Cartilage Free Captain

This summer was already shaping up to to be a summer of change at Tottenham Hotspur. Not only is there still speculation over Ange Postecoglou’s continued job as head coach, but the appointment of Vinai Venkatesham as Chief Football Executive, as well as the expected return of Fabio Paratici in a major role and the departure of Scott Munn signal a major reshuffle within the front room staff at the club.

This morning we have news of an equally significant departure. According to a release on the club’s website, Tottenham board member and Executive Director Donna-Maria Cullen is stepping down from the Spurs board and leaving the club. The time frame for her departure was not stated, but it was implied she would leave before the start of next season.

In the club’s statement, Cullen said that this was the right time to leave and spend more time with her family.

““It has been quite some journey, starting at White Hart Lane, with a brief stay at Wembley and finally our new home - amazing memories home and away. Ending this season with the Europa League Trophy was a dream come true. The time is now right for me to gather more time for myself and my family, whom I thank for all their support over the years. I shall spend the coming months ensuring there is a smooth handover with my staff. Thank you all. I wish everyone at the Club all the success in the world.”

This is a pretty significant event. Cullen has been involved with Tottenham for three decades, first as an advisor and then, beginning in 2006, as one of Daniel Levy’s most trusted lieutenants. She was a specialist in public relations and most of the communications that has come out of the club would’ve had some of her fingerprints on it. She was also influential as the club continued to grow over the past 20 years from a midtable club to one that regularly competes near the top of the Premier League.

She was, it should be noted, also a lightning rod for criticism from some segments of the Spurs fan base. Among fans highly critical of Levy and ENIC’s control of Tottenham Hotspur, Cullen was viewed equally negatively, if not more so.

It’s not known what has precipitated her departure from the club. It could be that it was simply time for her to move on, and we have no reason to suggest otherwise. It could be that the arrival of Venkatesham indicates some sort of larger shakeup at the board level. It could be for some other yet unknown reason. All of that is speculation. But it is nonetheless a significant departure.

In the same statement on Spurs’ website, Levy thanked Cullen for her contributions to the club during her tenure

“Donna has made an immense contribution to the Club, over an extensive period. Her diverse responsibilities grew significantly and replacing her roles with a single individual will be impossible.

“While many may associate her primarily with marketing and communications, Donna’s impact extends far beyond those areas. Notably, her leadership and political acumen at planning committees, was instrumental in the Club being able to build one of the finest stadiums and training centres in the world.

“...Her daily input will be greatly missed, however she fully deserves to take time for herself, and I know that we shall be able to call upon her advice when needed. We wish her well for the future.”

Now the season is over, it’s time to have some tough conversations as to who stays and who goes from the current iteration of the Tottenham Hotspur squad; or to put it more casually, F***, Marry, Kill, Spurs edition.

In this series, we will work our way through the Tottenham Hotspur squad - covering all players who have seen the pitch for the men’s first team, as well as all players out on loan playing senior men’s football. We’ll also include a couple of known incomings who are not yet “officially” Spurs players.

For each of these footballers, we’ll give you our thoughts as to why they should stay (Keep), head out on loan (Loan), or go (Sell - either via an actual sale, or conclusion of their contract); though there may also be a bacon sandwich that pops up here and there also. Squad building is a tricky process, and balancing contracts, squad needs, and UEFA eligibility rules is not for the faint-hearted - but we will give it our best shot!

Starting with an area that is now reasonably settled for Spurs: the goalkeepers.

Editor’s note: this series and a couple of the pieces in it were nearly completed at time of writing, so we will still cover players whose future has already been confirmed (i.e. released players)

Guglielmo Vicario - Keep

A no-brainer with which to start. Though Vicario has his weaknesses, he is decent with the ball at his feet, and is an elite shot-stopper which is kind of the key component of the role. Could Spurs aim higher? Maybe, but now is not the time, with the squad in desperate need of reinforcement elsewhere.

Antonin Kinsky - Keep

The Czech keeper received a baptism by fire when he transferred to Spurs, thrust immediately into the starting lineup, and acquitting himself reasonably well in Vicario’s absence. There are questions around his shot-stopping ability and footwork, but he’s very young and has time. Has done enough to operate as Vicario’s backup next season.

