Cartilage Free Captain

The transfer window is a time for wild rumors both exciting and sometimes unexpected, and we have one that’s potentially both, courtesy of Fabrizio Romano. According to Fab, Tottenham Hotspur and Roberto De Zerbi have identified Newcastle midfielder and Italy international Sandro Tonali as an ideal incoming player as Spurs revamp their squad after two consecutive 17th place finishes.

I am extremely unclear how realistic signing Sandy Toenails actually is, especially with Manchester City and Arsenal also interested. He’s also reportedly being tracked by Manchester United. I suspect it’s going to be an uphill battle, and a very, very expensive one. It is however, a statement of intent. Tonali apparently had a deal with Newcastle that the club would let him leave this summer if Toon didn’t qualify for the Champions League… which they didn’t. Tonali is a (more) passy deep lying playmaker midfielder than anyone we currently have on the books, though at age 26 he’s a play-him-now kind of mid and not one that we can build on to develop the next great Tottenham Hotspur team.

Newcastle had a down year and Tonali’s numbers were also down from the past, but he’s still a good player. He averaged 3.4 progressive passes/90 this past season, mostly from deep areas, but also isn’t afraid to carry the ball when needed. He’s more of a midfield general and is a highly intelligent footballer — he won’t get on the scoreboard much (he didn’t score at all this past season) but he’d be one who could control the tempo and the progression in midfield.

Look, Tonali would be a HUGE improvement in midfield, but I’m wary of the opportunity cost here — there’s no indication of what it would take to land him, but I’d have to think it’d be at least £80m or so, and he’ll have plenty of options if Newcastle are actually going to sell him. He’s also 26 years old — the perfect midfielder for a manager like De Zerbi who doesn’t stay at any one club very long and is kind of a win-now guy, but he’s definitely not what you’d call a long-term-plan kind of midfielder. He’ll be very good and will make Spurs better, but at a VERY high cost. He’s also much more likely to be attracted to clubs like City or United than a rebuild at Spurs, unless he REALLY gets the hard sell from De Zerbi.

I like Tonali a lot. He would certainly set the tone for what would be a very ambitious rebuild. I’m not sure he’s worth it when there are other options available, and we definitely shouldn’t get into a bidding war with Arsenal, City, or United. We will lose that war and there could be attrition. I like the idea. I’m not sure I like this particular transfer.

So… last week I underwent major neurosurgery. This was because of a condition that I was made aware of a few years back but it didn’t impact me until recent times. As scary as the thought of having brain surgery is , the inevitable outcomes if I didn’t were much more daunting to myself and my family, so in actual fact it was easy to go ahead with this decision. There are some things that are just bigger than football , and this was definitely one of them, this was about the quality of my whole life , far beyond my career.

It is so so important that you listen to your body when it is trying to tell you something, your health has to be your top priority in life regardless of any external factors or pressures that you may have!

I want to give the biggest of thank yous to Spurs. The medical team , the staff and all my teammates for completely supporting me pre and post surgery. Feeling so much love and support from you all has genuinely made this whole process a little bit easier , and I’m entirely grateful for you all🤍

This is going to be a gradual and patient recovery process , filled with a rollercoaster of high and low moments, but I’m ready to allow my body and mind all the time it needs to completely heal so that I can be back with my girlies on the pitch again!!!

At least I’ve got the World Cup to binge whilst I’m at home MWHAHAHA

Anyways , big love

Lenna🫰🏼

Last week I asked you to take a fun survey provided by the Benevolent Overlords at SB Nation, part of the SBN Reacts campaign, where you could predict the winner of the 2026 World Cup and the winner of the Golden Ball. Well, we have the results, and they’re pretty much exactly what I would’ve expected from this group of Spursy football miscreants. (I kid, I kid. …Mostly.)

