Cartilage Free Captain

Sport can be cruel somestimes. And, sometimes, it delivers that lesson more than once a day.

Monday was such a day.

First we look at Grigor Dimitrov, the 34-year-old Bulgarian who was once touted as Roger Federer’s heir to the World No. 1. Dimitrov’s career never shaped like many expected (largely because of the Big Four).

On Monday he had a chance to do something incredible: Take down World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

It was a dominant display by Dimitrov, whose serve and sharp angles troubled Sinner on the grass - a surface he has never been comfortable with.

Dimitrov fought to take the first two sets of the match against Italian. And then, at 1-2 in the third set, sport delivered its first cruel lesson.

After serving an ace to level the set at 2-2, Dimitrov immediately grabbed his right pectoral muscle and fell on the floor. Sinner and the medical staff rushed to his attention before treating him on the sideline.

The roars of Centre Court quickly descended into stunned silence, with Roger Federer looking on as Dimitrov fought back tears. Sinner would be by his side.

Dimitrov ultimately was forced to retire, marking this the fifth consecutive Grand Slam where he had to pull out mid-match because of an injury. He would need his left arm to support his right to shake the umpire’s hand.

In another sport on the continent, Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen was forced to pull out of the Tour de France after a nasty crash on Stage 3.

From the video it appears that another cycle had collided with Philipsen, who was wearing the green jersey, who then tumbled over his bike while riding at approximately 61kph (according to the video).

Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Philip Roodhooft described the cyclist’s condition as a “broken collarbone, devastated, a lot of pain”.

In an instagram post, the team said a preliminary diagnosis found that he also suffered at least one broken rib - maybe two - and will require surgery.

It’s a horrible and nearly unimaginable way for Philipsen to exit the Tour. He is one of the most prolific sprint cyclists out there. He was expected to feature heavily feature again this year after winning three stages last year.

It’s hard to find positives when cruelty strikes like this. The only one I can muster (“It could’ve been a lot worse”), feels hollow. And the strange thing is, sport will continue to carry on because that’s the nature of sport.

Sinner will be back on the court Wednesday and the tournament will crown a men’s champion Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Tour de France continues with Stage 4 on Tuesday.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Lucinda, by Suzanne Vega

And now for your links:

The Athletic ($$): “Fabian Otte among five new appointments to Thomas Frank’s Tottenham staff”

Alasdair Gold: “Tottenham will have familiar feeling after Cristian Romero latest transfer update”

The Guardian: “Putellas at the double as rampant Spain hit rain-soaked Belgium for six at Euro 2025”

A surprise Tottenham Hotspur Women transfer? Sure seems that way! Spurs Women announced on their social media channels that they have finalized the permanent transfer of goalkeeper Becky Spencer to Chelsea. According to the BBC, Spencer is signing on a one year contract.

Spencer, 34, has been a fixture between the sticks for Spurs since the club promoted to the top flight a few years ago, and for most of her tenure she’s been a very competent keeper — she’s certainly had some monster games for Spurs in goal. But Spencer saw her involvement at Spurs decline over the past few seasons. Tottenham brought in Lize Kop from Liverpool to serve as first choice keeper and have Eleanor Heeps behind her. Last spring, Chelsea signed Spencer on an emergency loan to serve as cover when they had an injury crisis with three months to go in the season. Now it looks like they’ve made that move permanent.

The writing was more or less on the wall for Spencer at Tottenham after last season. She was starting to show her age and her reflexes weren’t what they once were, so it’s not a complete surprise that Spurs have decided to let her go. I honestly don’t know what her contract situation was at Spurs Women but it seems like a distinct possibility that Spurs may have just made a small amount of money for the sale of a 34-year old keeper.

Tottenham Hotspur have a bit of a central midfield problem. Their two most senior players, Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma, both have only one year remaining on their contracts and both are in their late twenties. As such, Spurs are likely looking to move one (or both) on, with Bissouma indicated as the most likely mover.

