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Liverpool supporters could be forgiven for feeling a slight sense of foreboding when they inspected the team sheet ahead of Andoni Iraola’s first domestic cup match as head coach.

Not only were several key men given the night off against Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, but amid 10 changes, the Basque boss selected three relatively recent youth-team graduates.

Trey Nyoni, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas had started just nine previous times between them, yet Iraola had no qualms throwing them in against Spurs’ lavishly assembled line-up.

It was a decision that speaks to Liverpool’s general direction under the former Bournemouth manager.

Iraola’s eagerness to embed younger players should not come as a surprise. It was a hallmark of his time at the Vitality Stadium, when Bournemouth signed Rayan, Eli Junior Kroupi, Milos Kerkez, Alex Scott and Dean Huijsen, all of whom were trusted as teenagers to hold down a regular first-team spot.

That, in part, convinced Liverpool of Iraola’s suitability to replace Arne Slot. He aligned with a long-held view that academy graduates can form a staple part of the Reds’ squad and supplement the team’s world-class talent.

Plans to build a state-of-the-art indoor dome pitch at their Kirkby base speak to the importance placed on a youth-team pathway, a strategy synchronized through executive level and the first team.

Jurgen Klopp’s youthful Carabao Cup final-winning roster in 2024 – which included Nyoni, McConnell and Koumas – is testament to that. But under Slot, youth-team graduates were afforded fewer chances, a fact that sat uneasily with many supporters, as did the sales of talented protegees Jarell Quansah, Tyler Morton and Ben Gannon-Doak.

Admittedly, that can be seen as a sign of success for the academy. With Liverpool’s recent penchant for signing £100m+ players, there is only so much headroom for underage progression. Even still, it has not gone unnoticed how Nyoni has already made three Premier League appearances this season, half of his total from last term.

Iraola’s approach differs from his predecessor’s. While Liverpool insiders would reject the notion the 44-year-old represents a radical shift, he actively seeks to incorporate the club’s talented youth-team starlets.

During his first official club interview, Iraola referenced the need to observe the Under-21s personally ahead of the summer tour to the US. He later labelled the performances of the young players as the biggest positive from pre-season.

“I think we will need them during the season,” Iraola said. “They’ve shown me that they have the level, they can give us quality minutes, a good level in training and I’m sure some of them will stay with us.”

Full-club alignment

Relying on a cohort of youngsters – which also includes Luke Chambers and Jayden Danns, who have been named on the bench this season – has another advantage. It allowed Liverpool to funnel their financial resources into signing fewer, higher-quality signings, and gave greater latitude for squad cost ratio calculations.

In a summer where Manchester City recruited three star midfielders, Liverpool allowed Curtis Jones to leave without an obvious replacement, safe in the knowledge Nyoni and McConnell were on hand.

Likewise, as Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur looked to add depth at left-back, Liverpool opted to retain the previously redundant Kostas Tsimikas as back-up, alongside Chambers.

It is a policy that is not universally popular. There has been criticism that Liverpool didn’t sign a direct replacement for Mohamed Salah. Again, the club’s strategy was more convoluted.

Few expected Koumas to play a significant role on the back of a campaign where he was named a Championship substitute 31 times. Yet after just one week of pre-season, Iraola had seen enough to be convinced of the Welshman’s credentials. Any prospect of a summer exit was quashed. It allowed Liverpool to instead prioritise the signing of another elite attacker: Bradley Barcola.

And despite the competition for places, Koumas has featured in five of the Reds’ seven games this season. That the 21-year-old has played over so many senior matches during his fledgling career helped solidify the view that he is now “first-team ready”.

His performances have also vindicated Iraola’s summer assessment, with Koumas earning praise for his “contagious” work rate. Sources speak of a tenacious youngster who is determined to forge a career at Anfield, but also willing to show patience.

Crucially, as for any juvenile talent, the winger grasped the chance at club level when it was presented. The same can be said of Nyoni and McConnell, with all three praised internally at Liverpool for their commitment, versatility and how comfortable they look in the first-team environment.

It is why abundant Championship loan interest in McConnell was never considered, while Nottingham Forest’s advances for Nyoni were rejected. There is a belief the trio are Premier League-ready if an injury crisis were to strike.

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That results at academy level have generally improved over the last year should also not be overlooked, all while the club ambitiously scour the globe for the top young talent.

The ultimate appraisal will always come on the pitch, of course. In that sense, Liverpool’s policy has been justified.

Manchester City could face compensation claims from players and managers who missed out on Champions League and title bonuses as part of a legal bill that could run to hundreds of millions.

It is understood that an independent commission has found City guilty of the vast majority of the charges brought by the Premier League.

City say the “process remains ongoing” but the ramifications if the verdict stands are huge.

Sanctions will be decided in the coming weeks – with the Premier League and City able to make representations to the panel – but as well as possible points deductions and huge fines, the club could be liable to compensation claims.

So far, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are the four clubs that have “reserved the right” to seek compensation if the verdict is upheld.

But legal experts have told The i Paper that others could yet decide to join in – and that players and managers of rival clubs who missed out on bonuses may also have a claim. Rio Ferdinand and David De Gea have already – perhaps tongue-in-cheek – speculated that they may be awarded titles for the era in question.

Clubs may have been emboldened by Burnley, who won £35m after taking action against Everton for a financial breach in the 2021-22 season.

Burnley argued Everton’s transgression had a direct impact on their chances of staying in the Premier League and, after assembling data to back up the case that the breach had a material impact on the final placings, won.

Everton are appealing the decision, but Burnley’s success illustrated that a theoretical case based on “loss of chance” can prevail.

