Football London

James Maddison revealed that Pedro Porro offered him his shirt number when he first joined Tottenham before Harry Kane left the club.

When Maddison arrived at Spurs in the summer of 2023, his favoured No.10 was taken by the England captain and in a YouTube clip of him and Porro taking part in a club Q&A this week, Maddison revealed that the right-back had offered up his squad number. While trying to guess the date of Maddison's birthday, November 23, the Tottenham midfielder kept giving hints to the right-back but forgot the most obvious hint of all that it is Porro's shirt number.

"Ah, I should have said that. Remember when I first joined? Before Harry left, you were going to let me have 23, because it was my birthday. That's how I knew he was such a nice guy straight away. It didn't happen because Harry Kane left and then 10 became available," said Maddison with a glum face.

Porro and Maddison quickly struck up a bond that summer with the midfielder calling the defender "Peter" around the training ground from then on. The bubbly Spaniard is a popular player in the squad and also one its more durable, having played far more minutes than anyone else last season on the way to Tottenham winning the Europa League.

The right-back's character comes from his grandfather. The young Pedro grew up with his grandparents, Antonio and Maria, in the small town of Don Benito in the west of Spain because his parents were always busy working to put food on the table.

Earlier this year Porro told football.london about Antonio, who still calls him after matches to dissect his performances.

"For me, he's the most important person in my life. At six-years-old, I went to my first club and my grandfather asked me, 'you want to play football, with everything, the people, the stadiums? You have the character?'," the Spaniard remembered. "I said 'yes'. I didn't care, I just wanted to play football, only football.

"So 10 years later, again he asked the same question 'you have character?', I said 'yes'. This is 10 years on! 'Yes grandfather'.

"I then had my first trial as a right-back at Rayo Vallecano. I came back to the hotel one night because the trial was only for one week. My grandfather told me: 'In one week you go to Madrid and play and after this, I'll talk to you'.

"So I go to the training ground, we train and then played this one game and we came back from the trip. After that he said to me: 'I'm going back to Don Benito and you stay here alone. You go, go, go and remember what I said, you have character, you have a winning mentality and everyday this will be easy for you'.

"'Ok grandfather' I said and in this moment, he is everything to me, the most important person in my life. This is my grandfather Antonio."

It is once again a time of change at Tottenham Hotspur with new faces at the top of the organisation and big aims for the seasons ahead.

Spurs have a new head coach in Thomas Frank, who arrived from Brentford this month to replace Ange Postecoglou, with the Australian signing off by ending the club's 17-year trophy drought with that Europa League triumph in Bilbao. Frank had his first day at Hotspur Way this week and set about starting to build relationships with the staff within the north London club.

One relationship he already has built is the one with Tottenham's technical director Johan Lange, with the duo having shared an office together at Lyngby, a club that sits in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Now the pair of Danes must work together to shape a Spurs squad to fit Frank's needs while also ensuring it can compete on all fronts as chairman Daniel Levy has made it clear is compulsory.

They will also be working with the club's new CEO Vinai Venkatesham and plans in the transfer window will have to start getting underway with pre-season training under the Dane beginning in just a fortnight's time. He will also have to work out exactly what is happening with key players such as captain Son Heung-min and vice-captain Cristian Romero.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold will be answering as many of your questions on the club as possible. He will be discussing all of the above and all things Tottenham Hotspur in the chatroom below in the comments section. You can take part and ask about any topics that cross your mind about the club.

For the Q&A session you can begin submitting your questions in the comments section below, with Alasdair then answering as many of your queries about what's happening at the club as possible.

All you have to do is sign up is submit your question, register your details and you can then take part in the discussion. (You can also sign up by clicking on the silhouette on the top right-hand corner of the screen). While you wait for yours and others' answers, be sure to check out all of the latest content around the latest Spurs news on the site .

Tottenham Hotspur have submitted a new planning application for the four residential towers that will be built on the south end of their stadium.

