Cartilage Free Captain

Alejo Veliz’s future at Tottenham Hotspur was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that. Veliz was a young player essentially signed as a lottery ticket, and the thing about lottery tickets is that most of the time they don’t pan out. Veliz spent the last season and a half on loan at Sevilla and Espanyol and hasn’t exactly set the pitch on fire. At this point it’s probably best for everyone involved if he finds a new club.

Pursuant to that, Racing de Alma today posted a story on its official web page declaring that it has lodged an official bid of $5m (£3.6m) to bring Alejo back to Argentina. That’s obviously not a lot of money for a player for whom Spurs paid £13m to sign from Rosario Central in 2023, but the proposal also has a 30% sell-on clause, so Spurs will get a little bit back if and when he does end up moving to another club.

It’s unusual to see a football club actually post about making a bid for a player, especially when the deal hasn’t yet been agreed to. You certainly don’t see that in England, but maybe that’s a uniquely South American thing, or maybe this is one way a small Argentinian club can put a little pressure on one of the richest clubs in world football, I don’t know.

The Racing de Alma report also says that Rosario Central, Veliz’s old club, is also pushing to re-sign him, but they only want him on loan. For that reason, Racing thinks it’s likely they can get this over the line. That’d be fine with me. Veliz might not have worked out, but he’s still a young player and could end up having a perfectly fine career in South American football. We’ll see if this goes anywhere.

Tottenham Hotspur have sandwiched in another preseason match ahead of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign. According to Reading FC’s website and Tottenham’s social media channels, Spurs will travel to the Select Car Leasing Stadium to face the Royals on Saturday, July 19 for a 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. BST kick-off.

This is Spurs’ sixth match of the preseason, including the tour to Hong Kong and Korea, and the earliest warm-up match, taking place in just 22 days. Weirdly, unless Spurs schedule a seventh preseason fixture, this will be the first summer I can remember where Tottenham didn’t schedule a preseason match at their home ground. All of them are either away or at neutral stadiums outside of the UK. Feels a little weird to NOT give the fans a chance to see their team play before Spurs’ first match of the season against Burnley on August 16, but I’m sure they have their reasons.

Below is an updated preseason match schedule. Most of the preseason matches will be streamed on SpursPLAY; free-stream or TV options have not been released, if there are any.

Spurs Preseason Matches

@ Reading FC

Saturday, July 19, 10 am ET / 3 pm BST

Select Car Leasing Stadium, Reading

@ Luton Town

Saturday, July 26, 10 am ET / 3 pm BST

Kenilworth Road, Luton

vs. Arsenal

Thursday, July 31, 7:30 am ET / 12:30 pm BST

Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong

vs. Newcastle United

Coupang Play Series

Sunday, August 3, 7 am ET / 12 pm BST

Seoul World Cup Stadium, South Korea

@ Bayern Munich

Thursday, August 7, 8:30 am ET / 1:30 pm BST

Allianz Stadium, Munich, Germany

Great news everyone.

The world has decided that we haven’t had enough music biopics in the last decade, so they’re giving us another one.

The subject this time: Bruce Springsteen. THE BOSS.

Playing Bruce Springsteen will be up-and-coming actor / underwear model Jeremy Allen White. A true unknown in Hollywood, and we must thank our lucky stars there is a new breakout American star.

Here’s a list of some (but not all) biopics that have come out since Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018:

Rocketman (Elton John)

The Dirt (Motley Crue)

No Way Home (Bob Dylan)

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Al Yankovic)

Elvis (Elvis)

Back to Black (Amy Winehouse)

Bob Marley: One Love (Bob Marley)

Respect (Aretha Franklin)

Apparently there’s been one on David Bowie too that got a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here’s the thing. This biopic business is getting out of hand. It got out of hand a long, long time ago. I wasn’t certain on the Queen one, less so on Elton John. The Motley Crue film was bad and Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley and David Bowie all came and went with nothing to show for it.

The only two to leave some mark were the Elvis and Bob Dylan biopics. The former was really long, even though Baz Lurhmann did what he does best. And the Bob Dylan film, I will concede, was a lot better than I thought it’d be.

But that doesn’t excuse us having yet another one coming down the pipeline. Do we even need to know Bruce Sprinsteen’s story? He literally wrote a book on it, set a Broadway show and then streamed it on Netflix.

So why do we need this. Who asked for this?

I’ll be skipping this one.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Born in the USA, by Bruce Springsteen

And now for your links:

BBC: “LAFC consider former Spurs manager Postecoglou”

The Athletic ($$): “Leeds striker Oliver Boast, 16, set to join Tottenham”

One year ago, Tottenham Hotspur managed to pry Archie Gray out of Leeds United, snaffling up a player who was considered basically Leeds royalty. According to the Athletic, they’re about to snap up another talented Leeds academy player.

Spurs are reportedly set to sign 16-year old Leeds United striker Oliver Boast to add to their development squad. Boast is considered one of the jewels of Leeds’ academy, much like Gray and his little brother Harry, also a Tottenham target. Boast apparently has not yet signed a professional contract with Leeds, so compensation is an issue — according to The Athletic, Spurs can either work directly with Leeds to find an equitable transfer fee, or a football tribunal will intervene and set the fee. But either way, it sounds certain that Boast will be joining Spurs this summer.