The clubs that could be entitled to millions

United (twice, in 2012 and 2018) and Liverpool (in 2014) were denied the title, but Tottenham missed out on Champions League qualification between 2011 and 2013 and that could actually prove to be a more lucrative claim. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Spurs could be looking at a claim of around £50m for lost revenue.

“Overall, the bill could be hundreds of millions if you look at the number of clubs involved,” Maguire told The i Paper.

“You would calculate the size of the claim by looking at the rewards of qualifying for the Champions League and the potential prize money. For winning the Champions League it is €150m. It’s €40m for the Europa League, so you would look at the amount potentially lost by competing in one competition rather than the other.

“Some clubs who finished fifth will be looking at a minimum of €50m claim for loss of prize money.

“Then you could legitimately say that instead of hosting Bayern Munich or Real Madrid on a Wednesday night, we ended up hosting the second-best team in Denmark on a Thursday night, so our gate receipts were down. Bonuses from sponsors are down too. All of that goes into the claims.

“I think individual clubs’ claims could exceed the amount Burnley settled for.”

Players could also mount claims

While clubs might end up looking to negotiate a settlement – which happened between Leeds and Everton in 2024 over the latter’s financial breach – there is also the possibility that players look at claiming for missed revenue during the period.

“At present it’s seen as a remote chance but could players on an individual or class action basis take action based on bonuses missed out on?” Maguire said.

“I’ve seen contracts with a 25 per cent pay rise for playing in the Champions League. A player on £4m-a-year has been denied £1m. If there’s 25 people in the squad, that potentially adds up.

“By the time you take into account individual clubs and players over a long period of time, you could be talking nine figures.”

The i Paper has been told that plenty of clubs are talking to lawyers even though – so far – only four have sent City Football Group notice of their intention to bring a claim.

But another source said that litigation could be costly and time-consuming, and most would only proceed if they felt they had a “slam dunk” against City.

‘It could be years of case after case’

While there is little sympathy for City among leading executives at other clubs, with some expressing relief that the end game may well be in sight, there are many who are concerned about how the footballing discourse in this country could become a “legal mess”.

The general “murky nature” of the charges will make any legal action hard to define. The fact that City are set to be found guilty of varying infringements will only complicate things further.

“It could be years of case after case,” one source close to senior figures at a top Premier League club tells The i Paper. “Of course, if you can get your hands on extra millions in compensation, you will take it. Especially if it is at City’s expense.

“The worry is that so many will try their hand, even when there isn’t really a proper case to make, and clog up the legal system. It could take years for all the cases to be seen.”

Suing for loss of Champions League earnings could be a more straightforward one, given it was City keeping teams out. The same can be said for loss of prize money for Premier League placings.

But relegated clubs will be eyeing their slice of the pie too, some suggest, if they are willing to go all the way to the courts.

“I imagine it is incredibly hard to prove, but given the financial struggles at Championship clubs, teams relegated after defeats to City or those who lost several key players to City in that period may be considering action,” a source who has worked at a relegated Premier League team tells The i Paper.

“It may be an issue of quickly examining the possibility, but some will be more persistent than others. It could become a bit of a free-for-all.”

The surprising mood inside rival Premier League clubs

Perhaps because of how long the case has dragged on for – or maybe because many of the executives, players and officials directly impacted by City in the period under investigation are no longer in the same roles – it has felt like there is little “glee” in the wider football world.

Despite the “seismic” nature of the initial verdict – which, City say, is not the end of the process – the mood inside rival clubs feels less triumphant than it was among supporters on Friday.

“It’s good that justice is seen to be done but there’s no winners here, only losers,” was how one Premier League executive described the feelings in his club.

They pointed out that while City should be punished if found guilty, they were not the only club they felt were pushing the regulations to breaking point. Intra-club swap deals and mutually beneficial transfers were mentioned as areas that the Premier League had not managed to get a grip on.

Another high-ranking official The i Paper spoke to said that he wanted any appeal process to be “time-barred” and said the City verdict rumbling for another two to three years was “bad for business”.

“This process has already taken too long. It needs to be expedited in whatever way it can be,” they said.

There is both relief and apprehension about Friday’s revelations. Clubs at all levels are still taking in the gravity of it all, and what it means for them.

“It is hardly surprising news,” one Premier League insider tells The i Paper. “The question is, how valid is it all? We still haven’t heard from the Premier League, which is bringing the case. Has everyone jumped the gun?

“City’s stance perhaps suggests that is the case. But I guess they would say that.”

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There is still a general weariness with this case. The fact it has dragged on so long has infuriated rivals, to the extent where they never believed a verdict would ever come.

Last week’s development restored the faith in the case for some, but for others it was not enough.

“What has changed, really?” another source who works with Premier League clubs tells The i Paper. “We are being told that the appeals process could take years. If anything, we just got a reminder of how frustrating this case is.”

Tottenham Hotspur prop up the Premier League table heading into the bumper-edition international break, taking a measly two points from their opening five fixtures and scoring only twice. This is a rather unbelievable situation, and yet totally believable when you really examine it.

Spurs’ lavish summer transfer window, which cost over £320m, was designed to propel them back up the standings as quickly as possible. Internally, the message coming from Roberto De Zerbi and co, be that behind closed doors or when talking to media, was the aim should always be to finish in first. At this rate, Tottenham would do well to rank above the drop zone again.

There were various factors behind them finishing 17th in back-to-back seasons, though the common thread linking the two campaigns was a crippling injury list that left four different managers – Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and De Zerbi – all hamstrung in some way. Part of the rationale behind their summer spend was that they needed to rebuild a team that wasn’t physically capable of dealing with the modern Premier League. Now, there’s nowhere to hide.

