Football London

It's time for the latest episode of our podcast Talking Tottenham with our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Ryan Taylor, with opinions on Cristian Romero, the transfer window and Thomas Frank's huge task

It has been another eventful week at Tottenham, despite being just a few days into it!

After the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday, attention swiftly turned to the January transfer window and deadline day on Monday. Despite Thomas Frank repeatedly describing the club as "active" in the market, no new senior players arrived.

It meant Conor Gallagher was the only real senior arrival in the winter window, although there are high hopes for young defender Souza. On top of the failure to bring in any fresh faces in the final few days of the window, Spurs captain Cristian Romero took to social media within an hour of it closing to unleash yet another rant on the club. With injuries mounting, the Argentine used the word "disgraceful" when referencing current player availability.

Our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Ryan Taylor spoke about the transfer window and Romero's comments on the latest episode of their podcast Talking Tottenham. Their feelings on the matter could not be clearer.

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Gold said: "I know there's some people going in on Romero, who are actually saying, 'Oh it's just him trying to push for a move out the club.' I don't think it is.

"I think he genuinely does want this club to progress and be something bigger and better and I think that is the tone of his posts all the time. I do definitely think there is an aspect of is it a great look for a club in general, just to have your captain constantly have a go at the club? I can take that point of view.

"But I don't think you can really disagree because I was thinking last night, is this something he can be fined for? But the more you look at it, he is stating the facts. He is stating that they had 11 available players once he went off ill for that game, and he was ill in Frankfurt as well but he still played. And Wilson Odobert was ill against City and still came off the bench and played because they kind of felt like they had to because the squad isn't strong enough.

"So I don't think anything he is saying is incorrect. He is stating the point that it is disgraceful, two years in a row, that the club have got to a situation where they have got players who just have to play through whatever issues they've got because there is no senior help for them."

With Tottenham 14th in the Premier League, tensions around the club are high. The Lilywhites were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round, but do have a Champions League round of 16 tie to look forward to in March. Gold, however, believes the club may look back on the January transfer window with a tinge of regret.

"They had a chance in this transfer window to amend this," he said. "I know it's a difficult window and I know there was a feeling within the club that they don't dive in for just anyone, stick to your plan, stick to your guns and go for it in the summer window, but I think that's so dangerous with where Spurs are at right now.

"This is a huge moment in their season when the rest of the Premier League season can be defined as well. They are as close really to getting near a European place as they are to relegation. This season could go either way depending on what they did in this window and what happens on the pitch.

"And likewise, that Champions League tie, the last 16, comes before a lot of the long-term injuries are back so there's a chance, there was, to at least do something. And Thomas Frank spoke the other day about loan moves and things like that. There were plenty of ways around this situation.

"I think the timing of it, to put this post out, it was within half an hour of the transfer window closing, I'm sorry but it was very very deliberately done to shine a light in case anyone wasn't looking at it. But don't worry Cristian, we are all looking at it."

Tottenham Hotspur have continued to bolster their medical department with a new face that head coach Thomas Frank will know well

Amid another injury crisis at the club Tottenham have brought in a face Thomas Frank will be familiar with to bolster their medical department.

Spurs currently have 11 players out injured while captain Cristian Romero had to leave the action at half-time in Sunday's 2-2 draw with an illness that had also dogged him during the Champions League victory in Frankfurt in midweek. Tottenham have been taking steps to change their medical department after a similar injury crisis last year.

Director of performance services Adam Brett and head of sports science Nick Davies both departed in 2025 after only a year in their posts. Spurs moved to appoint Dan Lewindon, from the City Group, to replace Brett as their new performance director, while Michael Cooper was promoted to head of sports science in September after four years as a first team physical performance coach.

Nick Stubbings took up a role as the lead of medical following 11 years with Brentford with Tom Perryman coming across as a strength and conditioning coach. Now another former Bees man has joined Frank at Spurs in the shape of Liam Horgan.