Thus far, links to possible destinations have been relatively quiet through the summer, but a number of tenuous links have begun to filter through for the Malian, with Juventus and Lille mooted as possible destinations:

Intriguingly, Dean Jones writing for GiveMeSport labels the links to Juve an “Exclusive”; however, the Italian media actually first indicated the possibility of a transfer to Turin via La Gazetta Dello Sport a couple of days ago. This could mean Jones has a different source to the Italian rags; it could also mean the whole thing is junk. It does seem like there is a little bit of smoke here, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the different reports originate from different places.

Both pieces have a couple of interesting takeaways. The Italian story indicates the Juventus interest is being driven specifically by their GM, Damien Comolli, Spurs’ former Director of Football. It’s this history that Gazetta ponders could aid negotiations, claiming that Comolli has an excellent relationship with Daniel Levy from his time at the club, and that he hopes he can perhaps secure Bissouma for less than Spurs’ suggested valuation of €15-20 million. It then goes on to note a couple of potential complications in any deal, with Juventus’ squad limitations meaning a Bissouma signing could possibly scupper further overseas signings, as well as competing interest from other (English) clubs.

GiveMeSport’s article is somewhat more circumspect about the Italian club’s interest, indicating Spurs are trying to create a market for the player (which... yeah) and that Juventus aren’t really interested in a bidding war. Jones mentions as well that Bissouma’s agents are shopping him around a few clubs, and that his former club Lille are interested on bringing Yves back to France.

All in all, there’s not much new here - but it does sound like good news for Spurs, with a number of clubs likely interested in Bissouma who at this point seems a little like the odd man out. It’s been a somewhat turbulent time at the club for the midfielder, who showed several glimpses of the heights he could achieve, but continued to be plagued by inconsistency and off-field issues. He also had a close relationship with Ange Postecoglou, so after securing a European trophy and seeing his mentor move on, it seems like the right time for a fresh start for both player and club.

For those of you trying to keep tabs on Ange Postecoglou’s whereabouts these days, I have an update: He was at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Here, take a look at the Europa League champion in all his glory:

From what I can tell, this is the second sporting event Postecoglou has attended since his departure from Tottenham. The other time was at Lord’s Cricket Ground a couple of weeks ago, but Wimbledon is so much cooler.

But what I want to know is this: Who did Postecoglou see play on Saturday? Judging from his coat and his notoriety, I think he’d have been at either Centre Court or Court No. 1. That would mean he’d watch one of these matches:

Centre Court:

Women’s singles Round 3: (8) Iga Swiatek def Danielle Collins 6-2 6-3

Men’s singles Round 3: (1) Jannik Sinner def Pedro Martinex 6-1 6-3 6-1

Men’s singles Roudn 3: (6) Novak Djokovic def Miromar Kecmanovic 6-3 6-0 6-4

Court No. 1:

Men’s singles round 3: (10) Ben Shelton def Martin Fucsovics 6-3 7-6 6-2

Women’s singles Roudn 3: (7) Mirra Andreeva def Helene Baptiste 6-1 6-3

Women’s singles Round 3: (10) Emma Navarro def (17) Barbora Krejcikova 2-6 6-3 6-4

If I had the choice, I would have preferred to have been on Centre Court that day of those two options. Of course the matches were pretty short, but Djokovic and Sinner are both playing incredible tennis, so that’s who you want to see if you’re looking for the best quality.

If you wanted drama, you should’ve gone to the outer courts. There, Lorenzo Sonego defeated Brandon Nakashima in a tight five-set match, defeating the American 10-3 in the final-set tiebreak. And 38-year-old Marin Cilic (and former US Open champion) continued his remarkable run, defeating Juame Munar in four sets.

