Football London

The Morgan Gibbs-White transfer saga continues to rumble on. Following the news one week ago that Spurs were in advanced talks with Nottingham Forest to bring him to the club in a £60million deal, the move hit a stumbling block last Friday.

The Lilywhites were set to trigger a £60million release clause to sign the England international, who looked set to complete a medical on Friday ahead of his switch to N17. However, the transfer came to a halt as Forest cut off communications and consider legal action against what they believe to be an illegal approach from the north London club along with the potential revealing of a confidential release clause.

Almost one week on from that Tottenham transfer blow, Gibbs-White still remains a Nottingham Forest player. Due to the current situation regarding the 25-year-old, it is not exactly clear when he will become Tottenham's latest summer addition.

As things stand right now, Gibbs-White continues to train with his Forest teammates as Nuno Espirito Santo's side step up their pre-season preparations. The ex-Wolves man was photographed a number of times at the club's training base on Wednesday, including one where he was seen joking with teammate Jota Silva, with the club then uploading an image of their player to their X account on Thursday.

Amid the current transfer uncertainty, Gibbs-White had a smile on his face during the session as he waits to see what comes next for him. The player could potentially be back on the pitch for his club on Saturday when they take on Ligue 1 side AS Monaco at Chesterfield's SMH Group Stadium.

Forest were in fact in action at the same stadium last Saturday as they played out a goalless draw with Chesterfield in their first friendly of the summer. Gibbs-White did not feature in the game against the League Two side as he was part of a group of players who had been on international duty last month who had still not returned to training at Forest.

Now that he is back on the training field, he may get to play in the AS Monaco game as he tops up his fitness levels. Tottenham themselves are in action the same day as they travel to League One outfit Reading.

The game will be Thomas Frank's first in charge of Spurs and all fans will be keen to get a glimpse of how his side line up following the change of management in June. New signings Luka Vuskovic, Kota Takai and Mohammed Kudus could all make their Tottenham bows at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a fee in principle to sell goalkeeper Josh Keeley to Luton Town after failing to agree a new contract with the 22-year-old.

Keeley enjoyed a great season in League One with Leyton Orient, registering 16 clean sheets, as well as scoring a dramatic headed goal in an FA Cup tie against Oldham and receiving praise from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola before earning a senior call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad at the end of the campaign.

football.londonreported earlier this month that Spurs had been engaging in ongoing talks over a new contract for Keeley. But with an agreement unable to be found, a permanent move now looks to be on the cards with a potential long-term contract at League One side Luton and regular first team football on the table as well as a chance to push on his international chances.

The young goalkeeper is due to meet the Hatters to discuss the project and a deal is expected to be concluded in the next 24 hours.

Tottenham are set to include a sell-on clause as part of the deal to sell the stopper as there is a belief he will go on to become a Premier League goalkeeper, but there is not believed at this time to be a buy-back clause involved. The problem is that Spurs have a trio of first team goalkeepers in Guglielmo Vicario, Antonin Kinsky, who signed in January this year, and academy product Brandon Austin all tied down to long-term deals, which was always going to make it difficult for Keeley to break through into new head coach Thomas Frank's team.

The Irishman, who has been training this month with new goalkeeper coach Fabian Otte, is not helped by the fact that he cannot be considered homegrown despite spending the past three years at the club after arriving from St Patrick's Athletic. That makes it difficult to register him in European competition and has prevented him from getting into the reckoning ahead of academy product Austin despite having more senior match experience than the 26-year-old as well as that senior international call-up.

With Keeley between the sticks, Orient reached the League One Play-Off final but fell just short against Charlton at Wembley. The O's FA Cup exit came with a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City with a shot from the halfway line from Keeley's Spurs team-mate Jamie Donley forcing the home side's goal before the Irish goalkeeper kept an expensively-assembled City side at bay.

"We were lucky at the end because they had chances, but we created a lot, their keeper was really, really good and it was a tight game," Guardiola said of Keeley.