Horgan has joined as the club's first-team rehabilitation physiotherapist and worked with Frank and Stubbings during five years as Brentford’s first team physio between 2019 and 2024, after another three with the B team, before making the move to Crystal Palace for an 18-month stint.

Horgan becomes the ninth former Brentford staff member among Frank's staff to make the move to work at Spurs. The Dane brought with him former Bees men assistant coach Justin Cochrane, head of performance Chris Haslam and set-piece coach Andreas Georgson.

Spurs’ head of football methodology, Zaheer Shah, joined the club in 2019 but had worked with Frank at Brentford before that.

Frank will be hoping that both the performance and rehabilitation sides of the club work well in tandem to fix Tottenham's problems and clear their packed treatment room.

Cristian Romero's future at Tottenham Hotspur has become a subject of speculation a day after the January transfer window

Cristian Romero is being linked with a move away from Tottenham Hotspur, just a day after the January transfer window officially closed. Monday was deadline day for Spurs and the rest of the Premier League, with clubs now needing to wait until the summer if they want to make changes to their squad.

Just hours after the transfer window closed, Romero is now being credited as a player of interest to several clubs with a view to a potential exit in the summer.

It has been reported by journalist Gaston Edul that Romero is attracting interest from La Liga, but does not name which clubs from the Spanish top flight are looking at the possibility of signing the Tottenham defender.

The report also claims that Romero will "definitely" leave Spurs at the end of the season, with suggestions that there was also interest during the January transfer window. However, Spurs do appear to hold the cards should any talks take place, with the centre-back signing a new four-year contract before the start of the season.

The update on Romero also comes a day after the Tottenham defender expressed his frustrations about the club’s lack of options following the closure of the transfer window.

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"Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible," Romero wrote in a post on Instagram.

"I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available - unbelievable but true and disgraceful.

"We'll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together.

"All that's left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans."

Romero's message comes after Tottenham are being forced to deal with several injury concerns amid the January transfer window closing.

James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Richarlison, Pedro Porro, Ben Davies, Djed Spence, Kevin Danso, Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski all missed Tottenham’s draw with Manchester City last weekend due to injury.

Spurs still had a busy January transfer window, including sanctioning the exit of Brennan Johnson in a permanent move to Crystal Palace.

Tottenham responded by signing Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid while Souza arrived from Santos in Brazil.

Spurs also tried to sign Andy Robertson from Liverpool, but a deal for the left-back did not progress and he would go on to remain at Anfield rather than make the move to north London.

It's time for the latest updates from Tottenham Hotspur's huge group of loan players currently playing around the world

Tottenham's loan army took another big surge in the final days of the transfer window as various young players look to develop away from the club.

On deadline day alone, George Abbott made the move to Mansfield Town in League One, Alfie Dorrington to League Two outfit Salford City and goalkeeper Aaron Maguire joined National League South side Hampton & Richmond Borough on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

That means Spurs now have 19 players out on loan across the English game as well as in Scotland, Germany, Italy and South America with the club's Head of Loans and Pathways Andy Scoulding set to be busy keeping a close eye on all them and their various situations, hence the January recalls and new moves for some of them in the winter window.

Here's how every single one of Tottenham's huge group of loan players got on across the world this week.

Yusuf Akhamrich (Bristol Rovers)

We're going to start for a change in League Two because of the remarkable home debut that Yusuf Akhamrich had on his first start for Bristol Rovers.

The 20-year-old winger has been on the bench twice in the Champions League this season for Spurs and once in the Premier League without being handed his debut before had made a couple of substitute appearances for Rovers after his move.

Then on Saturday, he announced himself in senior football with a sensational brace of goals to fire his side to a 3-0 win against Newport County.

The first was a screamer of an effort from distance as he cut in from the right flank and fired home and his second was even better, taking a world class touch on the run to control a deep, lofted pass before slotting it past the goalkeeper.

