The Spurs Web

The international break is coming to an end, and one Tottenham Hotspur player can walk away from the recent round of matches with his head held high, after helping his country grab a win with a spectacular goal-line clearance.

Ben Davies to the rescue

As Tottenham‘s longest-serving current player and one of the most experienced heads in the Wales squad, Ben Davies is a reliable and important figure for both club and country.

In Wales’ latest game, he proved just how crucial he can be, by being in the right place at the right time once more to ensure Craig Bellamy grabbed his first win as manager of the Red Dragons.

The Nations League is underway, and after a disappointing 0-0 draw to Turkey at the weekend, Wales bounced back with a 2-1 win over Montenegro.

Early goals from Kieffer Moore and Harry Wilson gave the British side the lead, but their opponents made things uncomfortable later on, pulling one back on 73 minutes.

But, the three points went to Wales, and Davies was integral in securing the win, after throwing himself in front of the ball to stop it from crossing the line, preventing a certain goal.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Considering Wales only won the match by one goal in the end, it looks to be a pretty important action from the long-serving Spurs player.

Wales show fight to secure the win

It was a resilient performance from Wales in general, and another typically hard-working, dogged performance from the Spurs defender.

Speaking to the press after the game (via Sgorio) Davies hailed the determination of his side, saying: “We have to fight sometimes, that’s what we’ve done.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Love this from Davies. He’s done it a few times for Spurs, too, and just shows his awareness and willingness to throw his body on the line for the cause.

He might not be able to contribute that much for Spurs this season and beyond, but what a servant he has been for club and country.

Alasdair Gold is hopeful that Son Heung-min will pen a new contract with Tottenham Hotspur soon, pointing out that the South Korean is relishing the chance to lead this young Spurs side.

Heung-min Son – Captain, Leader, Legend

Son is not just the club’s longest-serving player but he is now seen as Mr. Tottenham, with the forward very much being the face of the club since the departure of Harry Kane a little over a year ago.

The 32-year-old continues to be extremely important both on and off the pitch, with Ange Postecoglou’s men relying on their star man to have a great season in order to fulfil their grand ambitions.

Although Son’s contract is due to expire next summer, Spurs do have the option to activate a one-year extension in the deal.

It was reported by Fichajes a few days ago that the Tottenham star is one of a number of high-profile Premier League stats that multiple Saudi Pro League clubs will target next summer.

MORE SPURS STORIES

New contract for Heung-min Son?

When asked if he expects Son to sign a new contract with the Lilywhites, Gold has now said on a Q&A on Football.London: “I would hope so.

“Spurs know how much he means to them, he’s still a wonderful player in his 30s as well as their biggest star.

“Son seems to be relishing being the captain. The club have got the security of the extra year option but it’s a deal that surely gets done if both parties want it.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Son is not the sort of character who is motivated purely by money and I do not see him moving to Saudi Arabia at this stage.

He will feel that he still has a few more years of football left in him at the highest level and I see him signing a new deal with Tottenham before too long.

Alasdair Gold does not think Tottenham Hotspur will be looking towards the free agent market at the moment, explaining that Ange Postecoglou is very particular about the kind of player he wants to add to the squad.

Tottenham had a busy transfer window

While Postecoglou and Johan Lange appear relatively pleased with the business that the club have done this summer, the same cannot be said of all Spurs fans.

A section of the fan base has been extremely underwhelmed by the summer and have questioned why the Lilywhites have not added more proven quality to their squad.

Tottenham might still have an opportunity to add some experience to their ranks, with the likes of Adrien Rabiot, Anthony Martial and Memphis Depay currently without a club.

However, Gold doubts Postecoglou would consider adding any of these players to his squad unless there are injuries to key stars, with the journalist pointing out that the Australian does not like stop-gap signings.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Free agents are unlikely at Tottenham

When asked about the possibility of Tottenham exploring a move for Rabiot, Gold said in a Q&A on Football.London: “Unless there are any injuries, on international duty or in training, in the next week before the Premier League squad registration needs to be made, I’d be surprised if there was a free agent signing.

“Mainly because Postecoglou is always talking about not signing short-term, stop-gap players for the sake of having another body. He only wants players that fit his very specific system and if he’d wanted any of the available free agents then they’d have gone for them beforehand.

“He made a big point when I asked about centre-backs of saying that they didn’t just sign anybody because there was nobody available that he wanted.

“Like I say, I think it would take an injury and big squad cover issues to make them move for anyone with the likes of Rabiot, Martial and Depay out there.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I do not share the pessimism of many Tottenham fans as I do not see any gaping holes in the squad at the moment. While of course there is room for improvement, we were never going to do a complete overhaul of the squad in one or two windows.

Tottenham Hotspur have made some incredible signings over the years, but they’ve also missed a trick or two in the transfer market. Now, David Pleat has spoken candidly about four Premier League stars he recommended to the club, and explained how his advice was ignored.

