Football London

While the current Premier League campaign has been one of misery for Tottenham Hotspur fans, the Europa League final and a potential spot in next season’s Champions League offers the chance to end on a major high.

Looking for other positives from the season is more of a challenge given the fact that Spurs could yet finish just one place above the relegation zone, something that a club of Spurs’ stature, with the resources and infrastructure, should not be delivering. Next year they face a real battle to get back to competitive success to ensure that their position as one of the so-called ‘big six’ doesn’t become challenged.

Recruitment at Spurs in recent seasons has come under scrutiny, with some big-money signings not delivering the return on the investment that was expected, with Richarlison being a case in point.

Finding players at the right price point, of the right profile, with a high ceiling for growth is important for any club wishing to work the transfer market effectively, and while those additions have been in short supply at Spurs, the addition of Swedish teenager Lucas Bergvall last summer was an important one.

Bergvall arrived from Djurgarden as an 18-year-old last summer in an £8.5m deal. The midfielder has this season gone on to establish himself in the Spurs first team, making 45 appearances in all competitions, netting once.

His exposure to Premier League football and European football, showcasing his talent and skill set despite a challenging season has given some reason for hope moving forward as he continues to develop and improve. It has also provided a major boost to his valuation, which while Spurs fans won’t want to consider the prospect of selling him, shows the direction the club should be following in the Premier League. After such a poor campaign, maybe rebuilding in this manner may offer a greater chance of success in the years to come.

Bergvall, who turned 19 in February and signed a contract extension at Spurs in April that runs until 2031, has seen a huge increase in his value over the last year. Arriving for £8.5m, analysts at CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland have pegged his current market value at €55.4m (£46.7m), a rise of £37.6m, up 449% since his signing. That is a huge mark-up in such a short space of time, and one that places him ninth on the overall list of players who have seen the biggest capital gains since moving to a new club over the past 12 months.

The statistical model adopted by CIES to reach their findings included a number of variables, including; contract, age, sporting level, domestic minutes, international minutes, goals, results, starting 11, position, international status, releasing club selling potential, releasing league selling potential, destination club buying potential and destination league buying potential.

Other players to appear in the top 10 included Kylian Mbappe, Dean Huijsen, Michael Olise, Savinho and Desire Doue.

All eyes will be on Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham team selection at Aston Villa on Friday night in preparation for next week's Europa League final. The game at Villa Park was initially in the calendar for this Sunday but a request to the Premier League from Spurs saw the fixture moved forward a couple of days.

It now takes place on the same evening as Manchester United's game away at Chelsea, meaning neither side has an edge in terms of rest days ahead of next Wednesday's showdown in Bilbao, Spain. As both sides will want to wrap up their key players in cotton wool over the next week, starting XI decisions are going to be very interesting indeed.

In terms of Tottenham, Son Heung-min is one player who is guaranteed to play a part in the Midlands as Ange Postecoglou looks to build up his fitness following a recent foot injury. The Spurs captain did make his comeback in last weekend's 2-0 home defeat against Crystal Palace, playing the final 32 minutes after replacing Pedro Porro just prior to the hour mark.

Postecoglou did have the opportunity to introduce the South Korean a lot earlier in the contest but he elected against doing so following Dejan Kulusevski's early substitution through injury on 19 minutes. Speaking in a special Europa League final media day press conference at Hotspur Way on Monday, Postecoglou provided a further update on Son's current fitness levels.

"Firstly, from a physical standpoint he's good. It's important he got some minutes yesterday, he needed them. More for himself psychologically more than anything else," explained the 59-year-old.

"He had a good session today. He was never going to do the whole session because he played yesterday. He feels good so we've still got eight or nine days to go and a game on Friday where we can build him up.

"It's great to have him available. He's been a big catalyst this year and a driver of... he understands better than most what a trophy would do for this football club and for him personally because he's had an unbelievable career here in which he's done just about everything. But the key bit, that silverware which every player craves, he knows how significant it would be for the club and him personally. So the fact that he's back available is good."

He added: "In terms of his fitness, he's progressing well. He played 25-30 minutes yesterday, we should get him some game time against Villa on Friday. If he trains right through he should be in a good condition.