The Bristol Post's Will Murray wrote of Akhamrich's display: "Not often do you see a 20-year-old loanee play with such freedom and light up a game on his home debut like Akhamrich did. His two goals were outstanding in their own right - the first a curled effort into the top corner from outside the box, before an exquisite touch from a long-range pass leading to a calm finish past the goalkeeper.

"[Steve] Evans spoke post-match about wanting to bring in Akhamrich during his time at Rotherham last season, but was told by Spurs that he wasn't ready for senior football, yet. The head coach has continued to watch the youngster, including the 4-4 draw between Rovers and Spurs Under-21s, in which the winger scored at The Mem.

"After a queue of clubs tried to sign the young winger, Evans and Rovers was selected as the destination for Akhamrich to continue his development.

"It's obviously early days, but the signs have only been overwhelmingly positive so far. He looked bright during his 22-minute cameo against MK Dons in midweek and was unlucky not to get an assist. Then, to perform as well as he did in front of the Gasheads was so impressive, especially in a game with such significance and implications for the rest of the season."

Luka Vuskovic (Hamburg)

It was also a weekend to remember for Luka Vuskovic as he headed home a second half leveller against Harry Kane's Bayern Munich to secure Hamburg a 2-2 draw against the Bavarian giants.

It was the 18-year-old's fourth Bundesliga goal of the season and it shows just how far he has come from that tricky debut against Kane & Co all the way back in September which resulted in a 5-0 defeat.

The Croatian teenager has earned praise aplenty since then and got more after the draw with Bayern.

"“Fantastic! That’s quality. At 18, he plays as if he’s already played in three World Cups," said German legend and former Bayern midfielder Lothar Matthaus.

"When I was 30, I didn’t see what he saw at 18. This player is so intelligent. You rarely find that. How cleverly he played. He’s doing everything right. Something really, really great could come of this."

Ahead of the match, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany had said of Vuskovic: "He's a great talent. The Bundesliga is a very difficult league to develop as a young central defender. You have to be physically strong. Having a key role at HSV is ideal.

"He needs to listen carefully to his good coach. He doesn't need to do much more. I just hope he doesn't play well against us this weekend."

Unfortunately for Kompany, Vuskovic did and speaking about what comes for him next season and whether it's a return to Tottenham or another year in Germany, the young centre back told BILD: “We’ll decide after the World Cup what happens next, what’s best for me.”

For now Vuskovic will be looking to build on his 19 appearances and 1,740 minutes so far for the Bundesliga outfit.

Kota Takai (Borussia Monchengladbach)

It's not just at Tottenham Hotspur where Spurs players can get ill and miss matches as Kota Takai had to sit out Borussia Monchengladbach's 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen on Saturday as he was sick ahead of the Bundesliga match

The 21-year-old Japan international had previously been back in action in Germany after his injury nightmares following his move to Spurs in the summer from Kawasaki Frontale. Takai started his first match on the previous weekend, a 3-0 home defeat to Stuttgart after a hat-trick of substitute appearances.

The centre-back will be hoping to kick on now for the rest of the season and get his match fitness and sharpness back up to where it needs to be.

Mikey Moore (Rangers) & Dane Scarlett (Hibernian)

Mikey Moore continued his run of games for Rangers and shared the pitch with his Tottenham team-mate Dane Scarlett in the final moments of the 0-0 draw at Hibernian.

The 18-year-old came off the bench in Rangers' 3-1 defeat at Porto in the Europa League in midweek as well as the draw in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

Moore entered the action in the 56th minute while Scarlett came on for his Hibernian debut in the 71st minute with neither able to change the outcome of the result.

Scarlett spoke about making the move up to Scotland in the week after putting pen to paper with Hibernian.

"I'm really happy to finally be here. I flew over today and I can't wait to get started," he said. ""It's obviously a massive club and it's got great history, and it's a new challenge for me really. I've never been outside England to play football, so it's a new challenge and I'm ready to go.