No real surprises here. In a World Cup expected to be dominated by about 5-6 teams, Carty Free readers went with the overall favorite, Spain, with 31% of the vote. Maybe you’re all pragmatists, maybe everyone is still riding high from the Pedro Porro contract extension news. But y’all picked the Spaniards and it’s not a shock. Wonder if you’re changing your minds now that they just drew against Cape Verde? France coming in second is also not much of a surprise — they frequently do well in major international competitions and have a very strong team this year.

The other (not-so) surprising result is England coming in third with 27%. Obviously this likely has as much to do with Carty Free being a Premier League blog. COME ON ENGERLAAAAAAAAND, etc. etc.

This is a Tottenham Hotspur blog. But seriously, maybe some of you were swayed by my recent piece on the SB Nation mothership about Kane and his prospects? I do think Kane is the best striker at the tournament, easily. I am very worried about England’s purported tactics under Thomas Tuchel, with him admitting he is setting up the Three Lions to play Arsenal-style defensive tactics that will focus on set pieces and meatwall corners. Seriously, Thomas — you’ve got the best English striker of his generation coming off one of his best seasons of production in his career, and you’re going to meatwall? In a normal system of occasionally-going-for-it tactics, Kane feasts and scores a crap-ton of goals. I am worried about his production now and think Mbappe might be underrated. I do like, however “The Field” taking 10%, and that’s probably a smart pick. In international tournaments you never really know who’s going to get hot. Just as long as it’s not Kai Havertz, amirite?

Today is Monday, June 15 and after six months of waiting, the English football transfer window has now officially opened! Premier League clubs are now free to purchase, sell, and formally register players for the upcoming 2026-27 season, which begins Saturday, August 22, 2026.

This is my favorite time of year. I love the summer transfer window, because it’s a time of unbridled optimism. It doesn’t matter what your club did last season, now is a time for future planning — new players in, other players out. The future stretches out before us like a reconstructed hamstring. It’s great!

It’s worth noting to people new to football or who are prone to forget that the “transfer window” is a bit of misnomer. Technically, football clubs can sell or purchase players at any time during the season, or come to agreements to do so. We see this a lot, but these agreements are always couched with the phrase “when the window opens”. That’s because the transfer window is actually a registration window. Yes, you can purchase a player in October, but they won’t be able to register, train, or play for your club until the window opens. That also goes for player loans — there were a lot of comments about “recalling players” from loan during our injury crisis last season, or bringing in players at the very end to play who had finished their loans and returned home. Unfortunately, you can’t play a player until they’ve been registered with the team for that season, and loanees were registered with their loan clubs, not their parent clubs.

Tottenham Hotspur have already announced the signings of Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi, and those registrations will go through immediately today, making their signings officially OFFICIALLY official. There have been suggestions of full agreement with Manchester City winger Savinho, and the club might now make that official now that the window is formally open. And more players will certainly leave the club this summer. It’s an exciting time.

If you’re new to the sport and how things work, I’ll refer you to this excellent transfer window primer we published a few years back by Sean Cahill. It’s a nice summary of the window, how it works, and how player transfers, acquisitions, and loans function. You should check it out.

Hi Hoddlers! It’s Day 5 of the World Cup and Day 1 of Fitzie’s Extended Work Vacation from the Hoddle. So you’ve got me instead.

Without dipping too deep into politics, there’s been a lot of talk and digital ink spilled already about what an absolute s**tshow the planning and execution of this World Cup has been, and fair enough. Between FIFA taking every opportunity to milk football fans for their precious hard-earned dollars to half-empty stadiums to players, support staff, referees, and former Arsenal sexual predators being denied entry to host countries, everyone I think expected this World Cup to fall on its face. And at some level, it already has.

But I think what a lot of people forget is that Americans on the whole are decent people — kind, generous, accepting folk who just like to have a good time and are enormously welcoming to people from other cultures. That’s evident from this Bluesky skeet which contains some stories about foreign fans coming to the USA for the World Cup and having a great experience.