Brandon Austin - Keep

Club-trained, decent enough to do a job when called upon, and with a contract that runs until the summer of 2029, Austin is the perfect third keeper. Will likely see limited chances, but he seems a good sort around the club so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Fraser Forster - Sell (Release) - confirmed

The gentle giant probably saw the writing on the wall this season. He struggled with the requirements of Ange-ball, with a couple of horror moments leading to Ange Postecoglou giving untested keeper Brandon Austin a go ahead of Forster. With the signing of Kinsky in January, he’ll start the transfer window without a club as his contract concludes.

Alfie Whiteman - Sell (Release) - confirmed

Everyone’s favorite Letterboxd reviewer and DJ will see his time at the club come to an end this summer. He has been usurped in the keeper hierarchy by Brandon Austin, and his loan spells elsewhere have been unsuccessful. At this stage, there is no reason for Spurs to renew his contract (which finishes at the end of this season), so Alfie will likely have to find pastures new if he is to continue his football career.

Josh Keeley - Loan*

*Ideally with a new contract, otherwise a sale could be considered for the right price

Josh Keeley has a lot of bargaining power right now. A talented keeper with a good all-round skillset coming off a very successful loan season at Leyton Orient, he unfortunately came to the club too late to ever qualify as a UEFA club-trained player. As a general rule, it’s bad squad building to have three non-club-trained keepers, which means at a certain point Spurs will likely need to make a choice as to who they keep out of Vicario, Kinsky, and Keeley. The problem is that currently, Keeley’s contract is up in 2027, so if they decided to go with Vicario and Kinsky as the long-term option, that’s a decision that would ideally be made this summer, which doesn’t really give the club a chance to truly see what Keeley could offer at the top level. If, however, Keeley is willing to sign a new contract (which some recent reporting has indicated may be the case), then that will allow Spurs to kick that can down the road and send Keeley out on loan at a higher level next season - hopefully the Championship.

Luca Gunter - Loan

Spurs’ young, age-grade international keeper saw his first taste of senior men’s football this season, as he headed to Wealdstone in the National League on loan in January. He made 14 starts for The Stones, which is pretty impressive for a 20-year-old, and the club will likely want to build on that experience next season. As such, he will likely head out to another club - ideally one where he can play a lot of minutes.

Carey Bloedorn - Loan

Hands up if you know who this guy is? Be honest. I didn’t until I went to write this article, so there you go. Bloedorn is something of an enigma: he was born in Pakistan, grew up in Milton Keynes, and has German citizenship - an interesting combination of cultures - and was scouted as a child from Norwich City’s academy setup. Since then, he has moved his way up through Spurs’ academy ranks, before signing his first professional contract at the start of the 24/25 season. He’s gone on loan to actual adult teams a couple of times as well (which might explain our lack of familiarity - out of sight, out of mind and all), including a spell most recently at National League South team Aveley FC, where he made 19 starts. That is downright impressive for a now-19-year-old, and like Gunter, Spurs will probably loan Bloedern out once more to allow him to continue to develop.

There you have it. Spurs’ goalkeeper cadre really presents as possibly the most settled part of the squad (for now), with no real controversy as to next steps or potential sales. That stability means no real need to address any gaps in the transfer window - one that will already be busy for the club. That will likely change, though, as we work our way through the squad. The defense is up next!

We’re at the beginning of a fresh month for Tottenham Hotspur, which means it’s time to look at the month ahead.

There’s very little to point to this month.

Because of the Club World Cup, we’ve got a strange transfer window this year.

The window will first run from Sunday through June 10, and then again from June 16 to September 1. Both windows shut at 7pm.

But does any of this matter, really? We’re all waiting for news on Ange Postecoglou, and it doesn’t seem like any transfer business can be sorted until his future his. Presently, at noon Sunday, we still do not know of his fate.

There’s also still no word on if Ben Davies will be at the club next season

The Women’s Super League summer transfer window also opens this month, on June 18.

So there you have it. This was your Look at the Month Ahead. Not much to say, all we can do is wait.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Shortnin’ Bread, by the Charles Mingus Quartet

And now for your links:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “Ange Postecoglou fulfils his ‘impossible dream’ with Tottenham’s Europa League win”

Alasdair Gold: “Daniel Levy to decide on Ange Postecoglou future amid fears of Tottenham dressing room backlash”

Jack P-B ($$): “Tottenham need new players more than a new manager – that is what will really elevate them”

The transfer window isn’t even open yet and Tottenham Hotspur have already made their first confirmed transfer. Kind of. In a way. According to Fabrizio Romano, Spurs have confirmed the €25m purchase of Kevin Danso from Lens, fulfilling his purchase obligation after he was signed on loan last season.