"I've been looking to get out on loan for the last few weeks. Once I knew Hibs wanted me and made contact, it was a no-brainer for me. I'm ready to go."

Scarlett will be hoping to match Moore's game time with the teenager having racked up 31 appearances this season, scoring three goals, including one in the Old Firm Derby, and laying on two assists. Some had called for Moore to be brought back from his loan to help Spurs but this has been a huge developmental experience for the youngster.

Manor Solomon (Fiorentina)

Manor Solomon scored his first goal for Fiorentina as the struggling Serie A side fell to a 2-1 defeat away against Antonio Conte's Napoli side at the weekend.

With Napoli 2-0 up in the 56th minute, the Israel international followed up a saved effort from Roberto Piccoli by firing low into the net to open his account for his new club. Unfortunately the visitors could not find another.

The 26-year-old has started the past two matches for the Italian side and has six Serie A appearances to his name already, matching the total of La Liga games he got for Villarreal in the first half of the season.

Alejo Veliz (Rosario Central)

Across the world in Argentina, Alejo Veliz is back in the swing of things in the new league season with Rosario Central.

The 22-year-old has started the first three games of the new campaign, scoring in the second game at Racing Club. Neither he nor his team-mates were able to put the ball in the net though during Monday's 0-0 draw at home against River Plate. That meant Rosario have started the season with a defeat, a win and now a draw.

Alfie Devine (Preston North End)

Alfie Devine helped Preston to a battling point at Ipswich with a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon.

The 21-year-old midfielder has been earning plenty of praise during his season at the Championship side and continues to start matches for them, playing 81 minutes of the weekend's encounter.

He received a seven for his efforts in the Lancashire Post's player ratings with the review: "Carried a threat in the game and worked effectively with Jebbison. His end product let him down on occasions."

Devine has been developing well in the Championship this season with 29 league appearances, including five goals and two assists from midfield with another two appearances in the Carabao Cup, plus an assist, and a substitute appearance in the FA Cup to make it 2,101 minutes in total so far halfway through the season.

Will Lankshear & Jamie Donley (Oxford United)

Will Lankshear has found himself on the bench in recent games after a couple of goalless draws for Oxford.

On Saturday he came into the action for the final 35 minutes of the 2-0 defeat at home to Birmingham but could not affect the outcome.

Jamie Donley has not been able to play since a horrendous aerial collision in his debut for Oxford in the FA Cup at the start of this month which left him knocked out for a short period and with injuries to his neck, shoulder and ribs.

The 21-year-old is still recovering from the aftermath of that and the shoulder injury in particular and is yet to return from his treatment.

Yang Min-hyeok (Coventry)

After a couple of games unused on the bench, Yang Min-hyeok got minutes late in Coventry's 2-1 defeats at both Norwich and QPR in the Championship in the past week.

The 19-year-old winger had made 16 appearances for Portsmouth, scoring three goals and laying on one assist, before switching to Frank Lampard's Premier League-chasing side.

Yang has made one start for Coventry so far with his first experience of FA Cup football last month with a third round defeat at Stoke City.

Ashley Phillips (Stoke City)

That day Yang came up against Ashley Phillips and the 20-year-old centre-back continues to be an ever-present for Stoke.

He could not help them keep out Southampton though on Saturday as the Potters fell to a 2-0 defeat at home after a 1-1 draw at Birmingham in midweek,

Phillips has made 28 appearances this season for Stoke with a whopping 2,264 minutes to his name.

Oliver Irow (Mansfield)

Oliver Irow continues to get plenty of minutes since his spectacular two-goal debut for Mansfield Town against Port Vale last month.

The versatile 19-year-old, who can play anywhere across the front line, is enjoying his first experience of senior football and has been welcomed by those at Mansfield.