The Tottenham hierarchy seemed more than happy to hand over the keys to transfer activity to De Zerbi, who had only overseen the final seven games of 2025-26. The Italian squeezed what he could out of a freefalling team to survive, but that wasn’t a just-enough excuse to give total autonomy to a combustible character with almost zero experience in long-term management .

De Zerbi has assembled a football team that is borderline useless in both boxes, and has even had the nerve to say financial restrictions held him back in his recruitment drive. Every other team in the top flight has looked more threatening than them so far this term. Perhaps the great irony is that Tottenham winning their first trophy in 17 years came at the cost of becoming way, way too passive about losing games domestically, and they are yet to kick that bad habit. Now that is “Spursy”.

To boot, there is a mentality hurdle that is proving impossible to overcome: Tottenham are now winless in their last 49 games when going behind, a run which stretches back to November 2024.

“It’s difficult to explain because, in my career, 14 years as a coach, I’ve never seen one team like us. So fragile, so inconsistent,” De Zerbi told the press after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Aston Villa.

He has to be held accountable given he signed most of these players and is the one who picks the team, but the rot ultimately goes beyond him.

When the final whistle sounded on the last day of 2025-26, that should have kicked off the inquest in the boardroom. How both CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange lasted the summer, let alone remain in post today, spoke of a club that was not serious about righting the wrongs of the recent past.

Instead, they tried to spend their way out of trouble, though without putting too much thought into where these funds should be allocated. Hey, paying big money directly correlates with success, right guys?

It borders on arrogance that Spurs thought this was their golden ticket back to the top table. It was merely another instance of faux-ambition, acting on impulse first and thinking later (if ever at all). For all the talk of culture and the need for character, they are still severely lacking in those departments.

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Tottenham didn’t truly believe they were in a relegation scrap last season until February, when they finally sacked Frank and brought in Tudor as interim. To then fire the brooding Croat was the final panic-station move they could make. The alarm bells should already be ringing again with De Zerbi, even if he is not the sole party to blame.

How long will it take the club to accept they could be dragged into another serious situation this time around? That the Premier League’s middle class is more predatorial than ever and will eat up this Spurs like the vulnerable prey they are? Why would the team who just came 17th (twice) be safe from relegation conversations when they look worse than ever?

To paraphrase Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean, you best start believing in relegation battles, Tottenham Hotspur – you’re in one.

This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

Hello and welcome back to The Score, my weekly column on the biggest talking points of the Premier League weekend. For the new season, we’ve given it a little revamp – with a new structure and some shiny bells and whistles at the end. Please let me know your (positive) thoughts on social media: @danielstorey85

If the quality of opposition – and Brighton were magnificent to a man – disallows this from entering the pantheon of great Premier League shocks, the manner in which Arsenal capitulated under serious pressure caught us all off guard. Anybody who tells you that they saw this defeat, in this way, coming is lying to your face.

Arsenal could not cope with Brighton’s energy. There is no other explanation. Fabian Hurzeler’s team give the impression of a whirlwind when at their best, swarming you out of possession and then ducking and diving and swapping positions when they win the ball.

That’s evidently slightly misleading: what looks like chaos is actually organised and pre-planned. It’s similar to how Eddie Howe’s Newcastle occasionally got into Arsenal’s face at St James’ Park. You whip up a storm on the pitch and in the stands and you take your chance that you will unnerve a champion team. It was instructive how Arsenal’s senior players (David Raya, Gabriel and Martin Odegaard in particular) were incapable of instilling calm in the rest.

One explanation is that, after a year of a very settled team, there was some unfamiliarity in this Arsenal XI. Ezri Konsa is a new partner for Gabriel, who looks a lesser central defender without William Saliba and seemed unsure of whether to engage or fall back. Jurrien Timber was making his first start after injury and looked rusty.

Arsenal lost the game in midfield because Bruno Guimaraes was wretched and he should have been substituted at half-time. It’s reasonable that the demands of Mikel Arteta’s football takes some time to acclimatise to, but Bruno looked heistant in possession and too easy to pass through without it.

With Odegaard further forward and ineffective, it left Declan Rice as effectively a one-man midfield. That’s never going to be enough with Brighton’s high energy. Rice’s frustrations was epitomised by his kick out that could easily have prompted a red card.

The other theory is that Arsenal are simply not used to this happening and so struggled to adapt with Brighton running riot (an observation that was made about Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City from time to time). In the Premier League, they had trailed in only two away games in 2026 (Manchester City and Bournemouth). They are just not used to getting flustered.

Conceding three goals in a match for the first time since 2023 is stronger evidence for Arsenal’s general relentless excellence more than it is a reason to panic now the streak has ended. Their closest title rivals are not going to be perfect, although we should welcome any handbrake at all placed upon a procession season. This is probably only a blip and, to paraphrase what Arteta said to open his post-match press conference, Brighton are a damn good football team.

Still, we have a faint blueprint, even if it is never a guarantee and requires a double dose of bravery. This Arsenal team has proven that it is too good for you if you simply try to survive. The only hope is to bring the noise, use 60 per cent of your energy in the first 30 per cent of the match and try to firmly shove them off their stride.

We need to talk about Forest’s home record

The most baffling football team in the Premier League (and yes I’m almost certainly so emotionally invested that I can never think anything else). Forest have been really very good away from home over the last couple of years, but they will forever have a lower ceiling upon their performance than anybody involved would like if they remain incapable of improving their home record.

In 2026, Forest have won one home league game (against Burnley, who are now bottom of the Championship). It is the main reason Sean Dyche was sacked, the main reason Vitor Pereira is no longer here and the main reason Oliver Glasner has not made his mark yet.