So no big surprise since this was going to happen anyway. The club hasn’t confirmed it yet, and they might not since this was more or less a forgone conclusion and they sometimes don’t in these circumstances, but Danso is now a permanent member of the squad.

I’ve been quite pleased with Danso since his arrival. He’s been a steady presence at the back when called upon, to the point that if Cuti Romero were to ever leave the club or get injured or whatever, I’d have few concerns about Danso stepping into that RCB role. He’s a solid backup and rotation option, exactly the kind of player we need MORE of as Spurs gear up for a Champions League campaign next season.

So hooray for successfully fulfilling our contractual obligations! Well done lads, good process (complimentary).

Following the conclusion of the 2024/25 season, Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed the outgoing members of their senior men’s squad early today:

Alfie Whiteman, Fraser Forster, and Sergio Reguilon are the players to depart, with their contracts coming to an end, while Timo Werner’s loan has ended with Spurs obviously not too keen on a longer stay for the German at the club (I’m sure the feeling is mutual).

None of these departures are particularly surprising. Whiteman has never really sniffed the first team, with a couple of unsuccessful loans in recent years his only real senior football of note. An enigma of a man who loves cinema, music, and actually sent Dustin an email one time because he’s just that cool, it’s hard to say where his career takes him next; or if he’s seen enough of football and his future lies in other endeavors.

You could ask a similar question of Timo Werner in some ways; he was decent in his first half-season at the club, but in 24/25 just looked utterly devoid of confidence. It does make you wonder how a player that much in their own head continues in professional sport, but I’m sure he’ll head back to somewhere in Germany and lace up his boots again. All in all, it’s hard to imagine what could have been after his latest stint - not just in terms of Timo’s own performance, but what it could have meant in terms of alternative signings had the club looked elsewhere.

Fraser Forster had a bit of an ignominious end to his time at the club. A strange signing at the time (and seemingly an attempt by the club to increase homegrown numbers for cheap) he always seemed like a bit of a square peg in a round hole. Uncomfortable with the ball at his feet, he didn’t quite fit in a side trying to modernize their football, and this was no clearer than in Spurs’ 4-3 League Cup win over Manchester United where Forster nearly single-handedly gifted the Red Devils two goals while trying to play out from the back. That said, his physicality on set pieces and his shot stopping at times were excellent, and though he was quickly usurped by new signing Antonin Kinsky in January, he never complained as to his position in the squad and was always ready when called upon.

That leaves us with Sergio Reguilon. It’s hard to put your finger on exactly where it went wrong for the Spaniard; in some ways the exciting, athletic fullback seemed perfect suited for the Spurs way, and his career with the club started extremely well. Unfortunately, he started to struggle with injuries, and as his availability declined, so did his football. Sometimes mercurial in his defensive duties, he also really struggled with the interplay required in an attacking side, with his short passing especially poor and perhaps a reason why Ange Postecoglou opted not to rely on him unless absolutely desperate. He seemed content though to collect a paycheck, train hard, and commit himself to be Spurs’ unofficial “hype man” - often present cheering his squadmates on in matches, active on social media, and very visible in some of the post-Europa League trophy celebrations. What’s not to love?

There’s one interesting absence of note from that list: Ben Davies. His contract officially ended at the closure of this season as well, but there was an option with the club for a one-year extension, and reporting late last year indicated the club was looking to exercise said clause. That seems to fly in the face though of some of the rumors flying around in recent days linking Gentle Ben to Wrexham, so who knows what to believe. Perhaps the club has given Ben time to negotiate with the Welsh club, and if negotiations are unsuccessful, will sign him on for another year? He has been a faithful servant to the club for 11 years, and at this point has earned the choice of what he does next. It would be a sentimental move, albeit a much warranted one.

Farewell, then, to Fraser, Sergio, Alfie, and Timo. It’s a squad that makes a team, and so their contributions can’t be understated. Thank you for your service to the club, and all the best for whatever comes next - whether that be in football or outside.

It’s been a strange season. Tottenham Hotspur lost a Premier League club record 22 matches in 2024-25, falling all the way to 17th place, a situation literally as bad as you can get without being relegated. The only thing that has prevented this from being an unequivocally catastrophic disaster was the fact that Spurs managed to win the Europa League, thereby qualifying for Champions League next season. Imagine — England’s representatives at the highest European club competition are the teams that finished first through fifth... and also 17th.

