Football London

I'm so glad I didn't sign Tottenham contract – my heart was set on joining Chelsea  Football London

Mathys Tel has sent a clear message to Roberto De Zerbi after the young Tottenham Hotspur forward scored a hat-trick for France under-21s on Tuesday night.

The Frenchman, who turned 21 this year, netted his second career treble in their 7-1 U21 EURO qualifier win over Switzerland. Tel, who captained the side, has had a very productive international break, scoring five goals in four games.

Tel scored France under-21s' only goal in the 1-1 draw away against Iceland and also netted the winner at home against Luxembourg to book his country's place at the Euros. He will now return to north London in a confident mood and is expected to meet up with his team-mates in the coming days.

Signed for £29.8million from Bayern Munich last summer after initially joining on loan in January 2025, Tel has been on the receiving end of his fair share of criticism already for his performances in a Spurs shirt. To be fair to the former Rennes man he was thrown into Premier League life at a time when Spurs were struggling both with injuries and their form, and he had to adapt to the fast and physical league as a target man with others out.

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Tel is yet to register a goal or an assist in six appearances for Tottenham this season and was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa before the international break. De Zerbi revealed that it was a “technical decision” to leave him out but while Tel has frustrated, it seemed strange to not have him as a bench option.

The Italian boss has previously called on more from the young forward and the head coach could be seen airing his frustrations at Tel on the pitch after the goalless draw against Everton.

"Yes, I coached him on the pitch," De Zerbi said. "The body shape of a striker. The striker can play with the shoulder on the goal. If we are playing with [James] Maddison, [Mohammed] Kudus and Savio, he has to play as a striker, and the striker has to look at the goal, no?

"Or on the cross of Robertson. He has to stay inside because he started [his career] as a striker. Now he's playing as a winger, but he started in his career as a striker."

He added: "But I love Mathys as a player, as a guy. There is not a problem."

After an impressive international break, Tel will now turn his attention to club football yet again and hope he can return to the matchday squad for the trip to Manchester United on Saturday. He will have one or two training sessions with De Zerbi to try and persuade the Italian he has enough to be named in the travelling party and even in the starting XI.

Tel is Tottenham's most in-form forward at the moment, but whether De Zerbi uses him is a different question.

Tottenham's part in £98m boost after NFL London Games dazzle at their stadium  Football London

Dejan Kulusevski and the five things Roberto De Zerbi will focus on in Spurs training this week  Football London

Former Tottenham captain Son Heung-min, now with LAFC, is now South Korea's all-time record goalscorer at international level - a milestone that has long been in his crosshairs

Former Tottenham captain Son Heung-min showcased his vulnerable side after becoming South Korea's all-time leading international goalscorer after netting against Uzbekistan.

The crowning moment came inside just six minutes when Son's low free-kick somehow squirmed under the Uzbekistan goalkeeper - much to the delight of both his team-mates and the home crowd.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen striker Cha Bum-kun previously held the record with 58.

But Son has now carved his name into the history books, taking his tally to 59 goals from 151 outings (he is also the nation's most-capped player of all-time).

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Speaking after the game, Son told Korean TV: "First off, I feel a bit overwhelmed with emotion. Since I was young, I never took this position for granted, and I still do.

"Of course, I have had my teammates, coaches, and manager to help me score so many goals, but I believe it is thanks to the fans who cheered for me as if it were their own business.

"It is not just my goals that are precious to me; the 16 years we have spent together like this are precious.

"I don't know how much longer I have left, but I think the most important thing is to show a proud performance to the people and those who love football while playing with the South Korean national team jersey on my chest."

Son, now 34, first made his South Korea debut way back in December 2010 when he featured in a pre-Asia Games friendly against Syria.

He would go on to play at four different World Cups (2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026) and also won the Korean FA Player of the Year award eight times (2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024).

What's even more remarkable is that despite being a veteran of the game, Son managed to start all four of South Korea's matches during the current international break.

He captained the side in each of them as they faced Ecuador (3-0 win), Uruguay (4-1 defeat), Venezuela (0-0) and Uzbekistan (2-0 win), operating as both a centre-forward and left-winger.