I’ve seen so many heartwarming and awesome stories about Europeans and people from other nations coming here expecting to encounter hordes of arrogant people and instead finding awesome Americans and incredible food, and being blown away by the experience. It’s made me feel a lot better, and is also a reminder that social media is not society, and that I need to log off once in a while and get out to actually talk to people now and then.

As an American, it’s worth remembering that, whatever else is going on in the world that’s outside of our control, we still have power to be kind and welcoming to people who are different from us, and those experiences go a long way towards establishing what kind of a country we want to be. FIFA sucks, a lot. But that doesn’t mean we as a people have to as well.

Song of the Day: “Smoko” (The Chats)

News and Links:

Not footy related, but the New York Knicks won their first NBA title since 1973 with Saturday night’s win over the San Antonio Spurs. I’m not a Knicks fan but after the Europa League win I feel like we’re spiritual cousins now. [ESPN]

A short profile on Nestory Irankunde, the Australian goal-scorer who came to Oz as an immigrant from Burundi via Tanzania, and found his home in soccer Down Under. [BBC]

West Ham might soon have a new owner after the David Sullivan scandal; relegation might end up being one of the best things to happen to that club in a long time. (The Times)

There’s so much football happening at the World Cup that you’d be forgiven if you forgot about Tottenham Hotspur for a while. I’m here to remind you that good things are still happening outside of North America — and case in point, Fabrizio Romano is now stating that Pedro Porro has officially signed his new contract extension with Spurs, one that will keep him in North London until at least 2031.

We already talked about how Porro was likely to end up one of the club’s top wage earners, and that appears to have been borne out. More importantly, this contract locks him down as a Spurs player until 2031, the year he turns 31, with an option to extend for an additional year. This is a deal that speaks volumes, both about Porro’s importance to this side, his quality, and Roberto De Zerbi’s opinions of his play. Say what you want about Pedro — the offensively-minded wing-back we brought in specifically to play for Antonio Conte has vastly improved his defense over the past few years and has become a coveted all-around player. He’s even playing for World Cup title favorites Spain!

This is a contract that instead establishes Pedro Porro as a leader on De Zerbi’s new-look Tottenham team, and a key player in how he wants to structure his tactics. It’s a good signing. I was skeptical about him at first too, but he’s changed my opinion over the years, for sure. Congratulations, Pedro — I expect the official announcement will be coming in due course, probably on Monday.

Roll on World Cup! FIVE games today, including last night’s midnight matinee that I didn’t bother to preview because I didn’t realize was happening. Let’s dig in.

Day 2 Recap

Qatar 1-1 Switzerland (Group B)

Goals: Embolo (17’); Khoukhi (90+4’)

This match was an absolute snoozer until injury time of the second half. Breel Embolo put Switzerland ahead with a penalty kick early in the first half and then the Swiss seemed to do everything except actually try to score a goal. Qatar, meanwhile, was playing the worst kind of defensive low-block-and-counter anti-football; Switzerland had 86% of the ball and won the xG battle 3.24-0.76. But the thing is, if you just try and hold on to a 1-0 lead, sometimes you get football’d. That’s what happened when Boualem Khouki fired home a headed ball into the net from a simple cross, and Qatar escaped with the dumbest of points imaginable. Group B is now wide open, remarkably. The Swiss… missed.