It’s too bad Ange showed up on a day with few Aussies in action (only Daria Kasatkina). But if he happens to be back today, I bet he’d be on Centre Court watching World (11) Alex de Minaur taking on Novak Djokovic. Maybe he’ll be watching at home.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Ready or Not, by Herbie Hancock

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank makes Tottenham staff decision with two highly-rated coaches”

ESPN: “Mexico takes down United States to win 10th Gold Cup”

Tottenham Hotspur have big plans for Will Lankshear, but probably not quite yet. The 20 year old academy graduate and striker spent last spring on loan in the Championship with West Bromwich Albion where he made 11 appearances scoring 0 goals in a mostly reserve role.

Since that loan, former Spurs player and assistant Ryan Mason has taken charge at the Hawthornes, and predictably West Brom has now been linked with another loan for BIG WILLY LANKS. The Birmingham Mail is reporting that Lankshear is linked with another loan to the midlands club, with Mason very familiar with Lankshear and what he can bring to the Championship.

It’s the most obvious of links, but in this case it actually makes sense. Lankshear was tipped for big things by former West Brom manager Tony Mowbray, but then Mowbray got sacked and Lankshear’s loan really didn’t take off. It might this time around, though there’s admittedly not a lot of substance to this particular rumor.

According to videos out of Tottenham, Lankshear is one of the players who has already reported back for preseason training. Thomas Frank is apparently keen to get a look at all the players before approving any departures, so I wouldn’t expect a Lankshear loan for a bit yet. But it does make sense, unless Frank feels like Lankshear could make a first team impact this season with lots of competitions and matches to play.

If you’re like me you’re probably a little bit frustrated by the lack of major transfer window activity so far this summer by Tottenham Hotspur. I get it, especially when you watch clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea hoover up talents like they’re door-to-door vacuum salesmen. Well, I don’t have much good news in that regard, but what I do have is news of an actual Tottenham Hotspur bid!

No, for serious!

Tonight, David Ornstein writes in The Athletic that Tottenham Hotspur had a formal bid of £50m REJECTED by West Ham United for the purchase of Mohammed Kudus. This comes on the heels of, uh, less reputable sources that say that Chelsea have expressed interest in Kudus. If you’re new to the blog or to the club, David Ornstein is basically the Shams Charania of English football — extremely well-sourced and extremely reliable. If Ornstein says it, it’d be pretty shocking if it didn’t happen (or won’t happen). While Spurs’ initial bid was rejected, talks between the clubs continue, so this isn’t the end.

The “Ornacle” writes that Kudus has a purchase clause of £80m that’s only valid through July 10, but it’s pretty clear that neither Tottenham nor any other club are going to offer that much money for him. Ornstein also says that Kudus would prioritize a move to Tottenham over any other club in the Premier League, and that personal terms “are not expected to be an issue.”

OK! Well, we’re getting somewhere. This is the first Kudus news we’ve seen come out that isn’t from either West Ham’s side or super sus sources, so it’s actual evidence that Johan Lange is actually working on deals and not Dungeon Mastering a 5th edition campaign in the Forgotten Realms at Hotspur Way.

Now that said — £50m is a LOT of money for Mohammed Kudus and there’s a pretty good and interesting argument to be had as to whether spending more than that amount would be considered a good idea. I’m personally a bit :grimace-emoji: on that topic myself, but if he’s not a perfect fit for what Spurs need in the midfield, the 24-year-old Ghanaian can at least dribble and pass even if he’s coming off of a pretty meh performance last season.

That’s all we know at this point. We don’t know if Tottenham will pursue their interest in Kudus and make an improved offer, or if they’ll turn their attention to other targets. Will find out later, I guess. But at least we can say this — someone or something poked Tottenham with a stick and said “Do stuff” and Spurs did something! And that’s not nothing!

It doesn’t feel like it, but the 2025-26 Premier League preseason has officially started. Today was Report Day for Tottenham Hotspur’s first team, and the club posted its usual photo montage of players reporting for duty on Instagram.