There are plenty of caveats to Spurs’ league finish, which include one of the worst injury crises I’ve ever seen at a football club, combined with Spurs going deep in the Europa League and the two domestic cup competitions with a wafer-thin squad. That said, there’s also no question that most of Tottenham’s returning players took a step backwards statistically.

Those injuries are in part why it’s so difficult to pick a Player of the Season. You can make arguments about a bunch of different players, and it depends on what nebulous criteria you use to make the judgement. Purely a goals-in-net person? Brennan Johnson is right there with 18 in all competitions. Most important player? Dejan Kulusevski carried Spurs in the first six months of the season before injury derailed him. Most influential? James Maddison might be your man. Defensive efficacy? Cuti Romero. Availability? Pedro Porro. But nearly of them carried injuries, most of them significant and lengthy.

So what’s a blogger to do? I went back to the well, to the person who had the best mix of stats, influence, and vibes. My Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season is Son Heung-Min.

Has he taken a step back statistically this season? Yes, but so has the majority of the team. Ahead of the Europa League final, I was leaning towards Dejan Kulusevski for this award. But 11 goals and 11 assists to go along with a team-leading 0.53 xA+xG/90 (>1000min) for this deeply flawed team is still impressive. He led the team in shots, and shots on target/90. Son struggled at times with how he fit into Ange Postecoglou’s offense, and that changed even more when the early Ange-Ball returns went sour and Postecoglou started tweaking tactics. Even so, he’s still the best player on this Spurs team, and the squad missed him when he was not available.

Sonny’s ability and willingness to play through injuries to help the team can be a strength or a weakness depending on how you look at it. I find it a bit infuriating, to be honest; we found out he was playing through a niggling foot injury for a good part of the spring, and didn’t feature in Tottenham’s final match of the season against Brighton because of that same injury. The truth is, Sonny took his role as captain seriously, to the point where he gave 100% when he himself was not 100%. 11 goals represents his lowest goal tally since his first year at the club, and yet is there a player who was more influential on this team, with his assists, with his leadership, and with his effort? I’d argue not.

For me, this award crystallized as I watched Sonny lift the Europa League trophy, Tottenham’s first silverware in 17 years, and the first Spurs European title since 1984. Son didn’t start that final and didn’t score after coming on at halftime. But he was the most important player on that pitch in Bilbao. Can you imagine anyone else lifting that trophy in that moment? I cannot.

He is a treasure, a confirmed Spurs legend, even if in a season of staggering highs and incredible lows he did not hit the individual heights he wanted. He’d probably be the first person to admit it, and apologize to you in the process. That’s maybe another reason why he deserves Player of the Season. We don’t have many more years with Son Heung-Min, it’s important to enjoy what little time remains.

Commentariat Choice: Pedro Porro

It’s not exactly a runaway choice, but it is a pretty substantial victory for Pedro Porro from the commentariat poll. And there’s a very strong argument to be made as to why Porro deserves it. For one, he’s been healthy all season, something that the majority of his teammates can’t say. Secondly, he’s been simply impressive. He finished the season third on the team with 9 assists as an attacking fullback, and has improved his crossing and set piece delivery dramatically. His defensive positioning has also improved a ton, to the point where I no longer instinctively feel nervous seeing him trying to defend speedy attackers on his side. He’s also The Athletic’s choice for Player of the Season, and who am I to disagree with Jack Pitt-Brooke? (Well, me. I am, and I already have I guess.)

Look, it’s a good choice. I’m not going to argue it. What’s interesting to me is Brennan Johnson coming in second, 20 votes ahead of Dejan. I think there’s a bit of recency bias at play here, and I’ve been making a bit of fun with Brennan as a talented but flawed player by calling him the “Lionel Messi of Nacer Chadlis” all season. That said, “POY should be the player who scores the most goals” is a perfectly valid rationale. Honestly, it’s kinda cool that there are numerous good options for Player of the Season, even a completely sicko season like this one.

Is there a chance we’ll see Ben Davies on FX next season? According to a new report from Football Insider, there’s a chance that might just happen. The report states that Wrexham, notably owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcelhenney and who just successfully promoted for the third straight year, are in talks to sign Davies this summer on a free transfer.