Brazil 1-1 Morocco (Group C)

Goals: Vinicius Jr. (32’); Saibari (21’)

I tell you what, for most of the first half I thought we were watching Wario Brazil, especially after Saibari put Morocco ahead midway. Brazil looked listless and wilty in the New Jersey heat, and then Vinicius Junior came to play, rifling home a rocket of an equalizer. Brazil woke up and actually tried to play some football in the second half, and it was a very even affair with both sides getting chances but neither able to put it in the ol’ onion bag. This had the feel of a heavyweight slug-fest. Also: Spurs should pay whatever Lille asks for Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Haiti 0-1 Scotland (Group C)

Goals: McGinn (29’)

I honestly thought this would be a dreadful match featuring two bad teams, but it turned out to be one of the more fun matches of the Cup so far. It’s a pretty geographically ridiculous match up — Scotland vs. Haiti in Boston? — but I was told Boston has the third largest Haitian population in the world, and there were also plenty of Scots in attendance. Haiti were a fun attacking side but had a problem with their finishing, while Scotland played physical. McGinn’s deflected goal was the difference. Because Brazil and Morocco, the two favorites from this group, drew their match, Scotland now lead the group.

Australia vs. Turkey (Group D)

Goals: Irankunde (27’), Metcalf (75’)

Look, I didn’t watch this and you probably didn’t either. So here are the highlights.

Day 4 Matches

Germany vs. Curaçao (Group E)

NRG Park, Houston, Texas, USA

TV: FOX (USA), Telemundo (USA - Español), ITV 1 (UK)

Stream: Fox One, Peacock (Español)

Current/former Tottenham players involved: none

Netherlands vs. Japan (Group F)

AT&T Stadium, Dallas, Texas, USA

TV: FOX (USA), Telemundo (USA - Español), ITV 1 (UK)

Stream: Fox One, Peacock (Español)

Current/former Tottenham players involved: Micky van de Ven (Netherlands)

Cote d’Ivoire vs. Ecuador (Group E)

One Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, USA

TV: FOX (USA), Telemundo (USA - Español), BBC One (UK)

Stream: Fox One, Peacock (Español)

Current/former Tottenham players involved: none

Sweden vs. Tunisia (Group F)

Estadio Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA), Telemundo (USA - Español), ITV 1 (UK)

Stream: Fox One, Peacock (Español)

Current/former Tottenham players involved: Lucas Bergvall (Sweden)

Joao Palhinha, despite not being a perfect fit in Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield tactics under Thomas Frank, nonetheless endeared himself to a large percentage of Spurs supporters with his gritty and tenacious tackling and propensity to pop up and score goals seemingly from nowhere.

There have been indications that Spurs might want to keep Palhinha around for longer, either on a permanent deal or another season-long loan, and Palhinha compared his relationship to the club as a “marriage.” But according to a report from Portugal outlet Correio de Manha, Joao looks like he instead will be returning to his old club Sporting.

The report states that Bayern Munich, Palhinha’s home club, are close to an agreement with Sporting for a permanent transfer in the amount of €25m (£21.5m) after Bayern reduced their asking price from €30m. That’s… cheap. Cheap enough for me to actually ponder the idea of purchasing him outright, especially with the free agent departure of Yves Bissouma. I know I’ve expressed frustration over his signing but that was because he only made sense if Spurs paired him alongside a midfield passer, something they did not do last season.

The article also says that Spurs attempted to trigger his purchase option after the conclusion of his loan to Tottennham, but that Palhinha has reportedly chosen to return to Sporting in order to be closer to his family. He’ll also serve as an experienced replacement for Danish midfielder Morten Hjulmand, who is expected to leave the club.

It sure does appear that Palhinha has made his choice, and it’s not Spurs. That’s ok. I came around somewhat on his appointment and he certainly gave us moments to cheer in what was a pretty dreadful season overall. It’ll be interesting to see how Roberto De Zerbi and Spurs fill the gaps in the midfield with what remains of the summer — I suspect with the World Cup now underway that this might not get resolved until the end of the window.

OK, we got some weird/bad transfer news out of the way already this morning, so how about some good news? According to the Athletic, while right back Pedro Porro has been getting some transfer attention from large clubs like Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, Tottenham have no intention of selling him this summer, and are now reporting that Porro is close to signing a contract extension with Spurs.