Orient boss Richie Wellens said after that game: "Josh was class and he’s been brilliant. I think 75% of his performances have been clean-sheets. He’s got good character for a young kid and he’ll only go on and develop potentially into a top-level Premier League goalkeeper if he keeps his feet on the ground."

However, Keeley, who has previously gone on loan to Barnet in the National League and then stepped up to League One with Orient last season, is set for pastures new.

Alfie Whiteman is now on the lookout for a new club after his long association with Tottenham came to an end last month. Coming through the club's system to become part of the first-team setup, the 26-year-old was limited to one senior appearance for his boyhood club but he did collect a Europa League final winners' medal in May following the team's 1-0 triumph over Manchester United.

Tottenham are well stocked in the goalkeeping department following the January arrival of Antonin Kinsky, thus seeing both Whiteman and Fraser Forster leave following the conclusion of their contracts at the end of June. Whiteman has very little first-team experience to his name but clubs such as Blackburn Rovers, Oxford United and Stoke City have been linked with the goalkeeper.

It could be at fellow Championship side Portsmouth where he is playing his football from August onwards, though, as he is currently on trial at the south coast club. Whiteman was not part of Pompey's squad for their 5-0 victory at Farnborough on Wednesday evening but he is currently training with John Mousinho's side at present in hope of earning a permanent contract.

"We changed the two keepers last night, that was all and that was the plan," the Portsmouth boss told The News on why Whiteman wasn't involved against the National League South outfit. "So Alfie’s still here, training with us and will probably feature at the weekend. It’s one where we’re looking at the situation.

"One thing we’re keen to do is have four goalkeepers. One reason for that is for squad depth, but it’s also really beneficial for training. All of the time, or pretty much every single week we’re going to have training sessions where we use four goalkeepers because we have two small-sided games.

"We need that quality because we’ve stepped up a level from where we’ve been for the past couple of years. We have let Toby [Steward] go out on loan so rather than have training goalkeepers or ruining an academy session it’s really important for us to have that squad depth."

Forster and Sergio Reguilon have yet to acquire new clubs since their Tottenham exit but the hope will be that they can secure a move ahead of the new term kicking off. Timo Werner is now back at RB Leipzig after his Spurs loan came to an end, with an exit from the German club appearing to be the on the cards in the weeks ahead.

The Morgan Gibbs-White transfer saga looks set to rumble on.

Nottingham Forest have written to both Tottenham Hotspur and Gibbs-White's agent threatening them with legal action over what they claim to have been an illegal transfer approach for the player.

Spurs attempted to sign the 25-year-old last week and made an approach which triggered the £60million release clause in the midfielder's contract. However, Forest are claiming that an illegal approach was made and believe the confidential nature of that clause was breached with claims that Tottenham submitted a bid worth the exact amount required to trigger it.

Forest have been trying for some time to tie the 25-year-old down to a longer contract at the City Ground, with an increased release clause, to no effect in recent months.

Spurs remain hopeful of getting a deal over the line to sign the England international but it remains to be seen whether the threat of legal action from Forest merely delays the transfer or stops it from happening completely.

Former Tottenham player Jamie O'Hara has been left "disgusted" by the situation and had some words of advice for Gibbs-White, who is understood to only want to sign for Spurs.

Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, O'Hara said: "Morgan Gibbs-White should go to the PFA, he should sue Nottingham Forest, and he should refuse to train.

"He has signed a contract and there’s a release clause of £60million in there. He knows it’s in there, his agent knows it’s in there and Nottingham Forest know that it’s in there. He has agreed to that contract on those terms, whether he has become a better player at Forest that is worth more than £60million, that’s on him.

"Now when someone finds out about the release clause, which happens every day in football, people find stuff out and agents talk, Nottingham Forest suddenly decide they can’t have that, and the clause is confidential? What do you mean confidential? It's a release clause in a player’s contract; he’s entitled to know about it and tell people about it. What is going on here?

"Evangelos Marinakis has had an absolute stinker and his club are going to lose Morgan Gibbs-White for £60million because he’s done better than they expected and someone found out. It’s a disgrace."