"He's worked hard to get back with the medical team. It was a funny injury. There was no kind of pre prescribed length of time, it was just how he felt and progressed. But he worked hard with the medical team. It was important he gets some game-time so hopefully he kicks on now."

As part of increasing Son's minutes ahead of the Europa League final, the Tottenham head coach now needs to decide whether the 32-year-old starts at Aston Villa or he is again introduced from the bench. Whichever options he chooses, it is vital that Tottenham's No.7 gets a good amount of pitch time as he will not want to go into the European final having next to no minutes in the tank.

As was the case back in 2019 with question marks over Harry Kane's place in the Tottenham team for the Champions League final after he last featured in early April due to an ankle injury, the same may happen six years on with Son. When it comes down to the player possibly starting at San Mames Stadium, the best thing for the Tottenham captain is to prove his fitness and match sharpness at Villa Park in Friday's 7:30pm kick-off, thus leaving Postecoglou with a couple of days to stew over handing him a starting berth in Bilbao.

"It comes down to getting him ready to play and then making a decision. It's nothing more than that," said the former Celtic boss when asked in his press conference about a starting spot for Son in the final.

"One thing I do know about finals is there are always moments and players who can change it. But it's going to take a collective effort, it's what we do as a team that will be much more important than individuals on the day."

Before the showpiece finale comes around, Postecoglou must decide his Son approach at Villa Park this Friday evening. The amount of minutes he plays could possibly in turn drop a hint when it comes to the Tottenham team to take on Manchester United in Bilbao.

We got an insight behind the scenes at Tottenham Hotspur this week as football.london was invited among the assembled media to the Europa League Final open day at the club.

As part of the UEFA day, put on by Spurs, reporters got to observe a full training session at Hotspur Way with Ange Postecoglou and his coaching staff and watched the players being put through their paces. Postecoglou then held his press conference looking forward to next weekend's showpiece game in Bilbao against Manchester United on May 21.

Various players were then brought out to speak to the media on a training pitch at the Enfield-based complex and gave plenty of insight into life inside the club and within a season of ridiculous extremes that has brought a European final, only the club's second in 41 years, but also a record 20 Premier League defeats and a current 17th place in the table.

Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold and head of football.london Lee Wilmot discussed all of the above in the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham and Alasdair discussed the various things he saw around Hotspur Way, including Lucas Bergvall and who the teenage Swede was walking around with, Postecoglou's jokey moment with Yves Bissouma beside the academy building and his sit down with Pedro Porro and Rodrigo Bentancur, as well as an accident between Brennan Johnson and Sergio Reguilon in the training session.

You can listen to the show in podcast format by heading right here or watch the episode on YouTube right here.

Tottenham's Rodrigo Bentancur will be unavailable for Uruguay's next four games under the CONMEBOL umbrella after his suspension, handed out after their clash against Colombia descended into chaos, was upheld.

Following his nation's 1-0 defeat to Colombia in the Copa America group stages, a number of Uruguay players, including Bentancur and Liverpool's Darwin Nunez, entered the stands where supporters had been brawling close to where the players’ families were seated.

In the wake of the incident, liverpool foward Nunez was handed a five-match suspension by the South America football federation while Bentancur was hit with a four-game ban.

Napoli’s Mathias Olivera, Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo and Atletico Madrid’s Josema Gimenez meanwhile, will be banned for three Uruguay games in CONMEBOL if their suspensions are not overturned.

Attempts to do so began in September but they were upheld, however a suspension of those sanctions was granted the following month for a new hearing to take place. The outcome of that came to light on Tuesday with the Athletic revealing CAS rejected the players' defence.

“The principle of self-defence does not apply and … the conduct of the players constituted a voluntary, violent and unjustified action," it stated.

Bentancur has endured a challenging last 12 months with injuries and another ban seeing him struggle to get into a rhythm of games. That domestic suspension arrived in December after he was punished by the FA for using a racial slur when referencing teammate Son Heung-min.

A suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards followed almost immediately after that seven-game ban concluded with injury striking as well.

The 27-year-old has been able to build some consistency since February however, and he has been instrumental in Spurs reaching the Europa League final.

Alongside both Lucas Bergvall and Yves Bissouma, he has been a constant in Ange Postecoglou's favoured midfield three with every minute played in Europe since he served another suspension for the last-16 second leg win over AZ Alkmaar.