The club, through their Tottenham Hotspur Property Company arm, submitted the latest set of three applications to Haringey Council last week to mainly tie up the final reserved matters approval to allow them to commence development work on the four buildings that will transform the currently near empty south end of the stadium complex.

The four buildings, plus a set of town houses, will stand on what is known as plot five, alongside a still-to-be-built extreme sports building and a 180-bedroom hotel, with additional apartments, that has been granted approval and is expected to completed in time for the European Championships in 2028, with the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one of the host grounds.

Currently the south end of the complex holds the far end of the club megastore within the Tottenham Experience and the plaza outside the stadium entrance. Once work is completed on the blade-like hotel, extreme sports building and the four residential towers the view when coming down that end of the High Road in N17 is going to look very different with the huge stadium barely visible between the towers.

The buildings will provide 564 new homes for the area, with 290 two-bed, 243 one-bed, 30 three-bed residences and one studio apartment in Tower D. The tallest of the buildings is Tower C which contains 228 of the properties.

The four new towers were originally part of plans submitted 10 years ago so the designs have been updated accordingly in recent years with 21 less residences and various changes throughout to meet new rules and guidelines.

They will look distinctive on the Tottenham landscape thanks to a boxed frame-shading system, with sliding panels, around them. The entrances to the five town houses and parts of the towers have been developed to incorporate more brick work, in a nod to the local buildings and the area's historical past of brick and tile manufacture.

The end of the consultation period for the group of applications is July 11 with a target decision date for Haringey Council of September 12.

The club, through their property arm, have various other construction developments ongoing around their ground, including, among others, a new six-storey complex of homes and a cinema opposite their stadium as well as approved plans for the 'Northumberland Terrace', which will transform the space behind the High Road to the north west of the stadium, in the area between the club's Lilywhite House offices, Sainsbury's and the road.

Tottenham Hotspur are looking to the future with the appointment of head coach Thomas Frank and they are also looking that way with their new Nike away kit.

What appears to be official images of the new Spurs change kit for the 2025/26 season have leaked online through Sneaker Market RO and not only show off an all-black kit but also come with a reportedly official description that explains that the kit is made with a twist - that it's actually a kit from 57 years in the future, to be exact.

For apparently the official Nike description for the new kit states: "Tottenham Hotspur's 2025-26 away shirt welcomes you to match day in the year 2082. This London-inspired battle armour uses tonal blacks and cutting-edge trims to create an innovative, stealthy look that the enemy won't see coming."

While the new kit looks quite plain on the surface, if you look closely you realise there's another little twist as the shirt is made up of a criss-cross pattern of squares and on every vertical line is the word 'Spurs' in capital letters. It has a round neck with grey piping around its trim with the shorts and socks both black.

While this new kit aims to look towards the future, it is also a nod to the past because it is the first time in more than a decade that Tottenham have had a black away kit. In the 2014/15 season, Spurs wore a popular Under Armour effort with bright fluorescent yellow stripes down the middle of its front and that colour along the sleeves and trim of the sides. The club did also have a black and grey third shirt in the 2012/13 season.

The new kit is expected to be released in the very near future, with the away kit released around this time last year. Spurs unveiled their new home shirt earlier this month with the motto 'Take a vow' with the club saying: "The kit features a subtle tweak to the navy sleeves of last season, with a new grey and ashen slate pattern under the arm and the traditional lilywhite base forming the outer part of the sleeve." It has been suggested that this coming season's third kit will be a yellow and navy affair.

Spurs signed their deal with Nike back in 2017 and extended it the following year to a 15-year contract which will last until at least 2033, meaning it is one of the longest football club deals in the sportswear giant's history. Reports back at the time suggested the agreement was worth around £30million a season for the north London club.

Former Spurs star Gareth Bale is reportedly leading a consortium that is in talks to buy League One club Cardiff City.

That's according to The Atheltic, who claim the ex-Wales international made contact with current Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan last month, sending a letter of intent to the current owner expressing his desire to buy the club along with financial figures.