Thomas Frank will be in the dugout for the first time as Tottenham head coach on Saturday. Spurs start their pre-season fixtures with a game away at League One side Reading.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the new Tottenham boss after getting down to work with his squad at the club's Hotspur Way base. Using the time to get his football philosophy across and take a good look at his players as they fight for a position in his starting XI, Saturday's game in Berkshire will give a glimpse of what's to come for Spurs under the Dane.

The 51-year-old currently has the vast majority of his squad to work with due to no senior international football tournaments taking place this summer. Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert, Mikey Moore and Mathys Tel will be the last to return after playing international football until the end of June.

Due to the sheer size of his squad, Frank will want to take a closer look at his players on the pitch before any final transfer decisions are made. Although his starting XI may be a bit mix and match at Reading, Frank can actually go extremely strong if he wants to see his best Tottenham team in action at the first time of asking.

Here we take a look at the strongest team he can field at the Select Car Leasing Stadium this weekend.

The Thomas Frank era at Tottenham Hotspur is about to begin.

The former Brentford boss has been working with his new Spurs players in pre-season at Hotspur Way for the last week and a half and although some players are yet to return, he will get a proper look at them in a match scenario soon enough.

Mohammed Kudus has arrived at the club and has been working alongside his new teammates, with the likes of Kota Takai - a £5million signing from Kawasaki Frontale - and Luke Vuskovic also getting to know new teammates.

Archie Gray, Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert are yet to return, given their involvement in the European U21 Championships, but will be back at Hotspur Way soon enough and then flying out to Asia for a pre-season tour of Hong Kong and South Korea.

Before that, though, Spurs have two pre-season games in the UK, while aftewards they have the big UEFA Super Cup clash with Paris Saint-Germain to look forward to before the Premier League campaign gets under way.

Frank will be keen to see how his players adapt to his way of thinking, following Ange Postecoglou's departure and pre-season fixtures begin this weekend with the players that he has at his disposal.

Here we take a look at the full rundown of matches before the league season kicks off.

Tottenham pre-season fixtures

Saturday, July 19: Reading vs Tottenham - Select Car Leasing Stadium, 3pm

Saturday, July 26: Luton Town vs Tottenham - Kenilworth Road, 3pm

Thursday, July 31: Tottenham vs Arsenal - Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong, 12.30pm

Sunday, August 3: Tottenham vs Newcastle - Seoul World Cup Stadium, 12pm

Thursday, August 7: Bayern Munich vs Tottenham - Allianz Arena, 5.30pm

Wednesday, August 13: Tottenham vs PSG - UEFA Super Cup, Stadio Friuli, Udine, 8pm

League One side Reading are Tottenham's first opponents when they get their pre-season fixtures under way on Saturday. It is set to be a busy period for Thomas Frank and his players as they have two domestic games and four games abroad before they begin their Premier League campaign with a home encounter against Burnley.

Reading are first up for the Lilywhites on Saturday, July 19, before they travel to Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town the following weekend. Spurs then head off to Asia to play Arsenal in Hong Kong and Newcastle United in South Korea prior to a pre-season showdown against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Tottenham's first competitive game of 2025/26 takes place on Wednesday, August 13 when they go head-to-head with Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup final in Udine, Italy. Following the appointment of a new head coach and arrival of some new players, Tottenham will certainly have a different look about them.

Ahead of this weekend's game against Reading, we have taken a look at five things that supporters need to look out for at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Vuskovic and Takai debut

Frank's Tottenham team at Reading is sure to contain a few debutants following the club's business in the transfer market. Almost two years on from agreeing a deal with Hajduk Split for Luka Vuskovic, the talented centre-back could potentially make his Spurs bow in Berkshire.

The Croat has made a huge impression over the past two seasons and he looks set to be a big player for Tottenham in the years ahead. Then there is Kota Takai, who recently joined from Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale in a £5million move.

Spurs have plenty of centre-backs on the books at present but the youngster will be intent on making his case for a starting spot with whatever minutes come his way in pre-season. Saturday should also see Mohammed Kudus make his Tottenham debut following his £55milliion move from West Ham.