Bentancur and his teammates will now be preparing for the showpiece clash against Manchester United in Bilbao later this month.

The season is coming to a close for Tottenham's loan players and some are trying to write their name in their various clubs' history books with big ends to the season.

Spurs have got players out across England, Scotland and the continent with some of them trying to gain promotion, others having done that and won the title, one with a cup final to come and a few who managed to help their teams escape relegation from their respective divisions.

Tottenham have had 13 players out on loan, or 14 if you want to count Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who is to join Marseille permanently. There is also teenager Luka Vuskovic, who will join Tottenham this summer after his loan at Westerlo in Belgium from Hajduk Split, alongside Spurs midfielder Alfie Devine, so we've been including him in our loan round-ups throughout this campaign.

Bryan Gil's season at Girona was prematurely cut short following knee surgery last month while Manor Solomon made history with the wonderful goal that sealed the Championship title for Leeds United. Ashley Phillips helped Stoke avoid relegation with a final day clean sheet against Derby earlier this month.

Yang Min-hyeok's time at QPR came to an end with 14 appearances in the Championship and Will Lankshear saw out his mixed spell with managerless West Brom. Matthew Craig's injury-hit spell at Mansfield ended this month as they escaped relegation as did Luca Gunter, who finished out his time at Wealdstone on the bench but did get to see them stave off the drop from the National League.

Some supporters have asked whether Ange Postecoglou could use some of the club's players out on loan in the Europa League final or last two Premier League games when their seasons are over with their current club. Unfortunately that is not the case as loan contracts are window to window affairs rather than until the end of the season, so loan contracts signed last summer or in January will last until June 30.

football.london has taken a look at how those Tottenham loan players still with fixtures to play got on this week.

Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley (Leyton Orient)

Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley have it all to play for in the League One play-off semi-finals after a 2-2 draw between Leyton Orient and Stockport in the first leg at Brisbane Road.

It was a game of drama as Orient scored an opener through Charlie Kelman when he appeared to be well offside and the same player then slotted home an 88th penalty to cancel out Stockport's goals from Oliver Norwood and Fraser Horsfall.

Donley played the full 90 minutes and worked hard defensively with three ball recoveries, four clearances, three headed clearances and one interception. He also won half of his 14 duels on the ground and in the air, while sending two shots at goal.

Keeley made three saves on the day and had an 80% pass accuracy with his kicks while having to act as a sweeper twice during the game.

Both players will need to be on top form if Orient are going to get through the second leg away from home on Wednesday night to take their place in the final.

Alfie Devine and Luka Vuskovic (Westerlo)

Alfie Devine grabbed an assist in his first start for almost a month since being ill but the attacking midfielder could not stop Westerlo from going down 4-3 at Charleroi in the Jupiler Pro League play-offs for a Conference League spot.

Luka Vuskovic also played the full 90 minutes but was in the centre of a defence that could just not keep out the hosts after Westerlo had put themselves into a great 3-1 lead 10 minutes into the second half only to collapse in the final 33 minutes of the encounter.

The two players face two more matches in the play-offs, starting with a trip to Oud-Heverlee Leuven on Friday night.

George Abbott (Notts County)

George Abbott played the full 90 minutes as Notts County lost 1-0 at home to AFC Wimbledon in the first leg of their League Two play-off semi-final.

It was an all-action performance from the 19-year-old with two shots at goal, five ball recoveries, two interceptions and one clearance. The teenager also won both of his two aerial duels and half of his 12 ground ones.

Abbott, who won the EFL Goal of the Season award this month will be looking to pull off a big result at Wimbledon on Saturday. He has now made 43 appearances for County, with 13 goal involvements.

Alfie Dorrington (Aberdeen)

Alfie Dorrington missed Aberdeen's 4-0 defeat at Rangers with illness on Sunday and the centre-back will be hoping to be back to full fitness in good time for the Scottish Cup final on May 24 against Celtic.

The dress rehearsal for that game comes on Wednesday night when the Dons host Brendan Rodgers' side before a game at Dundee United on Saturday and then a clear week until the final.

The 20-year-old has now made 14 appearances for Aberdeen, getting 975 minutes of senior football under his belt north of the border.