Pleat had been heavily involved with Spurs over the last 40 years, as manager, and more recently as part of the scouting team. He announced he was stepping down earlier this summer.

Throughout his time at the club, Pleat helped identify the likes of Heung-min Son, Dele Alli, and Ben Davies. But in his latest interview with The Athletic, he revealed he wasn’t always listened to, and as a result, Spurs missed out on some incredible bargains. Here’s a look at what we could have won.

Jarrod Bowen

Apparently, Pleat had watched Jarrod Bowen during his time at Hull City, and told Spurs to snap up the winger for a fee thought to be around £8m.

Bowen would eventually join West Ham for around £22m in 2020 and is now the club captain, an England international, and one of the Premier League‘s best wingers.

Ivan Toney

Spurs were repeatedly linked with Ivan Toney over the last year, before eventually deciding to sign Dominic Solanke. Toney would ultimately end up at Saudi Pro-League side Al Ahli in a reported £40m deal.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Turns out, the Lilywhites could have saved all that hassle over the summer by snapping up Toney years ago. Apparently, Pleat had recommended the striker to Tottenham for a similar price to the £8m Bowen would have cost.

Ollie Watkins

Perhaps the most impressive find for Pleat was his recommendation that Spurs sign Ollie Watkins, way back when he was playing in midfield for Exeter City. He eventually joined Brentford for around £6m in 2017, before making a big £28m move to Aston Villa in 2020.

Watkins was playing in League Two at the time Pleat spotted him, and uses this as an example that top clubs should not be so focused on scouting European leagues for the next big thing when the lower leagues of English football can produce such gems.

James Maddison

Admittedly, we got this one in the end, but James Maddison could have been a Spurs player a long, long time ago if Pleat had his way.

On the missed opportunity, Pleat said: “The boy (James) Maddison was so good it was like he had eyes in the back of his head… I went into Tottenham the following morning and said, ‘There’s a boy at Coventry we should sign tomorrow.’ It was an open goal. A tortoise couldn’t have gone slower. They didn’t chase it.”

Apparently, when Maddison eventually joined Spurs last summer, Pleat made a joke that he was “£40m too late.”

Maddison left Coventry for Norwich in a reported £2.5m deal in 2016. He later joined Leicester City for around £20m in 2018.

A word on Pleat’s methods

Pleat had some wise words to sum up his approach to scouting new talent through the football leagues, and suggested there is more to be learned from actually seeing players in the flesh rather than being driven by data.

He said: “The data people, they’re intelligent boys from university who’ve done wonderful dissertations. (But) they haven’t been in a dressing room and smelled the liniment. They don’t know that side of it.

“They’re more intelligent than most football people, and they’re very good at expressing themselves. They’re looking at lung-bursting runs, at intensity, at all sorts of things. But in the end, someone has to go with their eyes and ears.”

The Tottenham Hotspur first-team is looking particularly strong at the moment, but the youth squad is also thriving. So, which players will make it all the way and become regulars in the senior squad in the future?

Ange Postecoglou has already given youth a chance, to a degree, and with the likes of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall being signed and sent straight to the first-team, it’s clear that the Spurs boss believes age is just a number when it comes to finding quality players.

But, aside from Harry Kane and Oliver Skipp, it has been a while since Tottenham developed a youngster from their youth team to become a first-team regular. So, who’s next? Here are five players who should end up having a strong career with the Lilywhites.

Mikey Moore

This is a bit of a no-brainer, really. Mikey Moore already got a taste of first-team football at the end of last season, and he flourished in pre-season. So much so, that Postecoglou decided against arranging a loan away and opted to keep the 17-year-old close to the senior squad this season.

Moore is the most exciting young talent Spurs have, and if he’s given ample opportunity to show what he can do this term, it may not take long at all for him to establish himself as a regular first-team player. If his trajectory doesn’t lead to him becoming a superstar, we have done something wrong.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Jamie Donley

It’s almost a shame we haven’t seen more of Jamie Donley already, but it’s important to remember he is still just 19-years-old. The versatile playmaker (or left-back, sometimes) has all the raw ability needed to go right to the very top, and he will almost certainly do it with Spurs.

He’s currently getting plenty of first-team experience at Leyton Orient, and while the team itself may be struggling, this will be a valuable year for Donley. He will be playing regularly for Spurs in the next two or three years, guaranteed.

Will Lankshear

The similarities between Will Lankshear and Harry Kane are uncanny. Lankshear is strong, smart, and is one hell of a finisher, and he’s got all the attributes needed to become a top Premier League striker eventually.

It will be interesting to see how much he is used this season by Postecoglou, but the 19-year-old is a natural goalscorer, and you simply cannot ignore that for long. He’s already Tottenham’s third-choice striker, and he is only going to get better.