Irow played the full 90 minutes of the 1-1 draw at Mansfield in midweek and then played the first half of the goalless draw against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

The teenager will have a Spurs team-mate join him now after Abbott completed his move to the League One side on deadline day.

Tyrese Hall (Notts County)

Tyrese Hall has had a busy week with 90 minutes in the 2-1 home win for Notts County against Swindon Town in midweek in League Two and then he played the first half as County won 2-1 at Fleetwood.

The 20-year-old midfielder has been in fine form on his first loan from the club with six goals and two assists across 1,481 minutes in 26 appearances since heading out of Tottenham.

Damola Ajayi (Bromley)

Damola Ajayi made the move to League Two side Bromley last month but is waiting for his chance to shine.

The 20-year-old winger has been unused on the bench in both games this week but did get a couple of minutes of action at the end of last weekend's home win against Swindon Town.

Calum Logan (Braintree Town)

Nineteen-year-old left-back Calum Logan has been getting plenty of minutes in his own first spell away from the north London club on a youth loan at National League side Braintree Town.

The defender has appeared 11 times for the Essex side and played 73 minutes on Saturday in the 2-1 win at home against Eastleigh as well as 86 minutes in the penalty shoot-out defeat at Truro City in midweek in the National League Cup.

Cristian Romero has once again called out the Tottenham board - nine months on from making a tongue-in-cheek comment directed at former chairman Daniel Levy

Tottenham's players delivered a telling response after Cristian Romero made a tongue-in-cheek comment to Daniel Levy following last May's Europa League final.

At the after-party of Spurs' 1-0 win against Manchester United in Bilbao, Romero, 27, is said to have opened each bottle of champagne one after another and made the comment 'this is on the president' in reference to former chairman Levy, who left his role in September.

According to The Telegraph, those in the dressing room claim the gesture was met by cheers from the rest of the celebrating players but the feeling is that Levy and the club owed the players one.

Romero, who has been at Tottenham since his initial loan move from Atalanta in August 2021, has become a real cult hero in north London and has not been afraid to speak out about his feelings.

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Last summer, Romero waited just an hour after Tottenham confirmed the appointment of Thomas Frank as head coach to send a message to Ange Postecoglou, praising the Aussie as a "great person" who "paved the way despite the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist".

Then following Spurs' 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth in January, Romero launched a furious rant and accused "people" at the club of only showing up when things are going well and "to tell a few lies."

He escalated his anger with the Tottenham board by making another swipe just one hour after the January transfer window closed on Monday. The Spurs captain branded it as "disgraceful" as Frank's side were left with just 11 senior players available for the second half of Sunday's 2-2 draw against Manchester City.

Spurs have lost nine players to injury, sold last season's top scorer Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace and made just two first-team signings in the January window. Conor Gallagher was recruited in a £35million deal from Atletico Madrid, while teenage left-back Souza was brought in from Santos for £13m.

"Great effort from all my team-mates yesterday [against Manchester City], they were incredible," Romero said in an Instagram post. "I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available – unbelievable but true and disgraceful.

"We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans."

With the Tottenham players feeling the same as Romero after the Europa League final, the dressing room may well be singing from the same hymn sheet as the Argentine on his latest fume at the board.

The Tottenham captain had his say just minutes after the winter transfer window closed and it sparked a reaction from team-mates

The reaction from Tottenham captain Cristian Romero's team-mates showed a unified belief after the closing of the transfer window.

The Argentine is never shy about coming forward with his opinions on social media on decisions taken by the club, having posted about 'obstacles' and 'lies' in the past when speaking about those within Tottenham. football.london has previously reported that the 27-year-old has gone from a quiet member of the squad to a powerful figure within the north London outfit with huge sway.

Romero also has a sense of timing when he drops his Instagram grenades into the room. While most of his team-mates had immediately said their public goodbyes to Ange Postecoglou last summer, the centre-back waited until less than an hour after Thomas Frank was installed as his successor to post about the Australian and how he had "paved the way despite the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist".