However, Bale's approach was reportedly rejected, though that hasn't dampened any enthusiasm for a takeover at his hometown club having also been linked with fellow League One side Plymouth Argyle. The report from the Athletic states that, despite recent reports, Bale is not in the frame to buy the Pilgrims.

Cardiff were tipped to be a destination for Bale when the Wales superstar left Real Madrid in 2022, but would sign for LAFC and make 14 appearances before retiring after the World Cup in Qatar.

Bale is the latest high profile former player to have been tipped for a career in football ownership after former Spurs and Real star Luke Modric became a co-owner at Swansea City earlier this month.

If 35-year-old Bale were to acquire a majority sharehold at Cardiff City, it would see him take on his former teammate and battle for south Wales bragging rights between two of Wales' biggest clubs.

Bale is yet to speak about potential takeover plans, but is the latest high profile star to attach himself to an ownership group. NFL legend Tom Brady bought minority shares in Birmingham City in 2023, while 49ers Enterprises has a whole host of stars involved in their takeover at Leeds United, with Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas part of the group that helped the Whites win promotion.

Unlike Bale, Modrid has spoken about his involvement at Swansea City and believes his expertise at the highest level will stand the Championship side in good stead.

"This is an exciting opportunity," the Croatian said. "Swansea has a strong identity, an incredible fanbase, and the ambition to compete at the highest level.

"Playing at the highest level, I believe I can provide my experience to the club. My goal is to support the club’s growth in a positive way and to help to build an exciting future."

Tom Gorringe, Swansea CEO, also added, "I am excited that Luka has come on board as an investor and co-owner. There is no better role model in the game for our players, from the academy right through to the first team.

"His endorsement of our ambition and willingness to support us on our journey will be instrumental as we aim to continue to improve our results on and off the pitch.

"In our conversations, he has demonstrated his passion for the club, his knowledge of how we are performing, and a genuine passion to help us improve. I am really looking forward to working with him more closely to drive us forward."

Thomas Frank is a newcomer to Champions League football and Tottenham and he is about to discover one of the most frustrating situations the club have allowed themselves to fall into.

Many of the Dane's predecessors have fallen into the black hole that is the north London club's lack of club-trained players and how that affects the squad they can select for European competition and each transfer window. Every head coach in recent years, stretching back to Mauricio Pochettino, has needed to make difficult decisions over which Tottenham players must be told they will not be registered for huge continental games.

Last season, Ange Postecoglou had to make similar decisions with new signing Antonin Kinsky unable to be registered for the Europa League and Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin removed from the final squad as well along with Sergio Reguilon.

It all comes down to Spurs allowing so many of their senior club-trained players to leave in recent years and now only having one remaining in goalkeeper Brandon Austin. Frank faces another year of this issue before some of the younger players at the club become old enough to fit into that category so do not need to be registered in the main group.

Our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest discussed the perennial issue and exactly what it means, the UEFA rule behind it all and why it will affect this summer's transfer window and how the club can get around it with a clever signing or two in the latest episode of their podcast Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham.

You can listen to the show by heading right here or watch the latest episode on YouTube by going right here.

Tottenham Hotspur remain in the chase to sign Bryan Mbeumo in the summer transfer window.

Mbeumo had his best ever Premier League season for Brentford last time out, scoring 20 goals - a figure only beaten by Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland - and providing nine assists.

Mbeumo has spent the past six seasons in west London with the Bees, but now looks set to move on, should another club put up the required cash to prise him away.

Manchester United looks like the Cameroonian's most likely destination, with the Red Devils in talks over a deal for some time now, although Brentford want more than the £60million they have been offered so far.

Thomas Frank's move to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, however, changed things, with Spurs naturally linked with a making a move for Mbeumo to reunite the duo who worked so well as manager and main striker in west London.

And Tottenham could hand Mbeumo the perfect welcome gift of his desired shirt number - on one condition.