OK, so let’s talk about a couple of things. First, Football Insider is, uhhhhhhhhhhh, not typically a source we rely upon for accurate rumors. That said, in a vacuum this deal might make a weird sort of sense. Wrexham are now in the Championship and need a serious upgrade in talent in order to stay there. In past seasons, the owners have done this by signing older, experienced professionals like Jay Rodriguez, Steven Fletcher, and James Maclean who are near the ends of their careers and don’t mind dropping down a level or two as their bodies start to break down. Davies would certainly fit that model, and he’s Welsh so it would be a kind of homecoming for him (even though he’s a Swansea lad).

But Wrexham signing Davies on a free transfer would seem to contradict news from earlier this season. Jack Pitt-Brooke wrote back in November that Spurs were planning on exercising a one-year extension in Davies’ contract, something that Daniel Levy loves to tack on in contract extension negotiations, and that would keep Davies at Spurs through 2025-26. We don’t actually know whether the club exercised that option or not, and Spurs typically doesn’t announce when they do, they just brief the media like they did back in November. The Football Insider article seems to suggest they have not.

So what gives? There are a couple of possibilities.

The Wrexham story is bullshit

Spurs didn’t actually exercise Davies’ contract extension, either because they decided not to or Davies requested that they not, and they agreed to that request

Spurs DID exercise the contract extension and are either willing to let Davies out of his deal, or receive a small transfer fee from Wrexham to send him there.

It’s an interesting thought experiment, for sure, and it’s clear even if he wants to stay at Spurs for another year that he won’t have his contract renewed past 2025-26. Wrexham, meanwhile, are Wrexham — the Welsh celebrity club with its own TV show. Davies would be a pretty big get for them, even if he’s a little past his prime and slightly gone to seed. But it’s also clear that Davies won’t be short of options; Leeds is another possible destination, as is just staying at Tottenham and retiring a legend. That said, if Wrexham is where he wants to go, then I’d guess the club would be amenable to making it happen. Plus we’d get to see him possibly hugging Ryan Reynolds on the telly next year.

But let’s wait for some more reliable sourcing, first.

After a weekend filled will football action, we have a much clearer picture on what the English football pyramid will look like next season. Let’s take a a look in the latest Lower Leagues roundup:

League One

Going up: Birmingham, Wrexham, Charlton

Going down: Crawley Town, Brisol Rovers, Cambridge United, Shrewsbury Town

Playoff winners: Charlton

A gutting loss for Leyton Orient in the playoff final, but they didn’t really even show up to Wembley. In a battle of two London clubs, it was the South London outfit Charlton who came out on top.

The winning goal came off a free kick, and Spurs loanee Josh Keeley probably could have done better to save it.

It’s exciting to see Charlton back in the EFL Championship after a few seasons away. For Leyton Orient, next season will bring about a large degree of uncertainty. They’ll be losing Keeley and Jamie Donley, two Spurs loanees who were key to their success this season.

League Two

Going up: Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale, Bradford City, Wimbledon

Going down: Carlisle United, Morecambe

Playoff winners: Wimbledon

This season will be remembered as one of the biggest collapses in the league’s history. Walsall were 12 points clear at the top in January. Once Stoke City recalled Nathan Lowe from loan, the Saddlers fell off the top of their perch. Tragic, really.

But we’re happy to see Wimbledon climb back up.

National League

Going up: Barnet, TBD

Going down: Dag and Red, Maidenhead, Fylde, Ebbsfleet

Playoff final: Southend United vs Oldham

This is the last big football match of the year - Southend United versus Oldham Athletic. The teams finished seventh and fifth in the league this year, respectively.

Every season the question arises if there should be two automatic places for the National League. The answer is yes. The gap between League 2 and the National League is very small, and I suspect the winner of this playoff final will be pretty competitive in the fourth tier of English football next year.

The final is this sunday - GET HYPED!

Fitzie’s track of the day: Cissy Strut, by The Meters

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Remarkable Lucas Bergvall development will cost Tottenham extra cash right now”

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham Hotspur squad audit: How the team is set ahead of the transfer window”

BBC: Ella Toone: “‘I don’t think I grieved, I don’t think I thought it was real’”

Hey, you might have heard this, but Tottenham Hotspur are going to be playing Champions League football next season. Why, you ask? Because despite finishing 17th in the Premier League, Spurs won the gol-danged Europa League thereby qualifying for the competition!