Forest have played Leeds, Tottenham and Coventry at home and failed to score a single goal. Until that improves, they will remain in the relegation conversation simply because it has been so long since they used the City Ground to generate any meaningful momentum.

Spurs fan mood dictates what happens next

For now, Roberto De Zerbi will retain the trust and faith of Tottenham Hotspur’s hierarchy. As my colleague Michael Hincks wrote on Saturday, Spurs are pretty good in 81.5 per cent of the pitch – it’s the incompetence in both penalty areas that is costing them (and is quite a big deal).

The complication is that De Zerbi is reportedly the highest-paid manager in world football, his win percentage currently stands at 29 and his only victory this season – after that lavish spend – came against Charlton Athletic of the Championship in the League Cup. If the mood of “we’re actually playing OK” stands up to scrutiny, it becomes meaningless if you then crumple into a ball and only start playing again when the contest is over.

The mood of the fanbase is instructive now. De Zerbi will stress the importance of time on the training pitch over the international break. Spurs’ next four home opponents are Coventry, Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Fulham. Supporters who left early on Saturday are waiting for something to cheer. It has been too long.

That run is the chance – probably their last one. Even if Spurs are beaten at Manchester United, Chelsea and Leeds around the four home games. De Zerbi has to claw some goodwill with 10 points in those fixtures. Take seven or fewer and this quickly becomes another stagnation season.

Manchester United are caught between two gears

Watching Manchester United is a deeply infuriating experience, even for a neutral observer. Their basic problem under Michael Carrick is that they are at their most potent when the game is open and quick. Bruno Fernandes can drop into space. Marcus Rashford and Bryan Mbeumo can run beyond full-backs and Matheus Cunha can play more like an attacking midfielder than a nominal centre forward.

The problem with that? United are incapable of playing a match in this gear without leaving themselves exposed in central midfield and defence. That is why they were so ponderous in the Manchester derby. Even with an extra player on the pitch, Carrick was still worried about the threat on the counter. He thus ceded territory to a team who hurt them anyway.

For more on the very many reasons why I don’t think this is going to work out for Carrick, read more here.

Gameweek 5 highlights

Goal of the weekend – Manchester City vs Sunderland

I’m not doing it and you can’t make me. I’m not picking one goal when what you must do is go and watch all eight goals from the Etihad. Antonio Semenyo, Jeremy Doku, Brian Brobbey and Enzo Le Fee were all brilliant and that barely covers half of it. One of the most entertaining and highest-quality attacking Premier League matches I’ve ever watched.

Statistic of the weekend

Brobbey is the fourth player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick against the side starting the day top of the table, after Robbie Fowler vs Aston Villa in November 1998, Dirk Kuyt vs Man Utd in March 2011, and Romelu Lukaku vs Man Utd in May 2013 (Opta). He really is very good indeed.

Villain of the weekend – Emiliano Martinez (Chelsea)

It’s not that Martinez is a bad goalkeeper. It’s that he has been promoted (and self-promoted) as the best in the world when he’s nowhere near it. He parries shots into dangerous areas, can make shots into the bottom corner better than they are and his kicking is often erratic. And we’ve seen all of that at Chelsea and under the brighter spotlight.

Player of the weekend – Pascal Gross (Brighton)

With apologies to Brobbey, Gross has run two magnificent Brighton wins in four days through his majestic positional sense, composure under pressure and frankly disturbing energy levels given his age. I thought Brighton were guilty of romanticism when bringing Gross back at the age of 35. I am an idiot.

A ghostly chair sits empty at the top of Tottenham’s table. Despite this being one of their more valiant fightbacks, the scars of the past 18 months are not imaginary. Visible scar tissue has been gouged from this attack.

Defeat at Anfield in the Carabao Cup was partly self-inflicted, with eight changes from the XI that started in the stalemate with Everton. All three Liverpool goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai were spectacular, but Mac Allister’s was the defining one simply by virtue of being the first. In 46 attempts since November 2024, Spurs have not won a match after conceding the opening goal. They are the precise opposite of a team that doesn’t know when it’s beaten.

In the moments after Conor Gallagher’s consolation header, it might have been different. Something, at least in a rudimentary form, is clicking. The best chances came and went, spurned by Lucas Bergvall, straight at Giorgi Mamardashvili, and Mohamed Kudus, who blasted over.

Omar Marmoush was denied an equaliser by a miraculous Mamardashvili save – he is no out-and-out striker. There is only one of those available and Dominic Solanke started on the bench.

It is becoming harder to escape the conclusion that in spite of the millions spent, Spurs have made their attack weaker in material terms.

Spurs’ attacking problems

Not so much a case of absent hope, but of absent friends. Amid the glaring lack of a centre-forward, it was the one occasion when Richarlison was eligible to play, having been left out of the Premier League squad for asking to leave.

Proposed moves to Everton, Turkish side Trabzonspor, and CR Vasco da Gama in his native Brazil collapsed. Since then, he has been sent to perish in exile, behind a phone screen, posting sad replies to whatever attacks Roberto De Zerbi has made upon him this week.

Just six months ago, a triumphant Richarlison rocked up on Merseyside to salvage the first point of Igor Tudor’s brief reign. It would play a part in keeping Spurs up. The determination to freeze him out might have looked a masterstroke if De Zerbi’s side had started the new season better.

With results as they are, it increasingly feels like stubbornness. An unedifying spectacle that is hurting Tottenham more than it is healing any dressing room angst. The same could be said of the weekend’s public berating of Mathys Tel, who is playing like a 20-year-old whose confidence is shot to pieces.

