the last five league championships in the Eliteserien. And alongside the domestic success, the club have also made waves in Europe, reaching the quarter finals of the Conference League against Roma in 2022. However, this season’s run in the Europa League is undoubtedly uncharted waters for the Nordic club. “I hope we are an example for all other teams. If we can do it, so can others,” said the 56-year-old tactician after their win over Lazio. “We showed ourselves on the international arena, and more people will come to play here. It will be a milestone for Norwegian football.”

To no great surprise, Knutsen has dominated Norwegian football since establishing himself at Bodø/Glimt in 2018, averaging an impressive 2.02 points per league game and picking up no less than 432 points over the course of 214 matches in Eliteserien. As we can see in the table above, no other manager in Norwegian football can come close to the Bodø/Glimt boss in that time, with the second best head coach being Molde boss Erling Moe, who has only picked up 371 points in that period of time. Albeit with 34 fewer games in the Norwegian top-flight.

Despite their minnows status, Knutsen demands that his teams play on the front foot. Typically playing a 4-3-3 formation, his teams play with a high press, try to make the most of quick transitions, and look to counter attack with impressive, attacking football. As such, they should prove to be an interesting test for Tottenham, who also play a similar style of football under Ange Postecoglou. Whether Spurs can stop them or if they’ll simply be the next giant slain by the Norwegian raiders remains to be seen. But either way, it should be an exciting game and one that the Norwegian club will give their all in.

Forward thinking on and off the pitch

Although Bodø/Glimt have spent more money than any other Norwegian club since the start of the 2018 season, their total expenditure on transfer fees stands at just €5.3m more than domestic rivals Molde. But when it comes to income made from player sales in that same period of time, Bodø/Glimt have profited to the tune of €77.3m - which stands at almost twice that of Molde’s (€45.2m) income from selling stars to bigger clubs in Europe. And that’s because the club are experts at identifying and developing young players in Norwegian football. Whether it be Jens Petter Hauge, Victor Boniface or Albert Grønbæk, who left the club last summer to join Stade Rennais for €15m, the Norwegian club have outsmarted their domestic rivals off the pitch just as well as they’ve outplayed them on it. Which goes some way to explaining why the club can lay claim to no less than four of the Eliteserien’s 10 biggest sales of all time.

When it comes to the current crop of future stars in the Bodø/Glimt team, Tottenham fans will want to be wary of 21-year-old right-back Fredrik Sjøvold, who has started all but one of the club’s Europa League games to date. Alongside him in defence will most likely be 20-year-old central defender Villads Nielsen, who joined the club from Nordsjaelland’s youth team and has already broken into Knutsen’s first team with his excellent, defensive performances. But the player that Postecoglou will be warning his team about the most will be star striker Kasper Høgh, who has bagged no fewer than 14 goals and four assists in 22 games for the club this season, including no less than three goals in the two legs against Olympiacos.

Whether or not Knutsen’s impressive tactics and the club’s smart recruitment will be enough to overcome Tottenham remains to be seen. At the end of the day, the Premier League giants are facing a club with a combined market value of just €43.1m - less than one Brennan Johnson. But, as Knutsen pointed out after the Lazio game, Bodø/Glimt have already done Norwegian football proud in Europe this season. And remain an impressive example for clubs all over Europe to follow.