Mbeumo has been wearing the No.19 shirt at Brentford since he joined the Bees in 2019/20. There would have been opportunities to switch numbers in that time, but he has stuck with 19.

Now that number is currently worn by Spurs frontman Dominic Solanke - one of the few players Frank namechecked in his first interview at the club this week.

Solanke is going nowhere, but the Englishman may well want to swap shirt numbers. He wore No.9 at Bournemouth and wore 29 at Liverpool in two separate seasons, clearly wanting a number with nine in it.

The No.9 shirt currently belongs to Richarlison at Spurs, but there are question marks over his future at the club. He has not always been available over the last few seasons due to injuries and as well as links with the Saudi Pro League, there are suggestions a return to Everton could be on the cards too.

Were Richarlison to leave, Solanke would likely take the No.9 shirt for his own as the club's main striker and that would leave 19 free for Mbeumo to wear should he complete a £70million move to join Frank at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Frank would surely be looking to bring another attacker into the club if Richarlison was to leave, which would add credence to the links with Mbeumo, as would a departure for Son Heung-min, who is more open to leaving N17 than ever before, with the Spurs captain not mentioned in Frank's first interview with the club.

Thomas Frank has just about managed to settle into his new surroundings at Hotspur Way and there are plenty of conversations that need to be had if they haven't already.

The Dane has now got his feet under his desk in his new office and the new Tottenham head coach has been shown everything that he needs to see at the Enfield training complex. The 51-year-old has a big job on his hands to shape and coach a squad that must compete on all fronts next season with the Champions League on the schedule as well.

Ahead of that, Frank's first competitive match brings with it the chance of silverware as Spurs face the Champions League winners PSG in the UEFA Super Cup in Udine on August 13.

To prepare for that and the new Premier League season, which begins just three days later, there are plenty of conversations Frank will need to have with various key people around the north London outfit. Here are just five (technically six) of those people that conversations need to take place with.

Johan Lange

Frank and Lange go way back, all the way back to their time sharing an office together at Lyngby, a club that lies in the suburbs of Copenhagen.

Birger Jorgensen, the man who hired them both, said: "Thomas is Thomas, he walks the talk. He has always been the same and will always be the same. He is very hardworking and always in a good mood. Johan is the opposite of Thomas, he keeps his cards close to his chest. But he is a fantastic guy, very smart."

The two men have remained in touch over the years and Lange wanted to take Frank to Aston Villa when he worked there, only for Steven Gerrard to end up getting the head coach gig in the end.

Now they have been reunited and Lange must switch from building a team for Ange Postecoglou to one for his old colleague. Lange will know his compatriot's needs inside out and that will help the conversations the duo will have already had and will continue to have in the weeks ahead to shape a squad that can handle the game's biggest club competition (yes it's bigger than that current summer thing going on).

Daniel Levy and Vinai Venkatesham

We're grouping this as one conversation with the hierarchy but of course it's going to be a series of chats with the chairman and the new CEO of Tottenham. Frank is a man full of energy and charisma and he will have to use all of that to succeed where others have failed; he needs time to bring what he did at Brentford to a bigger stage.

Frank will have to help Lange make a convincing case for pushing out the boat for the specific signings that they believe will transform Tottenham. Levy after all expects the club to compete on all fronts and has made big statements about wanting to win the Premier League and Champions League now Spurs have finally ended their trophy drought, so he will have to greenlight the kind of squad building that can achieve that, rather than the long-term building that is yet to succeed after 24 years.

Venkatesham will be a key ally for Frank in that the 44-year-old was CEO at Arsenal and pushed for stability under Mikel Arteta and backing him rather than the constant chopping and changing and fresh starts that normally occur a few miles down the road at Tottenham.

The new CEO has more power than any person has had below Levy in almost a quarter of a century and Frank's conversations and communication with Venkatesham will be key to the success of both of their tenures.