Ashley Phillips

Tottenham bagged one of the most promising defenders in England when they signed Ashley Phillips last summer. The towering teenager has already shown what he can do at Championship level with Blackburn, Plymouth, and now Stoke, and I have a feeling this will be the last time he needs to go out on loan.

Postecoglou has already revealed his thinking behind not signing another centre-back this summer, mentioning Phillips specifically as someone who he wants to clear a path for. The 19-year-old will be Tottenham’s fourth-choice centre-half next season.

Luca Gunter

Being a goalkeeper is tough. You get bombarded with shots, and when you save them people say you’re just doing your job, but if you let in one goal you get all the blame. Then, there’s the fact that you’re either a number one, or a backup, and the latter will rarely get first-team football as part of a rotation.

I’m not about to say that Luca Gunter can become Tottenham’s number-one goalkeeper in the future, but it makes perfect sense that the youngster can be the next backup option in the first-team.

Fraser Forster will be done at the end of this year, and neither Brandon Austin nor Alfie Whiteman are Premier League quality. Gunter, however, is showing great promise, and should be given a chance to mix it with the senior squad next season.

The international break can cause chaos for scheduling and player fitness, with Premier League clubs sweating on the condition of their star players this week. Unfortunately for Arsenal, one of their latest signings may now be ruled out of the upcoming North London derby due to injury.

Riccardo Calafiori a doubt for NLD

Arsenal splashed the cash this summer to snap up Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna in a reported £42m deal (Sky Sports).

The 24-year-old has featured in the last two games for the Gunners, albeit as a second-half substitute, and has largely filled in at left-back rather than in his preferred centre-back role.

Calafiori continued his blossoming international career with Italy on Friday night, starting the 3-1 win over France. But, he only made it through 70 minutes of the game before being replaced after picking up a rather bizarre injury.

France’s Ousmane Dembele was running through the Italy defence, took a tumble, and caught Calafiori on the calf, leaving him in some discomfort.

Now, Fabrizio Romano has commented on the situation, and revealed Calafiori will not take part in any further international action for Italy this week.

MORE SPURS STORIES

He tweeted: “Riccardo Calafiori leaves Italy camp as the staff will take no risk after his injury against France. Calafiori will return to London and he will be assessed by Arsenal medical staff.”

However, he later added a more positive update, stating: “Sources insist Riccardo Calafiori injury is not serious and it’s just a knock, nothing worrying. Arsenal also didn’t want Calafiori to take any risk and he will be assessed next week.”

No mention of injury on social media

Calafiori took to social media after the game to celebrate his country’s win, and made no reference to his condition, suggesting it might not be that serious after all.

Italy manager Luciano Spaletti had previously told the press (via Football.London) that he hoped Calafiori might be fit for the next game against Isreal on Monday night.

It now remains to be seen whether he will be passed fit to face Tottenham on Sunday in the first North London derby of the new Premier League campaign.

Spurs Web Opinion

I think Calafiori will be cutting it fine to make it for the North London derby at this rate. He’s got a week to recover, of course, but that includes testing, getting back into training, and being match-ready. He will probably be on the bench again.

Former Tottenham scout David Pleat is not a big fan of a data-led approach to recruitment, remarking that it cannot replace scouting players in person.

David Pleat recently left Tottenham Hotspur

David Pleat worked as a scout for Spurs for a long time, helping the club identify the best-emerging talent in the English Football League.

However, he vacated his role earlier this summer, with Tottenham’s new regime now going for a more data-based approach to identifying players.

It has been well documented that the club’s technical directors Johan Lange and Rob Mackenzie use data analysis to narrow down their list of targets and identify players with the specific attributes that Ange Postecoglou is looking for (GiveMeSport).

So far, the signings that Tottenham have made using this approach have proven to be a success, with the likes of Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and others hitting the ground running at N17.

MORE SPURS STORIES

David Pleat is not a fan of data-led scouting

However, Pleat prefers a more old-fashioned approach, insisting that number crunching cannot replace the wisdom brought to scouting by people steeped in the game, who know what it takes to succeed at the highest level.

The 79-year-old told The Athletic: “The data people, they’re intelligent boys from university who’ve done wonderful dissertations. (But) they haven’t been in a dressing room and smelled the liniment. They don’t know that side of it.

“They’re more intelligent than most football people, and they’re very good at expressing themselves. They’re looking at lung-bursting runs, at intensity, at all sorts of things. But in the end, someone has to go with their eyes and ears.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I do not think it makes sense to present it as a binary choice between data-led assessment and direct, in-person scouting.

Both qualitative and quantitative analysis are required, with data just being another tool that helps identify outliers and potentially narrow down the list of targets.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that Tottenham Hotspur and Daniel Levy will vote in favour of stringent financial restrictions in the Premier League’s annual general meeting next summer.