On Monday, while the Tottenham players had mostly posted their social media offerings the previous day in the immediate aftermath of the 2-2 draw with Manchester City, Romero, who came off ill at half-time, waited until around half an hour after the transfer window closed before having his say.

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"Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible. I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available - unbelievable but true and disgraceful," he wrote.

"We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans."

There have been some attempts among fans and the media to explain that the word 'disgraceful', which was accompanied by a palm to the face emoji, might have been lost in translation somewhat from the Spanish-speaking Romero or his social media team as the post was published in English.

However, had that been the case then with the huge reaction from the fanbase - the post had had more than 115,000 likes at the time this article was published - there would have been a move to correct any mistake. Yet approaching 20 hours after the post was published, it remains exactly as it was first put out. Again, it's worth noting that Romero has history of speaking his mind and timing it to maximum effect.

For his part, the World Cup and two-time Copa America winner does appear to have a genuine desire to push the club on to become more ambitious. He would not have signed a new long-term deal last summer if he was desperate to move on.

He watched his team-mates struggle at this same point last season with a lack of fit and available bodies - himself one of the injured players - and now he is watching exactly the same scenario play out, with him and Wilson Odobert have to play while ill on Sunday and for Romero also in midweek in Frankfurt, and the club show no reaction to it in the transfer market, simply replacing last season's top scorer with a midfielder and signing a 19-year-old left-back.

Frank had admitted the club needed more options in the attacking areas with their 11 injured players, many of them long term. He told football.london that those injuries had ensured the squad was reaching the end of the transfer window weaker than when it started it, and he said that loan moves would be a perfectly acceptable option to help in the short term.

The Dane had said at the start of the season of his brand of football: "I'm a big believer, I always say this one liner, if you don't take risk, you also take risk. So I think it's important that we take risks."

Spurs did not heed that mantra. They stuck to their pre-injury crisis plans to sign players in the coming summer when there is more quality available and now the coming weeks and months are going to be difficult for Frank, Romero and the paper-thin squad with more injuries likely as the players overplay.

The one mercy is that for a little while the games are one a week, but be warned that Tottenham appear to do freak training ground injuries like no other. Fate will find a way as it did with Mohammed Kudus' three-month lay-off just days after Brennan Johnson was told he was surplus to requirements and sold.

So Romero's post proves he cares and he's unhappy and it also proves that so do his team-mates old and new. Among those to like his post on Instagram were his vice-captain James Maddison, star striker Dominic Solanke, Xavi Simons, Pedro Porro, Djed Spence, Pape Matar Sarr, the now injured Kevin Danso, the now on loan Dane Scarlett and the club's only senior winter signing Conor Gallagher.

All of them endorsed his message in its current state. The captain and players have spoken. They wanted help and they did not get it. A tough second half to the season awaits and as Romero said they will have to "keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around".

A LOOK BACK: Tottenham Hotspur have been busy in the transfer market on plenty of occasions, but sometimes they've been beaten to the punch on targets

Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt will forever go down in history as a Liverpool cult hero, but in another world, he might have wound up at Tottenham. The former Feyenoord star scored 51 Premier League goals for the Reds, including a memorable hat-trick in a victory over Manchester United, though things could have been very different.

Kuyt's return of three successive 20-goal seasons in the Eredivisie - two for Feyenoord and one for Utrecht - put English clubs on high alert. Spurs were one of the interested parties, but the timing was wrong.

He ended up staying in Rotterdam, scoring another 22 league goals in the 2005/06 season - second only to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The summer after that, Liverpool had followed Spurs in pushing for a move, and that meant the London side had no chance.

“A year before I went to Liverpool, I had the opportunity to go to Spurs, where the manager, Martin Jol, and chairman, Daniel Levy, expressed an interest," Kuyt told FourFourTwo in 2017. "But it was on transfer deadline day, and at that time I didn’t want to move.