Luca Williams-Barnett, another young forward who might have been given his own opportunity in a weakened side, was cast out to the U21s again, on the scoresheet against Dinamo Zagreb just as the senior team were relinquishing their best hope of a trophy. Will Lankshear, who left for Middlesbrough in the summer, was scoring his eighth goal in all competitions this season.

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Where Tottenham were wasteful, Liverpool were clinical. Much like Richarlison, Mac Allister is not part of his manager’s long-term plans. There is no comparison as to how the two situations have been handled. It is no secret that Mac Allister is unhappy at not being offered a new contract, so the World Cup winner first struck his revenge in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid and followed that with a goal and assist here.

The other criticism of De Zerbi will come from those who suggest he did not take this competition seriously enough. He has complained of his senior players not being sharp and still several were rested.

The No 10 position ought to be a source of great solace, given it is where Spurs’ most naturally gifted operators sit. Instead, Xavi Simons is a long way off returning, James Maddison is not able to play 90 minutes, and Mateus Fernandes, when he plays further forward, is similarly being nursed carefully. Whatever the personnel, the same problems remain.

There’s hardly been a worse time to be a Tottenham Hotspur player than the last couple of years.

No other side in Spurs’ history has finished one place above the drop zone for two seasons in a row. This was meant to be the club’s golden era, building from the strong foundations of the 2010s. The infrastructure is in place and there’s a fresh trophy in the cabinet in the form of the 2025 Europa League.

When it comes to squad-building, Tottenham still have a pulse on promising talent, though very few of those diamonds in the rough have survived the pressure to become jewels of any substance.

Lucas Bergvall was signed from under the noses of Barcelona and has shown only glimpses of his ceiling. Archie Gray is popular among fans, players and coaches alike but risks becoming a poor man’s James Milner if he doesn’t nail down one position. Destiny Udogie and Micky van de Ven haven’t hit the same heights of their respective debut seasons.

Pape Matar Sarr has been cast aside to Juventus on an initial loan. European hero Brennan Johnson was sold to Crystal Palace in January. Luka Vuskokic got out before even wearing lilywhite, perhaps recognising this pattern of unfulfilled potential.

And there is currently one youngster taking more flack than anyone else. Mathys Tel, the former Bayern Munich prodigy, has had a particularly turbulent time in north London since arriving in February 2025.

Then 19, Tel probably wasn’t physically ready for the rigour and vigour of the Premier League, especially in Ange Postecoglou’s failing system. When the Australian was replaced by Thomas Frank, Tel fell further down the pecking order, finding himself excluded from Tottenham’s Champions League squad for the first half of 2025-26.

Frank would find himself coming to Tel in break-glass-in-case-of-emergency situations. He was massively influential off the bench in 2-2 draws with Manchester United and Newcastle and he opened the scoring in a 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth. But, like everyone else at Spurs, Tel’s flaws have been more glaring than his strengths of late.

He has become more of a mainstay under Roberto De Zerbi, as well as short-lived predecessor Igor Tudor, in part due to a lack of viable alternatives, but also because of his enthusiasm and commitment. If there is one constant about Tel among his various inconsistencies, it’s his work ethic.

There are many mitigating circumstances to explain Tel’s stagnant development. The turnover of four managers with vastly differing philosophies, all with vastly different plans for the club, has been the most concerning.

Beyond that, Tottenham have been plagued by an injury crisis which has even touched those who have remained healthy, with Tel the chief culprit of simply playing a lot more under intense scrutiny and pressure than he ought to have been. Add these ingredients to a relegation battle and a hostile home environment, which itself has brought mental drawbacks, and you have the perfect sh*t sandwich.

So, what can Tel control? What’s a feasible way for him to improve amid the chaos? For starters, a run out of the first XI would do him wonders, and Spurs’ improved depth in this department ought to allow that. He notably wasn’t outcast by De Zerbi when other key players were.

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Tel has grown away from the electric, threatening wide forward who was so highly rated at Bayern, prioritising taking the full-back on to go round the outside instead. He leads the Premier League with 10 dribbles completed so far this season, but that’s not when he’s at his most dangerous.

The best version of Tel is the one who marries his trademark tenacity with simply getting shots away. Spurs don’t have many natural scorers left in their ranks having jettisoned Richarlison to the Nether Realm. If Tel wants inspiration, he should look at the transformation of Son Heung-min 10 years ago, when he shed away the habits of drifting outside to come infield a lot more.

Tel was widely courted before he ended up at Tottenham. This isn’t a matter of signing a bad player, rather finding a way to ensure he becomes a good one.

Tottenham are yet to receive any formal bids for Richarlison as the final transfer windows around the world draw to a close.

Spurs’ attacking woes continued on Saturday at Nottingham Forest, where they failed to register a shot on target. They have not scored in any of their opening three league matches for the first time since 1974.

Richarlison is no longer part of the Premier League squad after telling the club he wanted to leave over the summer. De Zerbi hinted it was “not my decision” to leave him out and Spurs now have an expensive exile on their hands.

Richarlison latest

Trabzonspor, the ambitious Turkish Super Lig outfit who signed Mohamed Salah this summer, came closest to signing the 29-year-old. However, The i Paper was told the move collapsed due to “high financial demands”. That included his wages, though the transfer fee was considered the “main obstacle”.

A return to Everton fell through at the end of the English window. It was a separate deal to Iliman Ndiaye and had no bearing on the forward’s decision to move to Manchester City over north London.

Richarlison has also attracted interest from Saudi Arabia, where the window remains open until 12 October and which now looks like the most likely option if he is to get a contract before January. Al-Ahli are among the clubs monitoring the situation.