It’s not the whole first team, but there are some important people showing up at Hotspur Way today!

So in case you don’t want to click through, we have Dominic Solanke, Guglielmo Vicario, Djed Spence, Lucas Bergvall, Brandon Austin, Radu Dragusin (who’s walking! Normally!), Dane Scarlett, Yang Min-Hyeok, and Tonda Kinsky. Usually the players have staggered return times, and it’s also quite possible that there are other first team players either already at training or who weren’t photographed for whatever reason, so we’ll undoubtedly get another few of these over the coming days and weeks.

I’m excited! The preseason is a special time — whatever happened last season is washed away and you have a clean slate for the new campaign. Preseason and the transfer window represents hope, and dreams, and infinite possibilities. Anything could happen! Why, we could even finish 17th in the league but win a major European trophy!

Naaaah, that’s ridiculous.

Tottenham Hotspur center back and vice-captain Cristian Romero has been banned from driving for six months after the Argentinian pleaded guilty to speeding charges in recent court proceedings, as reported by Tristan Kirk in The Standard.

The infringment that triggered the ban was a relatively minor one, with Cuti captured by a traffic camera driving 60 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone. Typically, such an offense would result in a fine, but as Romero already had several similar infringements on his license Magistrate Gilles Casse doled out a suspension, as well as a number of financial penalties - largely insignificant given Cuti’s wage packet.

Negative articles involving our players are never nice to write, and the timing of this from a club optics perspective could not be worse, following the news of the devastating passing of Liverpool attacker Diogo Jota in a car accident. Though the full details of that event are not yet public (with speed potentially not a factor), the reality is that even incremental increases in speed can have a huge impact on outcomes in the event of an accident. I’m sure many of us on this site (myself included) have pushed the limits a little more than they should have when in a hurry; however, losses like Jota’s are a sobering reminder that doing so is rarely, if ever, worth it.

That said, this isn’t quite the same sort of disregard for safety as that shown by former captain Hugo Lloris in his drink driving saga - but Romero, as one of Spurs’ leadership group, is under a higher level of scrutiny and should know better.

To leave things on a lighter note, it’s well known that Romero could be heading away from Spurs this summer should the club receive a significant bid. When talking transfers, a well-known idiom when a club receives an offer that is somewhat... astronomical... is, “I’ll drive him to the airport myself!”

With this suspension, if Spurs receive such an offer that idiom may need to become reality.

One of the biggest yet-unanswered questions about Tottenham Hotspur is the future of Son Heung-Min. A season after captaining Spurs to the Europa League title, Son has reportedly been open to the idea of leaving Tottenham for what would be the final years of his career. He’s been reportedly the subject of interest from several clubs in the Saudi Premier League, but is more interested in a particular lifestyle over huge wages in the Middle East.

That has led to links to, and apparently discussions with, Los Angeles FC in MLS. According to and “exclusive” in FootballAsian.com, if Son were to leave Spurs this summer a move to LAFC is the most likely, but at present it looks as though he is set to stay at Tottenham for one more season.

Los Angeles would be an attractive destination for Son for a couple of reasons — it’s a major American city that more closely matches Son’s “personal and lifestyle” considerations than, say, Riyadh, and Son is attracted by the large Korean expat population in the LA area. According to the report, LAFC has set aside a designated player spot that could be used for Son, should he decide to make the move. LA would also be a closer flight back to Korea than London for his national team duties (though Saudi Arabia would be even closer).

The report, however, says that the most likely option is that Son will see out his Tottenham contract and decide his future then. Spurs are reportedly allowing Son to make his own decision about his future, as a transfer fee for a move to MLS is likely to be close to negligible. Staying at Spurs for one more year would allow Tottenham to give him a proper send-off, closing a phenomenal run at the club that will cement him as one of Spurs’ all-time greatest players.