Profit and Sustainability Rules

Owners with heavy pockets are no longer able to pump unlimited funds into transfer fees and wages since the implementation of the Profit and Sustainability Rules.

The rule allows clubs to post a maximum loss of £105m over a three-year period (The Athletic). The move has led to a drop in transfer spending in recent windows, with £100m transfers now appearing a thing of the past in the Premier League.

In fact, in the recent transfer window, Tottenham’s £65m acquisition of Dominic Solanke was the most expensive signing among English clubs (TEAMtalk).

Spurs also have the fourth-highest net spend in the Premier League over the last five years, sitting behind Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal (Football 365).

MORE SPURS STORIES

Daniel Levy will be pro financial restrictions

While implementation of the PSR has not been universally popular among all clubs, Maguire believes that the Tottenham hierarchy will vote for more spending restrictions than less.

He told TBR Football: “Spurs would be in favour of a system of more cost control rather than less. By Premier League standards, Spurs wage control is not the most demanding. They also don’t have the most significant levels of spending in terms of investment in the transfer market.

“It is a competitive budget but not one that is going to be at the elite level that Man City, Liverpool and historically Chelsea, although we don’t know whether Chelsea’s new wage structure is as different as the stories that have been leaked to the press suggest.

“I would anticipate that Spurs would rather have a system which is more geared towards financial control rather than letting the genie out of the bottle and allowing unlimited amounts of spending.”

Spurs Web Opinion

ENIC and Levy have never hidden the fact that we are a self-sustaining club and that there would never be capital injection from the owners.

The PSR rules give Tottenham a big advantage, given the amount of revenue the club generates in comparison to some of their rivals.

Tottenham Hotspur’s best player has been receiving a lot of credit from a Chelsea star, believe it or not, as Noni Madueke can’t help but pick the Spurs attacker over a number of other top players like Luis Diaz and Michael Olise.

Sonny is the top pick

Madueke, a former Spurs man himself, has been tearing it up at Chelsea lately, including an impressive hattrick against Wolves in a 6-2 win.

However, his latest task was a tricky one, with talkSPORT asking the young winger to pick between a number of the world’s best wingers in a game of stick or twist.

When asked to choose from Michael Olise or Heung-min Son, Madueke said: “I’m going to go with Son.”

Then, the Chelsea star was given the choice between Son or Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, and said: “I’m going to stay with Son.”

Madueke will know all about Son‘s talents from his time at Spurs as a youngster, and will no doubt be well aware of the South Korean’s quality still to this day.

MORE SPURS STORIES

A world-class talent

He may be 32-years-old now, but Son continues to perform at the top of his game, most of the time. The Spurs skipper may have found it more difficult to play through the middle for Ange Postecoglou‘s side, but he does already have two goals to his name this season.

Meanwhile, Olise made a big move to Bayern Munich in the summer and has broken into the French national team as a result.

Luis Diaz has made an impressive start to life under Arne Slot, registering three goals and one assist in his first three games of the season (Transfermarkt).

Spurs Web Opinion

I would love to see what Olise and Diaz could do at Spurs, and annoyingly, we very nearly had the latter back before he signed for Liverpool. But, still, I would not pick either of them over Sonny. He is an all-time great, and a club legend.

Various Tottenham Hotspur players are participating in the international break this week, and one in particular has been attracting praise from his national team manager.

Bergvall makes competitive Sweden debut

Now, he has made his competitive debut for his country, coming on as a substitute in the 3-1 win over Azerbaijan in the Nations League on Thursday.

It wasn’t the most spectacular debut, but his manager, Jon Dahl Tomasson, has been really positive about the teenage talent, explaining why he wanted to give him some game time, and hyping up his potential.

Speaking to Expressen about the decision to play Bergvall over Hugo Larsson, Tomasson said: “I know that Hugo wants to start matches and do better. When I made the changes, I felt it was the right match to give Lucas Bergvall the chance. We cannot have all the youngest players on the field at the same time.”

Discussing the various young talents he has at his disposal with DN, Tomasson added: “There is a lot of competition. We have several young players with great potential.

MORE SPURS STORIES

“Hugo is one of them. We also have [Yasin] Ayari, [Sebastian] Nanasi, and Bergvall today. There are four players who could mean a lot for the future of Swedish football.”

Bad reviews this week for Bergvall

Bergvall got some pretty poor feedback from his competitive debut from the Swedish media. Fotballskanalen said the midfielder ‘failed at everything’ he attempted.

Meanwhile, Svenska Fans suggested the youngster simply didn’t get sufficient time to accomplish anything in the game.

Spurs Web Opinion

Hopefully, Bergvall will get more minutes in the game against Estonia on Sunday to end the international break in style. He’s got a big month ahead of him at Spurs, with Carabao Cup and Europa League football on the horizon.