There are now very limited options remaining when it comes to high-profile leagues, with the following windows still open: Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Greece, Israel and Serbia.

Despite scoring some of the goals that effectively kept Spurs up at Anfield and Villa Park last season, Richarlison declined to sign a new contract.

Three departures

He was not the only player who expressed a wish to move on and Spurs have sold well this summer, raising more than £140m. A key part of that strategy was moving on youngsters without a clear route to the first team.

That saw Dane Scarlett, who has been on loan four times in four years, join Leyton Orient on a permanent deal. Will Lankshear is now top scorer in the Championship after scoring eight times in nine appearances at Middlesbrough. Jamie Donley, who played as a centre-forward at youth level but has since developed into an attacking midfielder, has been sent on another loan to Luton Town.

Marmoush role

Around £145m was spent bolstering the attack with the additions of Savio and Omar Marmoush from Manchester City (a number which includes sizable add-ons of a combined £20m for the pair), and with Mykhailo Mudryk joining on loan with an option to buy. Savio started on the right against Nottingham Forest, with Marmoush as the No 9.

At City the Egyptian’s opportunities were limited by the presence of Erling Haaland, while in Frankfurt he played either as a lone striker, alongside Hugo Ekitike in a two-man attack, or could also be deployed as a No 10 or out wide. Even as a front man he was inclined to drop into a deeper role.

Spurs have been hit by further injuries there. Xavi Simons is still recovering from a torn ACL and James Maddison suffered a shoulder injury in the defeat to Brentford, so Conor Gallagher has been deployed further forward. Sandro Tonali has been the only ever-present in the midfield so far and has had a torrid start after his record £100m transfer from Newcastle.

Fitness and injuries

Dominic Solanke has featured in all four games in all competitions, but his minutes will continue to be managed. Last season, he completed 90 minutes just eight times and was ruled out of 31 games, largely due to an ankle injury that required surgery.

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De Zerbi is also still navigating injuries to Dejan Kulusevski, who has been out for 16 months, Mohammed Kudus, who has been edging back to full fitness, and Wilson Odobert. After the goalless draw with Forest De Zerbi said Mathys Tel “takes too many wrong decisions”

Spurs were at their brightest against Newcastle and showed glimpses of creativity at the City Ground, yet they sit 17th in the table with no goals and no wins.

CITY GROUND — Help! I’m stuck in an Omar Marmoush rabbit hole and can’t get out. Partly because this match is dire, but also because I just can’t figure him out.

The fascination began in the fourth minute at Nottingham Forest, where Marmoush was Tottenham Hotspur’s starting centre-forward and was having words with Mathys Tel already.

Marmoush had shrugged off Liam Delap to find a yard of space inside the Forest box, but he was not found by Tel. His frustration was clear, and inwardly he must have been thinking about the quality he was only recently surrounded by at Manchester City.

Tel is no Jeremy Doku or Antoine Semenyo, that much is obvious, but Marmoush is no Erling Haaland either. No one is, really, but still that is why the Egyptian is at Spurs, where competition for the No 9 role is far less fierce. Alright, tame at best.

With no Haaland for company Marmoush will get more game-time, and the rabbit hole gets deeper when calculating the 27-year-old could clock as many Premier League minutes at Spurs by the end of October as he managed the entirety of last season at City.

That is providing Roberto De Zerbi continues to favour him over Dominic Solanke, and providing he starts to take his chances.

But opportunities like Marmoush’s in the 17th minute make you wonder, when he is penalised for a soft foul on Neco Williams, but only after he shoots wide when one-on-one with Matz Sels.

The fascination deepens. The real question surfaces: is Marmoush really a centre-forward?

De Zerbi was asked as much on Friday. “Normally, if you consider the striker a big animal, he’s not an animal, but he has different characteristics,” De Zerbi said.

“At Eintracht Frankfurt he played as a striker. He loves playing as a striker, but he is a different striker than Richarlison. We have to play with the ball on the grass, short-pass combinations, attack the spaces very well to use Omar for his characteristics.”

A striker that is not really a striker, starting for a Big Six side that have just spent £394m?

Onwards down the rabbit hole we go. It turns out Marmoush actually started his international career on the left wing, and only became Egypt’s starting centre-forward at the 2025-26 Africa Cup of Nations.

He started up front at the World Cup over the summer, too (he was dropped for the round-of-16 loss to Argentina), but in this spell as his country’s No 9 he has scored just three goals in 15 games – a rate that admittedly aligns with his 11 in 55 overall but is not exactly the return of a top-level, international striker.

So, can help Pep Guardiola help me? Surely?

“I see him more as a striker than a proper winger but he is a guy for transition actions,” the former Manchester City boss said in January, and then in May: “He’s a proper striker but Erling [Haaland] is there.”

That doesn’t help, Pep, and now between Guardiola and De Zerbi’s assessments Marmoush is somehow a proper striker, but not an animal like other strikers. Right.

Confusion. Marmoush appears to have more traits attributable to a winger than a “proper” striker. His close control is brilliant, finding space out wide is second-nature, but his hold-up play is lacking, so too his accuracy.

That became clearer in the second half, not because of the free-kick into the wall, but come the 71st minute when he once more found invaluable space out wide after being picked out by Antonín Kinsky’s quick-thinking long ball over the top.

Like the winger he seemingly is, Marmoush expertly cut in from the left onto his right foot, and like the striker he seemingly is not, he hoofed his effort high and wide.

Cue the chants of, “What a waste of money!” from the Forest supporters, and after Solanke replaced Marmoush in the 84th minute, and after Spurs ended the match without a shot on target, this is the incident which De Zerbi brought up first in his press conference.