What kind of a player is Oliver Boast? Here’s one paragraph from The Athletic’s article that describes his style of play.

Those who have coached Boast at Thorp Arch describe him as a modern No 9, who can lead the line and can play as a lone striker. Boast’s speed has been described as one of his best attributes, as he runs off the shoulder of the last man and gets in behind opposition defences.

It’s important not to put the cart in front of the horse when it comes to young players. Football is littered with talented 16 year old footballers who don’t develop in the way they hope, or plateau at a level below that of the Premier League. That shouldn’t be considered a failure per se; developing a player and selling him to a League Two club is still a definite win for Tottenham’s academy, and players can have perfectly solid professional football careers even if they don’t crack Spurs’ first team. Look at someone like Troy Parrott, once one of the more exciting 16 year olds in Tottenham’s academy — he’s doing fantastic in the Eredivisie even if he never quite got to the point where he was an option for Spurs.

Anyway, this is a continuation of Tottenham’s focus on finding, signing, and developing young talent. Spurs should be making a couple of these signings every window, as far as I’m concerned. And if we’re lucky, in a few years we’ll all be able to brag about Boast.

After what seems like months of leaks and accidental kit sales here, there, and everywhere, Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced their away kit for next season - and it’s a thing of beauty:

Obligatory Krennic reaction gif:

I am a huge fan of this kit, and it’s probably my favorite for some time. Maybe it’s because I’m a New Zealand rugby fan, but the black just screams performance to me. The simplicity isn’t boring either, with a clean grey pinstripe pattern offsetting the monochrome look - consisting not just of simple lines, but Spurs iconography.

Some might find it boring; I think it’s classy. That said, maybe the less said about the “In darkness we dare” marketing campaign, the better (the embrace of Guglielmo Vicario’s nickname aside).

The new strip is available now through the Spurs website; feel free to sound off in the comments as to your thoughts! As for me, I’m gonna go order myself a Bergvall one.

I don’t know about where you live, but it’s getting pretty dang hot here.

The temperature in Washington on Wednesday reach 99F (that’s 37C) before taking into accoutn the humidity/head index. And for those of you that know, DC humidity is suffocating. I remarked earlier today that running in these kinds of temperatures feels like breathing in water.

But it’s pretty hot everywhere, too.

According to my google search, it’s going to hit 77F (25C) in London on Thursday. That didn’t seem too bad, until I remembered air conditioning is less ubiquitous over there.

So be smart out in the heat. Here’s a few things fitzie likes to do:

Drink lots of water. Hydration is your best friend right now.

Shade is also a great friend to have these days. It can be difficult to find, like on the Anacostia River trail.

It’s okay to hit the treadmill. Your hoddler-in-chief relied on the machine on Tuesday because there wasn’t a chance in hell (which it might as well have been in DC) that he was going for a run outside Tuesday. Will he run outside Thursday? That’s TBD.

It’s also okay to run slower. It takes a lot more energy to run when certain temperatures hit. This is probably a tougher one for me to practice, to be honest.

I like to eat lots of fruits when temperatures get like this. Watermelon and pineapples, in particular, are two that I keep going back to.

Enjoy an ice cream every now and then - you deserve it!

Be patient and kind with others. No one is happy in this weather.

If you have any other tips for getting through this heat, do let us all know.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Lost in Space, by The Hobos

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): “Tottenham Hotspur and another summer of change at the top. Is there more to come?”

Alasdair Gold: “Tottenham wonderkid in huge demand as Thomas Frank faces critical transfer decision”

BBC: “‘A sensible signing’ - Arsenal agree Norgaard deal”

ESPN: “Luka Modric agrees to sign for AC Milan after Club World Cup”

One of the interesting deals that came out of last summer’s transfer window was the sale of Giovani Lo Celso back to Real Betis. It was implied that as part of that deal, Spurs received a priority window to sign Betis and USA international defensive midfielder Johnny Cardoso during a two week window at the start of the transfer window. That deal also apparently included a sell-on fee if Spurs decided NOT to purchase Cardoso, a rare situation where a football club could receive money for the sale of a player that they do not, and never did, employ.

Well, it appears that Tottenham are not going to end up purchasing Cardoso after all. Previous reporting had suggested that Cardoso did not want to transfer to Spurs, and Betis is currently in negotiations with Atletico Madrid for a €25m transfer for Johnny.

That sell-on clause has been a little tricky to confirm, but it seems now we’ve finally gotten some confirmation that it exists — that’s the good news. The bad news is that Betis and Atletico are currently in cahoots to try and get around that fee, according to Spanish outlet ABC de Sevilla Deportes (via SportWitness). That sell-on clause has an end date in July, and so ABC writes Betis and Atletico are potentially going to delay the final signing of Johnny until closer to the end of next month to get around the sell-on fee.