The Ghana international can play in a number of different roles in the final third and it will be interesting to see where Frank plays him to begin with.

Gibbs-White wait

The wait for Morgan Gibbs-White to become a Tottenham player goes on. Looking set to wrap up a deal for the Nottingham Forest ace last Friday with a medical lined up after matching his £60million release clause, the East Midlands club have since pulled the brakes on a transfer exit for their main man and right now the transfer remains in limbo.

Even if a move is to go through over the coming days, it would almost certainly be too late for him to feature in the Reading match as he will have had next to no time with his new teammates. If the transfer is finalised, it would be nice to have Gibbs-White at the Select Car Leasing Stadium so he can be with his new teammates and get a look at his new side on the pitch.

A chance for the loanees

Frank currently has a lot of players to work with at Tottenham after the return of the club's loan stars for the beginning of pre-season training. Quite whether some of them remain part of his plans for the new season remains to be seen.

Jamie Donley caught the eye for Leyton Orient last season and Spurs fans are desperate to see one of their own in action. Alfie Devine will be determined to make his case after time in Belgium with Westerlo, while wingers Manor Solomon and Yang Min-hyeok will be fighting it out in for a spot amongst Frank's talented attackers.

George Abbott should hopefully get some more pre-season minutes after an excellent season with Notts County and Ashley Phillips will be keeping his fingers crossed that he can catch the eye of his new head coach as he bids to finally make his first Tottenham senior appearance.

Midfield pairing

Frank used a number of different systems at Brentford last campaign and it's not clear yet what his formation of choice will be at Tottenham. Many will be expecting him to go with 4-2-3-1 given that's what he mainly used at Brentford in 2024/25 and Spurs have a number of players who could thrive in that setup.

If it is to be 4-2-3-1, all eyes will be on his midfield pairing as he has options galore at his disposal. Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall will probably be leading the way to start the new season, unless of course a new midfielder is brought in to address the troublesome No.6 role.

Yves Bissouma, Archie Gray, Pape Matar Sarr, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are all further options in midfield for the new term.

Maddison fitness

Maddison unfortunately missed out on Tottenham's Europa League final success back in May due to a knee injury sustained in the semi-finals against Bodo/Glimt. Tottenham's No.10 has been putting in the work to get back to full fitness as he bids to cement his place in the Spurs XI under Frank.

Maddison has been spotted back on the training pitch with a ball at his feet and his current fitness levels should become clear in the next few days. Whether he is to be part of the squad at Reading or not, to see him back on the grass using a football is a big positive.

Tottenham Hotspur have engaged the services of a commercial advisory firm created by four former Manchester United executives.

Former CEO of United’s alliances and partnerships, Victoria Timpson, along with other former executives at the Old Trafford club, including Ali Edge, Tom Liston-Jones and United’s former commercial director Florence Lafaye have joined forces to found Altius8 with the backing of global consulting giant Teneo, who have invested in the start-up.

Spurs have become the first clients of Altius8 as the club looks to ramp up its commercial activity to raise revenues to allow the club to continue to invest sustainably in the on-pitch affairs to better equip them to challenge for honours on a regular basis.

The executives running Altius8, some of who were impacted by the jobs cull implemented by United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have enormous industry experience and had played a part in some of the club’s biggest commercial deals in recent years, such as the front-of-shirt partnerships with TeamViewer and Snapdragon.

The decision to bring on board an external firm is designed to aid and support the existing commercial structure at Tottenham, with the aim being to try and raise revenues across the sponsorship inventory in a similar way that was achieved at Manchester United, where commercial revenues year-on-year despite the club’s prolonged lack of competitive success.

One of the main pieces of sponsorship inventory that Altius8’s 20-strong team will look to support on will be the sale of stadium naming rights for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, something that has been available since the venue was built in 2019 but where Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has not been able to nail down the kind of value he feels it is worthy of.

Through tapping into additional industry expertise, and with a team that has pre-existing knowledge of the Premier League commercial landscape and strong relationships with global brands, it is hoped that the club will be able to grow commercial revenue significantly.