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“Later on, Liverpool became the number one club who wanted me, although all the negotiations took a while. Other clubs showed an interest too, such as Atletico Madrid.

"That’s also a nice club, but once I’d heard of Liverpool’s interest, it was the only club I wanted to go to. From a young age, I’d always liked Liverpool.”

The timing of Kuyt's comments suggests Spurs signed Grzegorz Rasiak after receiving the bad news from the Dutchman. Rasiak was a deadline day signing in August 2005, but was gone within a year, joining Southampton on loan and then permanently.

Kuyt only won one trophy at Liverpool, scoring in the final as they beat Cardiff to win the League Cup in 2012. He left as a fan favourite, though, returning for Liverpool Legends matches in the years since his retirement.

The former striker, now 45, has moved into management. He's currently in charge at Dutch second-tier side Doordrecht, but previously expressed a desire to work with former team-mate Steven Gerrard in the Anfield dugout.

The Tottenham Hotspur captain chose to speak out just minutes after the close of the transfer window, with some remarkable comments appearing to point fingers at the club's hierarchy

Cristian Romero may once again have some explaining to do.

Tottenham's captain waited until just minutes after the close of the transfer window on Monday evening before taking to social media and claiming it was "disgraceful" his side only had 11 fit players to choose from against Manchester City on Sunday.

There's a number of ways to take the Argentine's riposte. At worst, it's clearly a dig at Tottenham’s lack of transfer activity. At best, it shows a lack of thought and respect towards the club and those who run it.

And even that best case scenario, which Romero may well be able to explain away, is really damaging.

Spurs produced a wonderful fightback against Manchester City on Sunday, doing so without Romero who went off ill at half-time. He had been, frankly, dreadful in the first half.

“Great effort from all my team-mates yesterday. They were incredible. I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available - unbelievable but true and disgraceful,” Romero wrote on social media, accompanying the paragraph with a facepalm emoji.

“We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans.”

This is not the first time the World Cup winner has used social media to send a message to those above - and it's not the first time people have suspected his public proclamations may be him agitating for a move.

It's not long ago that Romero’s social media post had to be edited, taking out the word “lies” when talking about a lack of support from the club’s hierarchy.

“At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't - as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies," it originally read.

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Romero is Spurs' club captain, and on his day is a world-class centre-back. When it's not his day, he can be a liability who loses his head and costs his team.

But his comments do cut to the very heart of the club's problem. Leaders. There is a real lack of leadership on the pitch and that is something club bosses are trying to address in the transfer market. Romero is supposed to be a leader, but it almost feels like he was made captain by default, given it among a lack of other obvious candidates.

Tottenham clearly need to improve their squad. They tried to do it in January but were determined not to panic buy. That would be a disaster.

They signed Conor Gallagher for £34million as he became available. Top player, top pro, great attitude. Brazilian youngster Souza also arrived and is one for the future. They also got James Wilson from Hearts but he is for the under-21s.

They did try for more and Thomas Frank even went public on the fact that they tried to get a deal done for Antoine Semenyo, who ultimately went to Manchester City.

Spurs do have a transfer strategy. They want Premier League players and good characters. They will go again in the summer and are determined to stick with and back Frank.

Yes, they have been hit by injuries and it has left them short. But they are still a club struggling and in need of leadership. The dark days have been lightened by results in Europe and marching into the Champions League knockouts.

Romero's words don't help. They don't need him hitting the self destruct button. But with his messaging, maybe he is a player that they could actually do without.

Tottenham were one of the busier clubs later in the January transfer window, and while they failed to significantly strengthen their injury-ravaged first team, one new recruit did come in from Chelsea

Tottenham pulled off a late transfer coup from London rivals Chelsea, securing academy prospect Joel Vidal-Philbert.