“We can improve the decision with the last pass,” De Zerbi says. “The situation with Marmoush, where he shoots, [Andy] Robertson was alone behind him overlapping, and if we improve in the last decision, in the last third we can score many, many goals because we have players with big qualities.”

He added: “We could [have] scored three or four goals today, because if you take the wrong decision, you don’t score.”

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Singled out but not the only problem, Marmoush is a work in progress. Somehow he is many things – a No 10, a winger, a wannabe-centre-forward – which makes him nothing at the same time, and while there is undoubtedly a player there, where exactly is the real question.

Out wide in place of Tel? Behind Solanke? Keep the faith at No 9? That is on De Zerbi to figure out, but experimenting on the go, in the Premier League particularly, is hardly ideal for a head coach and club already under pressure.

If there is something Daniel Levy’s former staff can all agree on, it is that he was only one face of Tottenham Hotspur over his 25 years in charge.

“Joe ran the club,” one former manager tells The i Paper, referring to former majority owner Joe Lewis, who handed over his stake to The Lewis Family Trust in 2022. “Joe owned the club, and Daniel ran the club for Joe, but Joe was always on the end of the phone. Daniel didn’t get rid of me, Joe Lewis got rid of me.”

A year ago, Levy departed after a quarter of a century as chairman, a legacy looming as large as the £1bn stadium he installed on the Tottenham High Road.

That legacy is still a divisive subject. He gained a reputation for ruthlessness, with 15 managers in 25 years – just eight shy of the number Liverpool have had in their entire history.

Levy the man

Though deeply private, he on occasion showed a more personal side. One of his former employees told The i Paper he received a kind letter from him after he had been sacked. He loved cars. At the old White Hart Lane, staff would speculate which model he was going to turn up in that day, with his own dedicated parking space close to the old Bill Nicholson gates.

At dinners, he was “good company” but reserved, a man of “few words”. “He’s not going to be the life and soul of the table,” one former colleague said. “But I think that’s just his personality.”

Players were amazed at how hands-on he could be, visiting them at home to seal the deal on contract negotiations. He even knew the kit men.

Rival Premier League executives considered him a shrewd operator, who could be obsessive about transfer negotiations, a detailed man who would never be cowed into paying inflated fees.

“There was never a contract that was a straight contract that you’re happy with, and they’re happy with. You had to fight for most things,” sources added. “That’s the competitive part of Daniel. I always thought he was at his happiest when he managed to get the best deal.”

In 2019, Tottenham allowed Amazon’s cameras to look behind the curtain with the series All or Nothing. Topics spanned including Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking and the arrival of box-office Jose Mourinho. Above all, it pained a picture of Levy as an almost ubiquitous presence – popping up in the canteen, the training ground, the manager’s office.

That was not quite in line with reality. “He never interfered,” insists one of his managers. “Okay, once or twice, there were players I wanted to bring in, there was a transfer we didn’t agree on. But he was not at the training ground – he was there if I wanted to talk to him, but he didn’t interfere.”

Biggest controversies

It was around 2019 that frictions began to reemerge with supporters. “Levy Out” banners began to appear at games. Levy, and Enic more widely, were accused of putting “profit before glory”. The apocryphal lament of 1980s manager Keith Burkinshaw enjoyed a revival: “There used to be a football club over there.”

These should have been halcyon days, with the temporary stay at Wembley finally over, two years after White Hart Lane had been pulverised in N17. Yet, on the pitch, Spurs seemed in perennial decline. A first ever Champions League final masked a decaying squad, just as years later Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League triumph jarred with the team’s 17th-placed finish.

Therein lay the eternal paradox of Levy’s Spurs. Sustainability off the pitch – some success on it, but not enough. Upon Levy’s removal last September, Enic demanded “more wins, more often”.

Some had already made up their mind on the Premier League’s highest-paid chairman years before. The immensely popular head coach Martin Jol, who took Spurs back into Europe, was sacked in 2007. In the early days of everyone having a mobile phone inside the stadium, news of his departure leaked at half-time. By the final whistle, he was one of the last people to find out.

While Levy was not involved personally, leaked photographs showed members of the board meeting Jol’s successor, Juande Ramos, while he was still in a job. There were tensions in the corridors of power as the club flitted between a director of football model and giving the manager full control.

The board then toyed with a controversial move to Stratford, to the ground eventually occupied by West Ham. A rumoured rebrand to “Stratford Spurs” prompted more protests. There were more managerial missteps, from the ill-fitting Ramos to the inexperienced Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, and later sacking Mourinho days before the League Cup final.

A wasted opportunity

Levy had desperately wanted to appoint Louis van Gaal, who ended up at Manchester United instead, and so opted for Pochettino.

The Pochettino years took in two title races, two FA Cup semi-finals, the Champions League final, and briefly established Spurs at the top table. They joined the European Super League, before pulling out due to universal backlash.

With Spurs at their peak, there was an 18-month period between 2017 and 2018 when they did not sign a single player, breaking a Premier League record. The squad had been remarkably organic, full of homegrown talents (Harry Kane, Harry Winks), English prospects (Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose, and bargain signings from abroad (Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris).

Somehow, it became synonymous with wasted opportunity. The trophy drought would extend to 17 years, until it was broken by Postecoglou in Bilbao. The Australian was sacked within a fortnight.

Make Tottenham great again

Many close to Levy felt he was forever shaped by what had come before him. Enic assumed control from Alan Sugar in February 2001, with the east-End businessman having saved the club from financial ruin. Alongside right-hand man Claude Littner on the board, Sugar immediately focused on cutting costs. Levy wanted to ensure Spurs never came so close to catastrophe again.