Shenanigans! But honestly, fair play. I find it difficult to get too mad at this considering Spurs have pulled similarly dirty tricks to do ends around various contract clauses for their own benefit. Ironically one more recent example was the transfer of Giovani Lo Celso to Tottenham in 2019 — at the time Lo Celso was on loan at Betis with an obligation to buy, and that contract also included a sell-on fee. Instead of buying Lo Celso outright, Betis first completed their purchase obligation for Lo Celso, then immediately loaned him to Spurs with another obligation to buy. That loan fee was then deducted from Lo Celso’s purchase price, making the eventual sell-on fee to PSG lower than it would’ve been.

There are other examples of Daniel Levy doing creative accounting to get around or minimize fees, so it should be unsurprising that other clubs are trying to do the same to Spurs.

Whatever. Spurs may be out a few million pounds over something like this, but Johnny clearly didn’t want to move to Spurs and the sell-on was worth the gamble at the time. It gave Spurs a priority option for a player in a position of need, and if they don’t end up with him, well, then move on to the next target, I guess.

So I would’ve gotten this out on Tuesday but I was taking a Blog Break™ and doing family stuff so, well, I didn’t. But now I will! As expected, Tottenham Hotspur’s Damola Ajayi has moved to League One new boys Doncaster Rovers on loan for the entirety of the 2025-26 season.

This is Damola’s first loan and it’s a good one. A lot of academy grads start out in League 2 or in non-league football to get their feet wet. Ajayi made something of a splash last season for Spurs, especially when he came in with 10 minutes to go in the Europa League against Elfborg and scored his first senior goal in European competition. That was fun.

I know we all want to project how good a player Ajayi can be and hang our hopes and dreams on him. I say: don’t do that. He’s 19, heading out on loan for the first time, and has plenty of time to work on his game and improve. Spending a season getting kicked by grown-ass men in League One will be good for him, and even if he doesn’t end up a first team player he’ll almost certainly have a solid professional football career. Either way that’s a win.

So congratulations, Damola. We’ll be watching your career with GREAT interest.

Welcome to the hoddle, dear hoddlers. Last week I asked you all who you would like to be the next hoddle hero. And, by a sizable margin, you have chosen Micky van de Ven as your next hoddle hero.

Huzzah! Huzzah!

It’s a fitting choice. He gave us one of the greatest moments in recent history. Here are the full results of the poll:

Micky van de Ven - 29% (145 votes)

Pedro Porro - 17% (87 votes)

Heung-min Son - 12% (60 votes)

Dejan Kulusevski - 10% (51 votes)

Richarlison - 9% (45 votes)

Brennan Johnson - 8% (40 votes)

Djed Spence - 5% (26 votes)

Beth England - 4% (20 votes)

Kevin Danso - 3% (17 votes)

Molly Bartrip - 2% (10 votes)

I’m not at all surprised by the results here. Maybe I am surprised by the margin, and perhaps I should’ve made the poll slightly smaller (who did Johnson, Spence et al take votes away from?).

I was also curious to see how many of you were committed to the whole ‘Kevin Danso’ thread bit. Not many!

For those of you who forgot or are new here, these are the rules. Micky van de Ven will remain the hoddle hero until one of these happens:

Tottenham Hotspur announce a senior team signing

That player leaves the club

Spurs go through the rest of the season without signing anyone

(Please don’t let it be No. 2)

Who knows how long this’ll last though. As we know, Spurs are apparently close to signing Kawasaki Frontale centreback Kota Takai and also keeping tabs on Eberechi Eze.

Enjoy the VDV hoddles while you can.

Fitzie’s track of the day: [Nothing But] Flowers, by Talking Heads

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “What Kota Takai transfer means for Luka Vuskovic and Tottenham’s young defenders”

The Standard: “Tottenham line up £68m move for Eberechi Eze as statement signing to kickstart Thomas Frank era”

BBC: “Scoring machine or freak season? What Mbeumo could bring to Man Utd”

Matt Law (from Monday): “Fabio Paratici’s Tottenham consultancy role to run for entire transfer window”

The latest hotness to come out of Tottenham Hotspur’s academy is apparently set for his first loan. According to an EXCLUSIVE from Pete “Sports Peeto” O’Rourke at FootballInsider247, 19-year-old attacker Damola Ajayi is close to finalizing his first loan, to Doncaster Rovers.

Ajayi played most of his minutes in Premier League 2 this past season, tallying 3g+1a in about 1400 minutes with the U23s. But he was regularly training with the first team under Ange Postecoglou and made an extremely shorthanded bench a number of times. He was a late match substitute in Tottenham’s Europa League group stage win over Elfsborg, scoring his first senior Tottenham goal in the process. He’s an exciting young player, but not quite ready to step into a full first team role.

Doncaster just promoted from League Two to League One this past season, and according to Sports Peeto a number of other (unnamed) EFL clubs were after Ajayi on loan. He can play pretty much any position across the front line and is a dynamic young player, which should serve him well on loan.

EXCLUSIVES at Football Insider aren’t exactly as reliable as you would probably expect, and I rarely use that publication as a primary source, but I find this to be a perfectly credible rumor. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we get further confirmation of Ajayi’s loan from someone like Ali Gold here in the next while.