The medical team

It's fair to say that Tottenham managers and the various club medical teams over the years have not always had the most mutually affectionate relationships. Jose Mourinho's frustration was clear in that Amazon All or Nothing documentary and Antonio Conte was never shy in offering up his opinions on the medical side at the club.

Ange Postecoglou clearly had issues with the medical side of things at Spurs last season with an injury crisis the likes of which had not been seen in recent memory, including re-injuries galore. The medical department would no doubt have had their own views on the situation.

Spurs are expected to make major changes once again to their medical and sports science teams and the arrival of Head of Performance and first team assistant coach Chris Haslam with Frank will be a vital bridge between them and the coaching staff. Haslam had a great reputation in the game through his time at Brentford and will be looking for similar synergy between all departments at Tottenham and Adam Brett, who was appointed as Director of Performance Services for Spurs a year ago, overseeing their sports science, medical, nutrition and psychology departments across the club.

Frank will want a clear and open communication with the new-look medical department and no more of the chaos that struck throughout last season.

Cristian Romero

One of the key player conversations for the new head coach this summer will be with Cristian Romero. There's no doubting that Frank would want to keep the World Cup-winning centre-back, who was named player of the tournament in the Europa League and man of the match in the final.

The 27-year-old had a lot of respect for Postecoglou and his strongly-worded thank you post to the Australian, six days after his sacking and just 56 minutes after Frank was announced, showed his feelings on the subject.

The Argentine has made no secret of his desire to play in La Liga at some point but the reality of the situation is that with two years left on his contract, Spurs can still ask for a big fee for a defender Lionel Messi called the best in the world. It remains to be seen whether any club will come in with the sort of money that would tempt the north London club into parting company with the Romero.

Frank's style of football will suit Romero with its aggression and speed of moving the ball around and the Dane is an engaging character that the Argentine will quickly warm to as well. That first conversation, whether it comes before the centre-back returns to Hotspur early next month or not, is going to be key to deciding what happens next for all concerned.

Son Heung-min

Another key player chat for Frank is with the club captain Son Heung-min. The South Korean star turns 33 next month and is now in the final 12 months of his contract at Tottenham and is believed to be more open than ever before about leaving the club this summer after finally lifting the trophy he has longed for.

An honest conversation needs to take place between Son and Frank now over how much the skipper wants to move on and exactly what the Dane's plans are for him if he remains.

After 10 years of service at Tottenham, becoming a club legend in the process, Son should really be in charge of his own destiny but Frank's opinion on how and where he would use him will play a key role as well.

It's an exciting time to be a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. The Lilywhites are coming into the new 2025/26 season having claimed their first piece of silverware in 17 years by winning the UEFA Europa League at the end of 2024/25.

That means Spurs will play in the Champions League next season and they will be doing so under a new manager too.

Ange Postecoglou, who ended that trophy drought, was sacked at the end of the 2024/25 campaign after a dismal run in the Premier League in which Spurs finished the campaign in 17th place.

Thomas Frank is the man charged with leading the team to the next level, signing a three-year deal to make the move from Brentford, where he established the Bees as a Premier League team.

Frank will be looking to strengthen his new squad in the summer transfer window, with technical director Johan Lange doing all the work behind the scenes to provide him with a strong enough squad to challenge on multiple fronts.

And we have all the latest up-to-date information on football.london through Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold.

Alasdair offers an insight into what happens behind the scenes at Hotspur Way and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in his weekly newsletter.

You can sign up to receive the latest from Alasdair direct to your email inbox right here. And, what's more, you can get a massive discount on the newsletter by signing up right now.

Throughout the month of June we're offering new subscribers a massive 70% discount on the newsletter. You can get full coverage of the transfer window and the build-up to the 2025/26 season for just £1 a month.

You pay £1 a month for the first year, so a £12 payment instead of £40 for your first year of the newsletter.

Tottenham Hotspur will have to look at some smart options to help their European squad as well as moving for their main transfer targets in this summer window.