Son admits it was tough but so worth it, adding: "The four matches were not easy. I think it was a very tough schedule, both physically and in terms of the timeline.

"Just playing four matches in Korea for the first time in a long while made me happy, and I think it was a really fun camp."

Son also addressed the fans after reaching the spectacular milestone, stating: "When the results weren't good, I felt down inside because I thought I might have disappointed the fans, but I want to say that I am so thankful for the happy two weeks, or at most three weeks, we were able to enjoy during these four matches.

"I hope you all wrap up the year well. We hope to greet you during our away matches in November. Please take care of your safety on your way home, and thank you so much for the four consecutive games."

When Tottenham released their squad photo for the 2026/27 season this month there was one face in the men's group that supporters could not put a name to.

Plenty of focus was on the fact that Richarlison was in the photo, despite not being named in Roberto De Zerbi's Premier League squad for the coming season. There was also just the one outfield academy player in the Spurs first team set-up with the now 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett taking his place on the back row.

The front row of the squad contained De Zerbi's captaincy group flanking him, in the shape of skipper Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Ben Davies and Archie Gray.

Along with the 29 players making up the first team squad, around De Zerbi there were 10 members of the Italian's staff that work with him each week directly with the team.

There was assistant head coach Andrew Crofts, who arrived from Brighton in the summer to supplement the existing first team coaching staff from De Zerbi's first few months at the end of last season.

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Those included Marcattilio Marcattilii and Marcello Quinto, who arrived with their compatriot as fitness coach and senior professional development phase coach respectively. They joined a group that already contained assistant coaches Bruno Saltor and Andreas Georgson, individual development coach Cameron Campbell and head of goalkeeping Fabian Otte plus assistant first team goalkeeping coach Dean Brill.

Those eight coaches are all in the squad photo, along with Enrico Venturelli, a long-time De Zerbi colleague who football.london reported had joined up towards the end of last season as his translator on the training pitches and in his media work.

That left one member of staff at the top right of Tottenham's squad photo unaccounted for, wearing the initials "FC" on his training top, and that left some supporters trying to work out who it was.

Wonder no more as football.london has the answer. It is Francesco Calone, who has the official title at Spurs of technical development coordinator. The Italian left De Zerbi's boyhood club AC Milan after eight years at the Serie A side, working since 2024 as a first team match analyst.

Calone, who has earned various UEFA coaching badges, worked his way up from the Milan side's academy to assist their first team and left the Italian giants on the day that De Zerbi was announced as the new head coach of Tottenham. Now he is playing his part in the big Spurs rebuild.

Tottenham return to Premier League action this weekend with a trip to Old Trafford and both sides could be missing some players

The extended international break comes to a close with a big Premier League game for Tottenham Hotspur at Manchester United on Saturday.

Roberto De Zerbi and his players need to finally get their season up and running, having spent the three-week break rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table without a victory to their name in their opening five matches. Michael Carrick's United side have only won once so far and lie three points above the north London outfit in 12th.

Spurs will be heading to Old Trafford with a couple of international break concerns but also some potential returnees and the same is the case for their Manchester hosts.

With United doing the welcoming, let's start with their doubts. Carlos Baleba could be in line to make his debut after his £70million summer move from Brighton after returning from an ankle injury and featuring in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Lausanne-Sport on Friday.

Striker Benjamin Sesko felt shin pain after the Carabao Cup match against Brighton and withdrew from the Slovenia squad so he could be a doubt for Saturday.

Patrick Dorgu went on international duty with Denmark but came off after just half an hour of their game against Wales with a thigh problem. Noussair Mazraoui faced similar on Morocco duty with a back injury that forced him off.

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Carrick is awaiting the return of Matthijs de Ligt from his long-term back injury while Amad could make his return against Spurs if he has trained with the group as the United boss hoped and both Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford withdrew from the England squad but will be hoping to feature at the weekend.

Manuel Ugarte remains out with his knee ligament injury suffered at the World Cup while goalkeepers Karl Darlow and Tom Heaton have been out with injuries during this campaign.

When it comes to Tottenham, De Zerbi will provide an update on the latest injury news surrounding Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke at his press conference on Friday. Both suffered injuries on duty with the Netherlands, the Spurs captain hurting his hand after it was accidentally stamped on and feeling dizzy with the pain while Van Hecke suffered a toe injury in the previous game that prevented him from kicking the ball.