Alejo Veliz (Espanyol)

Alejo Veliz got 45 minutes to his name on Sunday as Espanyol lost 3-2 at struggling Leganes. He was brought on at half-time with the visitors 2-0 down at the break and while Espanyol technically won the second half it was not enough to emerge victorious on the day.

The 21-year-old striker has made 27 appearances for the La Liga side this season and scored four times, including a hat-trick in the Copa del Rey earlier in the season.

Nike have received mixed reviews about next season's Tottenham Hotspur kits, which have supposedly been leaked. The north London outfit has donned lots of different coloured shirts over the years, with some outrageous tops hitting the streets.

This season, Nike incorporated navy blue sleeves on the classic white home jersey, while reintroducing a light blue away shirt. Spurs also released a mint green third strip, which has become increasingly popular among supporters throughout the UEFA Europa League campaign.

Having set the bar high this term, Nike are under pressure to impress. The American athletic footwear and apparel company have been supplying Tottenham with official kit and sportswear since the 2017/18 season.

Nike signed a bumper deal with Spurs in June 2017, which runs until the summer of 2033. On the multi-year agreement, Daniel Levy said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Nike, one of the world's leading brands."

The Lilywhites chairman added: "Nike is committed to partnering with us both at home, at a time when our new stadium scheme is the catalyst for the regeneration of Tottenham, and globally, with our growing fan base mirrored by Nike's worldwide reach."

So, with that being said, football.london has rounded up every Tottenham kit that has been 'leaked' by Footy Headlines ahead of next season.

Home

The 2025/26 Tottenham home shirt has reportedly been spotted for sale by a Vietnamese shirt collector. As expected, the top is predominantly white with partly navy and grey coloured sleeves, featuring a centred crest and Nike logo.

Away

Tottenham have enjoyed some iconic black and grey coloured kits down the years, with the 2012/13 and 2017/18 third strips springing to mind. Eager to capitalise on a fan-favourite colour-way, Footy Headlines claim Nike will release another black away top for next season.

Third

This jersey could divide opinion. Nike are said to have used their 'Total 90' template to produce a yellow third kit. Footy Headlines claim the shirt will feature the old Tottenham crest, which was used from 1999 to 2006.

Yellow has almost become synonymous with Spurs over the years. Whether it be trimmings on the top or primary colour of the jersey, Tottenham have worn yellow since the 1970s.

It remains to be seen how accurate this supposed leaks are. It is important to note that while the pictures claim to show what Tottenham's kit will look like next season, the club will not confirm anything until the official launch next year.

Not many players have walked the North London divide between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the past.

Prior to Sol Campbell's infamous move from Tottenham to Arsenal in 2001, Pat Jennings was the most high-profile player to cross the divide before that and that happened way back in 1977.

A number of players have played for both clubs before and since Campbell's move, with Rohan Ricketts and William Gallas swapping red for white directly.

Emmanuel Adebayor and David Bentley also played for Arsenal first, before moving to Tottenham later in their careers.

But there could have been another player who decided to move between the two clubs, long before the Campbell controversy.

Former England striker Tony Woodcock made 131 appearances for Arsenal in four years during the 1980s. he won their player of the season award in 1982/83 and was the club's top scorer in that season and the following two campaigns.

But in 1986 he wanted to leave and he has admitted he was so angry with the Gunners that he wanted to join their arch rivals Tottenham to make a point.

Speaking on the Grumpy Old Men of Football podcast, he said: "I came to Arsenal. I signed a four-year contract, and it came up again. In those days, you couldn’t offer a player a penny less, or it would be a free transfer. I get my renewal, which was absolutely crazy, they said I’d agreed on things I hadn’t agreed on.

"I’d signed a contract, a blank contract, if you can’t trust Arsenal who can you trust after being there for four years? It came back and went to the tribunal. I won the case.

"I should’ve signed and stayed at Arsenal, but I was so angry about what had happened that I wanted to play for Spurs. I negotiated with Tottenham, Tottenham wanted me at the time, but Arsenal said you’re not going there in any way whatsoever, so I went back to Koln."

Woodcock would spend four years in Germany, with two years at Koln and then two years at Fortuna Koln.

Kevin Danso has given an insight into what Cristian Romero is really like in the Tottenham dressing room and admits that he's always motivated to play football matches after Ange Postecoglou speaks to the team.