Son’s decision would also have an effect on Spurs’ transfer plans, as the club would seek to replace him should he opt to move. Keeping him for one final season would mean Spurs would shift priorities away from players like Antoine Semenyo, Bryan Mbeumo and Eberechi Eze to other positions and areas of need. Notably, Son has also been heavily featured in Tottenham’s off-season content, including the kit reveals and promotions for the summer preseason tour to Asia. If Son were to move, it almost certainly would not be until after that preseason tour, but it’s also likely that his intentions would be made clear by that point anyway. If Spurs go after a wide forward player ahead of the tour, that may be a signifier that Son has made a short term decision about his future.

No matter what, as Tottenham fans our days enjoying Son Heung-Min as a Spurs player are now officially numbered. As a fan I would love to see him stick around for a final season if only so that I can wrap my brain around Tottenham Hotspur without him and prepare myself for a proper farewell. But as I’ve stated numerous times before, Sonny has earned the right to do whatever he wants with what remains of his professional football career. He has yet to report for preseason training, and hopefully whatever decision he makes will be made clear shortly afterwards.

Tottenham Hotspur Women have begin the process of rebuilding after a terrible 2024-25 WSL season by appointing Englishman Martin Ho as their newest head coach. The appointment was first announced a few days ago by The Athletic, and was made official by the club today on their website and social media.

A Liverpudian by birth, Ho comes to Tottenham Women from Norwegian Toppserien club SK Brann, where he led the team to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Champions League in 2023. This season Brann finished second in the league behind runaway champions Vålerenga, and qualified for the Champions League first qualifying round. Previously, Ho was an assistant coach at Manchester United Women from 2020-23, and also served as the head coach of Liverpool’s U21 women’s team.

In his first interview with the club, Ho said he expects Tottenham to win under his leadership, not just compete.

“I’m absolutely delighted [to join Tottenham]. After having a conversation with [Head of Women’s Football] Andy [Scoulding], Rebecca [Capelhorn], Vinai [Venkatesham] - and obviously Daniel [Levy] - it’s been really important for me to understand the Club. I think it’s very authentic in its own way.

“[It’s a] forward-thinking, positive club, one that wants to make a difference, but wants to do it in their own way. It’s been vital for me to understand the depths of the Club and where they want to go with the Women’s team. I’ve understood that clearly and I’m really excited.

“I don’t want to turn up here and just take part, I want to make sure we can take over, be competitive and, more importantly, we’re here to win as a club, not just turn up.

“I want to make that is very clear from the outset - from staff to players to the wider club. We want to be in those moments more often. I believe this team can do that and this Club can do that.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things, wonderful things about the staff and the Club, so I’m excited to get started.”

Ho replaces Robert Vilahamn as head coach, who guided the team to the finals of the FA Women’s Cup in 2024, but Spurs Women imploded this past season, finishing one spot above relegation and leading to his dismissal. We haven’t gotten a ton of insider information about what went wrong last season, but it was enough that Tottenham clearly thought a change was needed. Hopefully Ho will bring a fresh perspective to Spurs Women and will continue to guide Tottenham into a club that can compete with the teams near the top of the WSL table.

Days before Ho’s appointment, Spurs made their first player addition of the summer, announcing the arrival of 19-year-old Japanese international defender Tōko Koga from Feyenoord. Koga arrives on a deal through 2029. The BBC report that Spurs identified Koga as a potential transfer target during a preseason friendly against Feyenoord last summer. Koga was part of the Japan Olympic national team last summer, starting all four games and helping Japan advance to the knockout rounds of the competition, losing to eventual gold medalists USA.

There isn’t a ton of data on Koga, but at Feyenoord she was a regular in the starting XI, playing mostly as a central defender. She occasionally was shifted wide to fullback, and even played 90 minutes as a forward, scoring 2 goals in a 5-3 win over Excelsior in December, 2024. She’s taking a pretty substantial step up in level of competition but will hopefully be a player who can challenge for a starting place in Robert Ho’s back line next season.