Spurs aren’t the first club to bring on board external support for the commercial team, with Everton having engaged the services of US company Elevate Sports Ventures back in late 2022 as they started the process of seeking a stadium naming rights partner for their new 52,888-seater stadium on the banks of the River Mersey, which is now known as the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

We are now only three days away from seeing Thomas Frank's Tottenham team for the very first time. After returning to pre-season training at Hotspur Way at the beginning of the month, Spurs play their first pre-season friendly against Reading on Saturday.

It is the first of two domestic friendlies - with an away fixture at Luton Town to come next Saturday - before the team jet off to Hong Kong and South Korea for their summer tour. Frank now has his full Tottenham squad to work with and he and his coaching team will have been getting their football philosophy across to the playing squad in their time together on the training pitch.

The Dane made a huge impact during his time at Brentford and it will be fascinating to see just what he achieves during his time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. During the 2024/25 campaign, Frank mainly utilised a 4-2-3-1 setup and that could be his formation of choice at Spurs.

It is one that should suit Tottenham down to the ground due to their plethora of attacking options. A number of Spurs players are certainly no strangers to the formation either after playing in it in the past.

The hope will be that Dominic Solanke can flourish in his role up front as there were a number of games last campaign when he was feeding off scraps with not a lot of chances coming his way at times. The addition of Mohammed Kudus should certainly help him and the same will go for Morgan Gibbs-White providing his £60million move from Nottingham Forest goes through.

The one thing you cannot say about Frank is that he is restricted to just the one formation and one style of play. The 51-year-old set his team up in a number of different ways last season, with 4-3-3 one he used on nine separate occasions.

Again, this is another system that suits Tottenham down to the ground as they have the players to line up with three in attack and they also have choice when it comes to midfield. Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall may perhaps be the two players in the driving seat for a place in a 4-2-3-1 formation but then there are players such as Archie Gray, Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison to consider if it is to be a midfield three.

Frank tailored his tactics at Brentford depending on their opponent and they also played in 4-4-2, 3-4-3, 5-3-2 and 3-5-2 setups last season. Tottenham may have the one main formation under their new head coach but it would not be a shock if they change from time to time depending on who they are playing.

Saturday's friendly at Reading may well drop a big hint over Frank's preferred formation in his Tottenham blueprint but it may not prove to be the final one. It may be a case of deploying different systems over the course of the upcoming friendlies before deciding on the best one that suits the players at his disposal.

One thing for certain is that all Spurs fans are looking forward to Saturday at Reading to get their first glimpse of what the future could hold for Frank's Tottenham team.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy says they were never going to rush their decision over where the club's iconic Bill Nicholson Gates would be relocated after 10 years in storage.

The black and gold wrought iron gates stood in front of the old White Hart Lane stadium for decades and became synonymous with Spurs' legendary manager thanks to a photograph taken by Peter Robinson in the 1970s. The gates were placed into storage in 2015, ahead of the demolition of the old ground and the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Nicholson was a key player in Arthur Rowe’s 1950/51 title-winning side before becoming the club’s most decorated manager with that league and FA Cup double in 1961 and led Spurs to become the first British side to win a European trophy with the Cup Winner's Cup triumph in 1963.

Fans, players and staff would follow in Nicholson's footsteps through the gates on the way to White Hart Lane over the subsequent years and after a decade in storage, Spurs believe they have found the most appropriate location to relocate the gates. They will be placed within PAXTON17, between the ticket office and historic buildings at the north of the stadium.

The gates are set to be installed there ahead of the first Premier League match of the season against Burnley on Saturday August 16.

"The Bill Nicholson Gates are such a significant part of our club’s heritage and I am extremely proud they will be returning home this summer," said Levy. "We were never going to rush into a decision as to where they should be reinstated, given the huge amount of works that have taken place in the area over recent years.

"We have undertaken a carefully-planned process, working with our architects, construction partners and Fan Advisory Board, and I believe we have found a fitting solution. We look forward to welcoming fans back to the stadium for the coming season - as well as Bill’s family members and former players - to see the gates and feel that close connection between our club and its rich history."