Danso arrived at the north London club just four months ago but has quickly become a popular character within the Spurs squad and has already made 12 appearances across all competitions around a muscle injury. Now he faces the prospect of the first final of his senior career with the Europa League showpiece event coming up fast on May 21 against Manchester United.

In reality Danso's hopes of starting in the final would likely require the absence of Romero but there is only huge respect for his Spurs vice-captain and World Cup winner, who recently passed 100 Premier League appearances for the club. The Austria international also offered up an unexpected side in the dressing room to the aggressive tackler the public gets to see on the pitch.

"He's definitely world class. From the outside looking in, you'd think he's very aggressive but he's one of the calmest guys in the changing room," said Danso. "Everybody at the club and anybody who watches football knows he's a brilliant passer and a great defender. I feel like a defender needs that [aggressive] side to him to give the strikers a bit of fear, [thinking] 'oh he could come in at any time'. He's a great talent, a great player. So is Micky [van de Ven]. So is everybody at this club, or they wouldn't be here."

Those expecting the confident Romero to be a shouting captain would also be sorely mistaken.

"No, no he's not the most vocal. That's why I said he's one of the calmest guys. There's different kinds of leadership and he leads by example by the way he plays," said the 26-year-old. "Some are more vocal and some just lead by example and that's exactly what he does. He's a world class player, he's won trophies, he brings that experience and he knows what to do in finals. In big games, he's always there."

So are there certain aspects that Danso would like to take from Romero's game?

"100%. His calmness, his passing range. There's players all over in my position I look to emulate and take things from their game and add to my game. I want to be as complete as possible," he said before listing some of those other players.

"Micky obviously with the way he reads the ball and defending the challenges with his pace. Players like Sergio Ramos, [Virgil] van Dijk...the list is endless. You watch defenders at the highest level and try to add what they do to your game."

So which Tottenham players have looked after Danso since he arrived at the north London club?

"Everybody really. The changing room is amazing. I speak a bit of French because I was in France for the last three years so I speak with the French boys, and obviously growing up here [in England]...Dom [Solanke], Djed [Spence]...so I find it easy to fit in wherever I am because I've been doing it all my life," he explained.

Another man who has left his mark on Danso is his head coach Postecoglou. The Australian's pre-match team talks are famous for their inspirational qualities and the Austrian centre-back could only endorse that.

"Amazing. Honestly. Before every game I've never not felt motivated ahead of the match," he said before explaining how he has been adapting to the 59-year-old's style of football.

"It's normal. In football you always have to adapt. My whole life I've been adapting and it's just about doing that to the best of my ability, getting used to the new players I'm playing with and the new style, and take it on as a challenge. Obviously I'm a professional footballer so I take it on and use it the best I can.

"[At Spurs it's] the high line that we play. That's the only thing I'd say that's a bit different but generally everybody in the modern day tries to play a higher line. Spurs' [line] is really aggressive and I like that because it plays to my strength.

"I feel like we're always ready, we're well prepared, we have all the solutions for every game and it's just about us trying to relay them on the pitch."

With all the noise about Postecoglou's future, how do the players put that to one side with such a huge game in Spain on the horizon?

"Generally just by focusing on what's happening today. We can't affect what happens tomorrow, the only thing we can affect is the here and now. The manager always says that and I feel like the manager's been amazing," he said. "We're in a final, it doesn't happen often and I'm loving every minute of it."

Danso also paid tribute to Postecoglou's senior assistant coach Matt Wells for his work with him and the other defenders and how the young coach has helped him on the training pitches at Hotspur Way.

"[He's helped] in the way we want to defend in and around the box. It's very interesting. I love playing, learning and adding to my game and he's certainly added to my game since I've been here," said the centre-back.

So did Postecoglou sell Danso the prospect of playing in a Europa League final when he was trying to bring him across from Lens in the January transfer window and was that an important thing for him?

"Personally, yes of course but Tottenham speaks for itself. Europa League or no Europa League, it's a big club and somewhere everybody would like to be. That was my reasoning in choosing Tottenham. It was a very easy decision," he said.

Danso has already beaten Manchester United in the Premier League since arriving at Tottenham, with the 1-0 win on his home debut for the club in February. That went some way to scrubbing out a previous experience of playing for Southampton against United when he got sent off through two yellow cards.