See that? That’s good news. I like good news, more of that please. Honestly, in my heart I’ve been bracing for an unexpected move from Spurs on the outgoing side, with a couple of players being transferred out that nobody expected, and I thought Porro might be one of them. He’s a sold player, getting a lot of attention, and is now playing for Spain at the World Cup, one of the favorites to win the competition. I figured this might be an opportunity for Spurs to cash in as they try and reboot the squad under Roberto De Zerbi.

I was wrong, and I’m glad about that! For starters, it means that Pedro likes it at Spurs and wants to continue playing here. It also means that we aren’t selling one of our best players just because. The article claims that, if he signs, Porro’s new contract would make him one of the highest paid players at Spurs; since Xavi Simons and Cuti Romero currently own that title with reported wages of £200k/wk, we can surmise that he’ll be somewhere in that range as well. Porro is currently making a reported £85k/wk on his existing contract, so that’s basically more than doubling his salary. Worth it, imo.

It also suggests that the earlier reports that Tottenham were going to break their former wage structure are accurate. This is also a good thing — professional footballers famously like money and that’s a good way they can attract more, better players this offseason.

I’m good with this decision. Hopefully we get confirmation of Pedro Porro’s new contract soon.

Sometimes things happen in football that are simply inexplicable. This appears to be one of them. According to Seb Stafford-Bloor and David Ornstein in The Athletic, Brighton & Hove Albion have made a £30m bid for Tottenham Hotspur defender Luke Vuskovic, and the young Croatian apparently wants the move.

I… don’t understand.

There’s a LOT about this story that doesn’t make sense in my brain. First, there’s the idea that Tottenham would be willing to sell perhaps the best young player at the club since Harry Kane, one who is currently coming off an incredible loan in Germany and who made the Bundesliga Team of the Season at age 19, and whose Spurs contract doesn’t expire until 2030. And maybe they AREN’T willing to sell — the article doesn’t make it clear whether Spurs are amenable to that move.

But the article does suggest that Vuskovic wants the move, and sees going to a club like Brighton as the logical next step in his career. This is all happening while Tottenham are attempting to facilitate a transfer for Brighton’s 26-year-old Dutch central defender Jan Paul van Hecke, a transfer that Spurs are almost certainly going to overpay for.

Now look, I’ve argued in the past that if Spurs don’t think Vuskovic is ready for first team football in the Premier League then they should arrange for another loan. And I think that probably should happen, and would be a good outcome for everyone involved. And to be clear there are no indications that Tottenham would accept such a ludicrously low underbid for what could turn out to be a generational defender before he even plays a single moment for the club.

So maybe there are some details here that we’re missing. For example — if Spurs were to sell Vuskovic to Brighton for £30m, or a discount on whatever Van Hecke might cost, but maintain a very reasonable buy-back clause and/or right of first refusal to get him back in a year or two when De Zerbi (or whoever’s making the decisions at Spurs right now? Lange? God…) then there’s an argument that this could make a weird sort of sense. And Vuskovic needs to be starting games right now, not sitting as Tottenham’s 5th CB in a year when they’re not in Europe. Spurs would either need to keep him and START him, or loan him back out to Germany or wherever so he can continue his development.

The Athletic makes the point that Arsenal did something similar with the development of William Saliba, a player Spurs were also interested in at the time — they loaned him out three times to France before integrating him as a first team regular. Spurs might be attempting to do something similar with Vuskovic.

But there aren’t those kinds of details either — just a report that Brighton have made a £30m bid. Honestly, I wouldn’t let Vuskovic go for £80m right now and I’m hoping beyond hope that while this is likely a real bid from Brighton that Spurs wouldn’t be stupid enough to let him go, except out on loan. And yet, I do NOT trust the current leadership at Spurs and there’s a part of me that’s convinced that we’re going to end up with the worst and stupidest outcome possible.

Honestly, I’m trying not to fly off the handle here because there are no indications that Spurs are open to such a deal, but holy tap-dancing Christ, I hate this rumor SO MUCH.