Let’s just reiterate that again, because it never gets old: Tottenham Hotspur are Europa League Champions!! Yeah. Still feels pretty great, doesn’t it?

Champions League qualification still isn’t finished as there are still about 7 slots up for grabs that will be resolved through a qualification playoff process. That said, Football Rankings have given their projections for the pots for next year’s competition, and according to their projections Spurs will be in Pot 3.

So when I first saw this, I’m so CL Draw-pilled that my first inclination was to get mad. Whaddya mean Pot 3? We’re gonna get screwed in the draw! But then I remembered the format change to the Swiss Model — no matter what pot Spurs end up in, they’ll still be drawn against two teams from each pot, so the pots really don’t matter all that much. You could get tough home/away draws against difficult opponents from every pot, but there aren’t any “groups of death” anymore. I kind of like it.

That said, we can glean a little info from the pots. For example, we know we’ll be drawn against two of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter Milan, Dortmund, or Barcelona from Pot 1, because the rest of the Pot 1 clubs are Premier League, and we can’t be drawn against teams from our own federation.

Second, while the names without a check mark are unconfirmed, there are some very familiar names in those pots. Bodø/Glimt, Frankfurt, Slavia Praha, Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Athletic Bilbao, and Ferencvaros were all in the Europa League last season, and Spurs finished higher than all of them. (And hey, weren’t we just told a couple of weeks ago that playing clubs like Bodø/Glimt and Frankfurt devalued the importance of the Europa League competition? Big Thinky Emoji goes here.)

The level of competition is obviously higher in the Champions League, but Spurs are pretty much guaranteed a mix of teams substantially better than them as well as substantially worse. There’s the whole luck of the draw, of course, but looking at those pots I can see Spurs potentially being at least competitive. Maybe they won’t be top eight like they were this season, but perhaps the playoffs?

Tottenham Hotspur midfield target Johnny Cardoso had a bad day yesterday, flashing a wide-open shot over the bar for Real Betis and losing 4-1 to Chelsea in the Europa Conference League final.

Now, there’s some good news — he’s a wanted man, and is likely going to be departing Betis for another club. As we reported earlier in the year, Tottenham Hotspur have a priority option to sign Johnny during a two week period at the start of the summer transfer window, which opens on June 1. But according to MARCA (aka the Spanish Daily Mail), Atletico Madrid are also keen on signing Johnny, and he has become a “priority target” for them next month.

It’s probably a good idea to revisit Johnny’s agreement with Spurs, first. Here’s the important paragraph from back when we first reported on the deal.

In short, McGrath confirmed the Cardoso option via comments from Betis president Ángel Haro. The deal is as follows: Spurs have a priority option that lasts for two weeks next summer whereby they will be able to purchase Cardoso for a fee of £21m. Should they decide NOT to sign him, other clubs will be available to make an offer for Cardoso when that two week window closes.

NOT reported in McGrath’s writeup is a reported sell-on clause in Cardoso’s contract whereby Tottenham would receive a percentage of money from Johnny’s sale if he DOESN’T move to Spurs. That was initially reported in the lead-up to the agreement, but it feels a touch weird — it’s undoubtedly a fantastic deal whereby Spurs would get future money from a Cardoso sale despite not actually owning the player, but I’m not seeing any confirmation post-window close of that clause existing. I’m now wondering if the reporting conflated Lo Celso’s sell-on with this hypothetical one for Cardoso. I’ll keep looking.

I haven’t seen anything since that would contradict what I wrote back in September. That two week window would presumably kick in June 1. But there is a complication — there are some reports of dubious providence floating around that Johnny isn’t exactly keen to come to Spurs and would much rather move to a club like Atletico, hence the interest from them. It’s also interesting that we really haven’t heard much about Johnny since arranging this priority option last summer.

It makes me wonder if we’re either kicking the can down the road a bit due to the ambiguity around Ange Postecoglou’s job status and the reshuffling of the deck chairs. Does Fabio Paratici want Johnny Cardoso or not? It’s not very clear. Nor is very clear whether he’s the kind of player Spurs want or need at them moment — he profiles much closer to a 23-year old Yves Bissouma, when really what Spurs need is someone who can pass.

What is clear is that if Spurs are going to exercise their option to purchase Johnny, it’ll happen in the next two weeks. And even if they don’t sign him it sounds like they might get a little cash out of the deal anyway. Guess we’re going to find out.