"I was having a really good game! But I was young at the time, about 20, got an assist then just made a silly tackle, I was over eager to win the ball and got sent off. At Tottenham, it was my third game, my first game at home at the stadium anyway. It was a good feeling. I feel like in a final a lot more is at stake, it will be a different game obviously but we know what's at stake and we'll go out trying to win.

"[Even being two English teams] I think it will still feel like a final, a winner takes all game. Everybody knows what's on the line. We've done well in the Premier League against them, even in the Carabao Cup. So we just need to go into the game with a confidence but obviously be careful because we know what's at stake."

He added: "I'm very ready. You don't know how many opportunities you're going to get to play in a final and here I am, four months here and there's already a final. So whatever happens, I'm ready. Whatever my role is, I'll just be supporting the team 100% and doing my best in whatever that role is.

Son Heung-min has said that the biggest reason he remained at Tottenham was to achieve what others couldn't and win a trophy.

The 32-year-old signed for Tottenham back in 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen and has since made 452 appearances for the north London outfit, scoring 173 goals and providing 101 assists. However, silverware has eluded the Premier League Golden Boot winner at club level, with second and third place finishes after two title challenges under Mauricio Pochettino as well as runners-up medals in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Now, back from a foot injury that has kept him out of the past seven matches, Son will try once again as the captain of Ange Postecoglou's side when Spurs take on Manchester United in the Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21. There has been plenty of transfer interest in Son over the years but the South Korean star has always remained loyal to Tottenham with the club having no interest in selling him and he explained why he was never seeking to leave.

"We’ve been talking about this for years. The biggest reason I stayed at Tottenham was because I wanted to do something others couldn’t achieve. That’s probably why I’m where I am now. You need all the pieces to complete a puzzle," he told the Korean media at Hotspur Way on Monday.

"I think I’ve gathered all the other pieces to make that puzzle complete. It feels like I’ve been missing that one most important final piece, and I’ve been trying to find it for the past ten years. I really hope I can finally complete the puzzle this time."

On those previous final appearances he added: "I believe I definitely learned something from those failures. Even though the players have changed a lot since we played in the finals, it’s important for me and the more experienced players to share those experiences with the current squad.

"It feels different this time. I really want to win - more than anyone else, I think. So many people are supporting us with the same desperate passion I feel. If we prepare well, I believe we can achieve it.

"For me, every game is special and every game is meaningful, but this game feels like an opportunity that may not come back. I feel it's right to fully focus on this game for that reason. We are all so focused for this final. I am working to return to full match fitness in time for this game and I don't want to have any regrets.

"For the fans back home who want this even more than I do, I really want to bring them a great gift when I return to Korea after the season ends. A gift that will make our Korean fans, Tottenham fans and me very happy."

There is a trend of Tottenham players leaving the club and quickly claiming silverware and it has happened again with Harry Kane and Eric Dier winning the Bundesliga title this week with Bayern Munich. Son has already been in contact with his former strike partner and Spurs' record goalscorer.

"I actually texted Harry Kane and he called me back on a video call! I was really happy to see him happy. He is one of my best friends and to see a former teammate achieve so much, I was delighted for him like he's my family," he said. "With that positive energy I hope he can support Spurs in the game as well so we can achieve a good result like his."

The Tottenham players were put through their paces in front of journalists as part of the Europa League final media day at Hotspur Way.

Even though it is still nine days until the final in Bilbao where Spurs will take on Manchester United, there was a full day of events at the club's Enfield training complex ahead of it. First the media were able to watch a full training session for more than an hour and a half before interviewing a string of Tottenham players before and after Ange Postecoglou's latest press conference - his fifth in six days.

Tottenham had secured their place in the showpiece event in Spain with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bodo/Glimt in the semi-finals before a much-changed side lost 2-0 against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That meant the training session had two very distinct sides to it.

Here's everything we spotted going on during the session at Hotspur Way.

What they did

The training session was split into two very distinct groups with those who started or played a decent chunk of the match against Palace going through recovery work while those who didn't play in the game were put through their paces in a normal training session.

They started off with the usual warm-ups, stretches and ball drills before that latter group moved across to another pitch to do some passing work in teams, both defensively and attacking, with two sides, one in Europa League bibs and the other without.