The 17-year-old had progressed through Chelsea's system since joining at under-15 level and featured in the under-18 Premier League during the previous campaign.

A club statement confirmed: "We're delighted to announce the signing of Joel Vidal-Philbert, who joins our Academy from Chelsea.

"The 17-year-old winger, with the Blues since his Under-15 year, made his Under-18 Premier League debut last season while still a schoolboy and scored his first goal at that level against Brighton & Hove Albion in January, 2025.

"An England Under-16 international, he went full-time at Chelsea last summer and links up with our Under-18s squad at Hotspur Way. Welcome, Joel!"

Spurs were amongst the more active clubs during the opening phase of the window, securing Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid and Souza from Santos, before suddenly hitting the pause button.

When Tottenham discovered that Rodrigo Bentancur would be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign through injury, Fabio Paratici who has since left, and Johan Lange acted swiftly in their hunt for midfield reinforcements.

Alongside Gallagher and Souza, the club hierarchy also recruited Mason Melia, Elisha Sowunmi, Alfie Dorrington, James Wilson and Vidal-Philbert.

Meanwhile, 11 players departed the club this month, either on temporary or permanent transfers.

Alongside Vidal-Philbert, Spurs pipped Arsenal to the signing of Hearts prospect Wilson on a temporary deal.

The Gunners had initiated discussions for the 18-year-old over the weekend, as Hearts manager Derek McInnes confirmed, but he has opted to join the Lilywhites instead.

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Despite Thomas Frank being light on forward options, it's anticipated that both Vidal-Philbert and Wilson will join up with Spurs' youth setup.

It was a busy transfer deadline day for Tottenham Hotspur and Thomas Frank, summing up an active January transfer window for the north Londoners

Tottenham Hotspur managed to finalise two loan deals in the closing hours of the January transfer window, one of which was a coup over their fierce rivals Arsenal.

Spurs have been active during the winter transfer period, securing permanent moves for Conor Gallagher and Souza, while several young talents have been loaned out. Kota Takai, Jamie Donley, Damola Ajayi and Yang Min-hyeok have all been loaned to other clubs for the rest of the season, with the latter two being recalled from loans earlier in the window before being sent back out.

Brennan Johnson has also made a permanent move to Crystal Palace for £35million. Two additional transfer announcements have since been made, involving a loan arrival and departure.

Arguably, the most significant positive from the past 32 days involves another team agreeing a lucrative deal. With all that said, Football London summarises the headlines from a quieter than expected deadline day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Three deadline day deals sealed

Tottenham managed to outmanoeuvre Arsenal on deadline day to secure the signing of Hearts striker James Wilson. The Gunners had approached the teenager over the weekend and would have been confident about signing him.

But Spurs swooped in by offering a loan with an option-to-buy, while Arsenal were essentially offering him a trial in their under-21s team before making a decision on a potential permanent transfer.

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A separate loan agreement was also completed during the final 12 hours of the January transfer window, with young midfielder George Abbott moving to League One side Mansfield Town. The 20-year-old made just 11 appearances for Wycombe during the first half of the campaign before returning to north London.

Alfie Dorrington has also secured a last-minute temporary move, with the defender joining Salford City following an unsuccessful six-month stint at Aberdeen.

Frank receives £60m boost

It could be argued the most significant January transfer for Thomas Frank doesn't actually involve Tottenham. Late on Sunday evening, reports surfaced Liverpool had agreed a £60million fee with Rennes for central defender Jeremy Jacquet.

Chelsea had appeared as frontrunners to secure his services and had been pursuing a deal throughout January. However, Arne Slot's side have won the race for his signature, with the 20-year-old set to arrive in the summer.

With defensive reinforcements required, Liverpool have been expressing interest in Micky van de Ven as the potential successor to Virgil van Dijk. Securing Jacquet somewhat diminishes their prospects and available budget for Van de Ven, which is likely to be welcomed as positive news for Tottenham.