Spurs will be looking to bolster new head coach Thomas Frank's squad this summer with the quality required to meet chairman Daniel Levy's expectations of challenging on multiple fronts this season. The Tottenham supremo declared this week that the Europa League triumph - the club's first trophy in 17 years - was not enough and that he wanted to win the Premier League and Champions League in the seasons ahead.

That will require the north London club to splash the cash on proven players as well as their usual youth model and Tottenham have been linked with the likes of Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa at Frank's former club Brentford as well as Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo and Southampton's Tyler Dibling.

The club also must remain wary of their squad issues when it comes to registering players for the Champions League this season with Frank set to have to make some difficult decisions as his predecessors have on players needing to be left out of European competition.

football.londonreported earlier this month that Spurs' lack of 'club-trained players' continues to be an issue in Europe, with Alfie Whiteman's departure meaning goalkeeper Brandon Austin is the only such senior player they can register in the Champions League who would not already be on the B list.

While the Premier League is far more relaxed, UEFA's rules state that no club can have more than 25 players on their Champions League A-List during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers. The rules then say that "as a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for 'locally trained players' and no club may have more than four 'association-trained players' listed among those eight places. If a club have fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly".

There are two kinds of a locally-trained player. One is those 'club-trained players', those on a club's books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21. The other is 'association-trained players', who were on another club's books in the same association for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

Then there is a B-List for players born on, or after, January 1, 2004 and who have been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. In the 2026/27 season players such as Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall will able to move to the B list.

With all of that in mind and only one club-trained player in Austin when they need to register four, Tottenham would have to leave three spots open this season in what should be a 25-man squad, but instead becomes a 22-man one. Spurs currently have 23 players to fit into 17 non-locally trained spots and seven association-trained players for four other spots. Any association-trained players over those four spots would then need to be crowbarred into the main group.

The simplest way to look at it is that Tottenham currently have 30 senior players to fit into 22 spots, including new permanent arrivals Kevin Danso, Mathys Tel and Luka Vuskovic, and that's before they even try to sign new players this window.

So Frank will have to move players on either on loan or permanently and another option is to look at players who could return to N17 in order to be club-trained.

While full-back is not a priority area this summer with Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence, Gray and Ben Davies all able to play there at this time, football.london understands that Spurs have considered a move later in the window to bring Kyle Walker-Peters back as a free agent and club-trained option to fill one of those spots.

The experienced 28-year-old, who has a couple of England appearances to his name, can play on either flank and is at the end of his contract at relegated Southampton. A string of Premier League sides are believed to be looking at signing the full-back, including Everton and Wolves, who are understood to be considering him as a potential replacement for Nelson Semedo if the Portuguese were to depart this summer.

Walker-Peters would be keen on a return to his boyhood club, but Tottenham are likely to focus on other key areas first this summer which could allow other clubs to seal a deal for a defender who has played 202 times for Southampton since his 24 games for Spurs.

In terms of other club-trained players the north London side could look at, many are more unlikely this summer. There is record goalscorer Harry Kane, who seems happy enough at Bayern Munich, and Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp who were relegated at Leicester.

Spurs have looked at the past in bringing back 23-year-old left-back Dennis Cirkin, who has impressed at Sunderland. He made 39 appearances this season as the Black Cats returned to the Premier League through the play-offs and he has 12 months remaining on his contract. Tottenham are in line for a sell-on percentage for the player if he leaves this summer, meaning they would get him for a cheaper price, although a buy-back clause reportedly expired last year.

Marcus Edwards has just signed permanently for Burnley while Troy Parrott wants to remain at AZ Alkmaar this season. Chelsea's Noni Madueke has been linked with a move away but in terms of the club-trained angle, he left Spurs at the age of 16 and remember you need to have been on the books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

So while Tottenham's focus will be on their main high profile signings to bolster Frank's squad this summer they must also be aware that they are going to run into problems with their European squad this season and make some decisions accordingly.