What was on display was also the coaching method under Postecoglou where he gives his staff 15 minute sessions each in order to keep training fresh and the players constantly engaged and moving from one thing to the next as each coach looks to make their session all the more interesting and fruitful.

The whole thing is signed off by Postecoglou and the coaches go through a briefing meeting afterwards to discuss what worked and what didn't and which players impressed and which ones, if any, weren't at the levels required.

Who was missing

There was one key absentee from the training session and that was Dejan Kulusevski, with the Swede having gone off just 15 minutes into the match against Palace.

football.london asked Postecoglou in his press conference how the 25-year-old was doing just nine days before the final in Spain.

"We'll see. He was a bit sore this morning with his knee. It looks like a knock at this stage but we're going to let it settle for 24 hours then assess it. But the initial thing was it's more of a knock than anything more significant," said the Spurs boss.

Also missing from the session were the other injured players James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall and Radu Dragusin as well as Dane Scarlett, who has undergone surgery on his groin.

There were various U21 youngsters involved to make up the numbers with the non-starters from the Palace game.

Spotting injured players

While Kulusevski could not be seen around the training ground, other players could be seen at times during the media day.

James Maddison gave reporters a little wave from the gym window as he continues his rehabilitation following a knee injury that will keep him out until later in pre-season this summer, a better prognosis than some inside Spurs feared in the days after the midfielder suffered the injury in the first leg of the semi-finals against Bodo/Glimt.

Lucas Bergvall suffered an ankle injury in training the day before that match and could be seen at one point to be walking around the training ground in the sunshine beside Radu Dragusin, who is back running on his way back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in February, and goalkeeper Antonin Kinksy. Dane Scarlett could also be seen walking into the academy area during the day, with Yves Bissouma also making a trip into the academy gym at one point.

An unfortunate slip

There was one moment during the section of the training session being taken by Ryan Mason that brought a scare for Postecoglou and Spurs.

Cristian Romero slid to slip a pass through to Brennan Johnson down the right during a keep ball exercise, and his team-mate during the drill, Sergio Reguilon, rushed towards him only to slip on the grass right in front of Johnson and wipe out the Wales international.

In real time at the training ground, it looked to the media from their position a little way off that the Spaniard had slide tackled his team-mate and it was only on re-watching it up close on video that you could see Reguilon lose his footing.

It was a painful one for Johnson though who remained down for a while holding his left foot and even when he got back up he limped for a while before eventually being able to take part again in the exercise. Romero teased Reguilon about it while someone shouted 'red card Reggy' on the pitch.

Postecoglou joked about it in his press conference, saying: "We’ve got enough injuries! I’ll put them in cotton wool for the next ten days. Seriously, with the way things have gone this year, any extra curricular activities are going to be at a minimum. I don’t know if you saw training today but we had Reggy tackle Brennan and they are on the same team. That goes to show how we’re going!"

He told football.london: "It seems to be how our season has gone. You want to protect the integrity of training and you have to train at a certain level. There are the quirks of things that happen. Thankfully nothing too serious. You’ve just got to hope and pray that the football gods have run out of challenges to throw to us this year."

The accidental moment certainly sparked plenty of jokes on social media from Manchester United fans with Reguilon having played on loan there last season and many of their supporters joking that he was "Agent Reguilon" on a mission to help them win the final by injuring Spurs players.

A chat in the sunshine

Postecoglou also enjoyed a nice moment in the warm weather about 20 minutes into the session when he spotted Rodrigo Bentancur and Pedro Porro and went over to sit between the two Spanish-speakers for quite a long time.

It was put to the Australian in his press conference that seeing him out there chatting for so long seemed a world away from the kind of image that's built of him not enjoying small talk and not getting close to his players. So has he got closer to this squad than any other?

"No, I think as you get older, I mean a lot of that stuff references when I was a younger manager, but you know as you get older you mellow a bit and you understand also that the world's changing and people need connections these days, it's important," he said.

"So it was a nice day. It's not often you can sit out in the grass out there, mate, and have a chat with the boys. It was just a general chat and they're both great guys, not just good footballers, but great guys and it's always good to get some feedback from them as well. They obviously played a bit yesterday and could see where the group's at. So yeah it's a fairly common occurrence, mate."