This game might come too early for Pedro Porro after his hamstring issue while Mykhailo Mudryk has been recovering from his ankle injury suffered in training. Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are working on their rehabilitation from cruciate ligament injuries but Dejan Kulusevski is closing in on a return from the complicated knee injury that has kept him out for more than 500 days.

In all there are a large number of doubts for both sides and there could yet be further with more international games still to be played before players return to London and Manchester.

Tottenham Hotspur return to Premier League action on Saturday evening, as they travel to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United - but a number of first-team players will miss the match

Tottenham Hotspur take on Manchester United on Saturday evening, but Roberto De Zerbi will be without a number of first-team players.

It's been a long, three-week international break with English fans itching for the return of the Premier League, despite having the opportunity to watch Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions thriving on the world stage.

However, the condensed four-game Nations League break has also opened the door to Spurs players potentially picking up injuries while on duty with their respective countries.

That's on top of an already lengthy injury list to navigate early into the season, with the Lilywhites in desperate need of having their best talents available as they look to turn around a sub-par start to 2026/27.

Here, football.london breaks down all of the latest with regard to injury news and potential return dates for Tottenham Hotspur players...

Micky van de Ven

The hearts of Spurs fans will have been in their mouths when Micky van de Ven was forced off the pitch late on during the Netherlands' Nations League win over Serbia on Sunday, considering how vital he is to the north London club.

The centre-half had his hand stepped on by Luka Jovic, and was seen writhing in pain as he was taken off the pitch - leaving Xavi's side down to 10 men given they had already used all of their substitutions for the game.

However, Xavi confirmed in the aftermath of the 2-1 win that Van de Ven's serious was not of a serious nature. The Spaniard explained: "He’s ok, he felt dizzy because he suffered with his finger. It’s not a big injury."

That will come as welcome news to Tottenham supporters, as he should be available for selection this weekend.

Potential return date: Saturday, October 10 vs Manchester United (A)

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Pedro Porro

Pedro Porro was forced to withdraw from Spain's Nations League camp as a result of a hamstring injury sustained against Aston Villa last month.

While reports at the time suggested that he would be out for up to a month, the full-back has since came on leaps and bounds in his recovery.

However, Saturday's game looks likely to land a little too soon for Porro to participate.

Potential return date: Mid to late October

Mykhailo Mudryk

Mykhailo Mudryk has been limited to just one game under Roberto De Zerbi since making the switch from Chelsea on a season-long loan as a result of injury.

The Ukrainian picked up an ankle injury in training last month and has been sidelined since. However, he could be back in action before the turn of the month.

Potential return date: Saturday, October 31 vs Crystal Palace (H)

Dejan Kulusevski

Dejan Kulusevski has been recovering from a knee injury from May 2025 which forced him to miss the entirety of last season. He has since returned to first-team training, with hopes that the international break has given him ample opportunity to build up his fitness.

Spurs will be very cautious as they reintegrate him to his first-team duties, however, and Kulusevski remains a little way from consistent game time just yet.

Potential return date: Late October/November

Wilson Odobert

Wilson Odobert has been absent from the Tottenham Hotspur first-team since undergoing surgery on a ruptured ACL back in February.

Reports suggest that he could return in November, should his recovery continue to run smooth.

Potential return date: November

Xavi Simons

Xavi Simons is also on the road to recovery following surgery on a ruptured ACL, which occurred this summer. While he has made waves in his recovery, he is not expected to feature under De Zerbi until the new year.

Potential return date: 2027

Jan Paul van Hecke

Summer signing Jan Paul van Hecke also sustained an injury while representing the Netherlands, with an issue arising in training the day after the nation's 2-1 win over Serbia at the end of last month.

He was forced to withdraw from the squad and return to north London prematurely as a result, with Xavi explaining at the time: "During the match against Serbia, someone stepped on him.

"He didn’t realise it during the match, but afterwards it was impossible for him to play. He really wanted to try, but he was in a lot of pain. That is why we decided to take him off the list.

"He tried to participate in recovery training. He tried again today, but he couldn’t touch the ball."

It remains to be seen how severe Van Hecke's issue is.

Tottenham winger releases apology after controversial comments cause anger  Football London

The former Tottenham Hotspur boss has been speaking about his time at the club and his phone calls with the former chairman and owner

Harry Redknapp believes a couple of phone calls from Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis about Robbie Keane ushered him towards his sacking at Tottenham.

Redknapp spent four years at Spurs with one of the best squads in recent memory with players such as Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart, Ledley King, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Jermain Defoe and Keane. Amid links to the England job in his final year at the helm, with Redknapp admitting at the time that he would have left if offered the role, and declining results, he was sacked by Tottenham in June 2012 with a year remaining on his contract.

Now 79, Redknapp believes a couple of phone calls from ex-chairman Levy and the club's former owner Lewis about Keane made him realise the end might be coming.

"We were second in the league, going great. I'd never met Joe Lewis. Joe Lewis owns Tottenham. He was the boss. Daniel, you know, had all the day-to-day stuff. But Joe was the governor, and I'd never met Joe. Then I get a phone call on the way to Stansted Airport on a Friday," Redknapp told OLBG’s ‘The Jeff Stelling Show’, which is out at the end of October.

"Daniel rings me. He never rang me on a Friday, never interfered. Daniel was good as gold with me. I have to be truthful. I never had a problem with Daniel Levy. I don't really speak to him now, but I have to be honest, he was fine with me, good with me. But I'm driving to Stansted Airport before a trip to Old Trafford, and we're second in the league, playing fantastic.

"Daniel rings me. "Harry, who are you going to play up front tomorrow?" We had a few injuries. I said, "Robbie Keane." He said, "Robbie Keane?" I said, "Yeah. Why?" He said, "Oh, I'm just a bit surprised. Did you not think to ask Rafa van der Vaart who he wants to play with?" I said, "What's it got to do with Rafa van der Vaart, Daniel? I pick the team, not Rafa." "Well, I thought it might be interesting." "No, not really. I'm not interested. I'm playing Robbie."

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He continued: "So I get to the hotel that night in Manchester. My phone goes. It's Ivana, Joe Lewis's secretary. "Hello, Ivana." "Joe wants to speak to you." "Yeah, sure." "Hello, Harry boy, how you doing, son?" "Yeah, I'm all right, Joe." He said, "I love our forward line. Lennon, Pavlyuchenko, van der Vaart, Gareth Bale. Good forward line, Joe." He said, "That Robbie Keane's useless, right?" I said, "That's your opinion, Joe, innit."

"He said, "He don't even know the offside rule." I said, "I think he does, Joe. He's scored X amount of goals." He said, "I tell you what, if he plays tomorrow, I won't even watch the game on television." I said, "That's your choice, Joe." And I knew then, that was after Christmas, I thought, "I could be in trouble here."

"Obviously I played Robbie the next day and Daniel again said, "Why don't you ask Rafa who he wants to play with?" Same answer again. But I knew that if things didn't go right, the slightest slip, I was gone. I think Daniel was actually choked to see me go, if I'm truthful. I think he was probably fighting my corner. I'm not sure, but I certainly never had any problems with Daniel. Joe obviously had that issue with me playing Robbie Keane."

Tottenham are currently bottom of the Premier League table under Roberto De Zerbi after five matches this season but Redknapp believes the Italian and his squad will soon rise.

"I don't know. I'm saying top four, top five, top six for them this season. I do think they'll turn it round. I do think they'll come good. They've got to, with that group of players," said the former Portsmouth and West Ham boss. "But 17th, you know, incredible. Good managers, good players. There's obviously something not right. But I don't know what it is. And they've had the players in, you know.

"Last year, the year before, they were better than where they finished. They should have been doing better, for sure. They had enough good players to have been up there fighting for European places.

"And as I heard someone saying the other day, they've bought players who were not getting in the teams at their previous clubs. They're not exactly serial winners, are they? One or two of them have had relegations. And the ones already there weren't exactly setting the world alight either.

"So you'd still expect them to finish in the top six, and I'm still confident my bet will come good at the end of the year. But they better hurry up and turn it round."