In the early days, he vowed in his programme notes to “make Tottenham great again”. Still, he was no football populist. He wanted to stay largely out of the spotlight, only making rare public appearances with his family in quiet restaurants around Essex.

People found him “shy” and noted he did not spend much time in “trivial” conversation, because he “lived for work”. By his own admission he was not a “fanatical” fan – others felt his love of the club grew steadily during his time as chairman.

How Levy’s exit changed Spurs forever

Thomas Frank was Levy’s final appointment, with sporting director Johan Lange advocating strongly for the Dane. By the time of the real fallout surrounding Frank, Levy was gone. It was a profound shock on 4 September, 2025, when his acrimonious departure was announced. Insiders described a “business-like ruthlessness” about the decision, with no emotional farewells or chances to say goodbye.

Peter Charrington was confirmed as his immediate successor, taking over as non-executive chairman. Charrington is not involved in the club’s day-to-day running, which falls primarily to CEO Vinai Venkatesham and the executive management team. Lange and director of football operations Rafi Moersen also play a key role in transfers. Lewis’ daughter Vivienne and son Charles, together with his grandson-in-law Nick Beucher – co-chair of Lewis’ Tavistock Group – also have a large influence. The old system of centralised power has been fragmented.

Above all, Levy’s sense of caution went out the door with him. This summer saw a record £394m spent (including add-ons) and the wage ceiling shattered. Levy had first increased wages upwards of £100,000 a week, and later £200,000. In the current climate, they simply had to be raised again if Spurs are to realign with the Big Six.

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The change in direction is not a mere matter of Levy or no Levy. “Daniel, even in the role he had, had a boss,” an ex-colleague said. “If Daniel wanted an £80m player, I never felt somebody in Daniel’s position could do it without authority from the owner.”

His pet projects, the stadium and training ground, were greenlit from above. It fell to him to finalise minor details, even down to the space between different rows of seats in the ground. “For all of those things to have happened, the stadium, the training ground, he must have absolutely had the backing of his boss.”

Tottenham Hotspur were already preparing to take the handbrake off when the reality began to set in that relegation from the Premier League was a serious possibility.

In the months after Vinai Venkatesham took control from Daniel Levy discussions had already taken place around a two-pronged change in transfer strategy – ripping up the wage structure that had kept even the highest earners below the £200,000-a-week mark and planning a record-breaking summer of spending on new arrivals. March’s defeat to Crystal Palace under then interim boss Igor Tudor sent alarm bells ringing that Spurs needed to survive at any cost before fully addressing the squad.

Owners Enic are understood to view this extraordinary £300m window as just one part of a “multi-year plan”. There was an acknowledgment that even aside from the two successive 17th-placed finishes, Spurs had fallen away from the rest of the Big Six. Enic consider Spurs not for sale and it is not thought that any potential sale of the stake Levy still owns would have much bearing on the club’s day-to-day operations. Summer reports that Levy’s shares had been sold were premature.

After last year’s pursuits of Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White collapsed, there was a determination that this summer’s targets had to be treated differently. Newcastle were unsure if Spurs would bid again when an initial approach for Sandro Tonali was knocked back, but they ultimately returned with a £100m offer. Tonali was persuaded to move in spite of interest from Manchester City with the prospect of living in London a major pull.

Mateus Fernandes was likewise a Manchester United target but Spurs were the only club willing to go so high. Although nobody had been given “free rein” on spending, the shift in mentality has been getting Roberto De Zerbi’s desired targets over the line even when fees raise eyebrows – as they did for Jan Paul van Hecke’s £52m move with just a year left on his contract.

When it came to free transfers and new deals, wages were key. Micky van de Ven was being monitored by other clubs, but was tied down to a lucrative contract extension and offered the captaincy after Cristian Romero’s exit.

Marcos Senesi was a free agent but had interest from several other top clubs in the Premier League and abroad. Andy Robertson and Martin Dubravka also came in as free transfers.

Iliman Ndiaye, who opted for a £65m move to Manchester City having held talks with Spurs, was seen as a disappointing miss but unconnected to the collapse of the Richarlison deal the other way. Once City’s bid for Cody Gakpo was rejected by Liverpool, Spurs all but knew Ndiaye was not going to happen.

Instead, De Zerbi wanted to pivot to his former Shakhtar Donetsk player Mykhailo Mudryk, with Chelsea making Spurs aware of Tosin Adarabioyo’s availability after they began a late search to replace Kevin Danso.

Danso was keen to move elsewhere after falling down the pecking order behind Van de Ven, Senesi and Van Hecke. Adarabioyo, 28, is seen as a solid, experienced option with Danso joining Sunderland on a loan with an obligation to buy for £25m.

The i Paper understands Spurs’ wages are “well under control” when it comes to the new squad cost ratio (SCR) rules and they have recouped around £183m in player sales. The big fees came for Luka Vuskovic (to Brighton), Romero (Atletico Madrid) and Djed Spence (Inter Milan) but another £35m was brought in from fringe players like Will Lankshear, Alfie Devine, Alejo Veliz, Ashley Phillips and Manor Solomon.

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Internally there has been a concern at the lack of academy players coming through to the first team and at the same time an acceptance that those without a clear route to the senior squad – many of whom had had several loan spells and seasons of uncertainty – should be moved on.

Sporting director Johan Lange has been paying renewed attention to the academy. There is less of the “hands-on” approach around the training ground that was felt under Levy but the owners want a serious “rebuild” at all levels. That no longer falls to majority owner Joe Lewis, 89, but Vivienne Lewis, Charles Lewis and her son-in-law Nick Beucher have been regular attendees at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Given where the club was last season, there is no panic just yet as Spurs’ poor start to the season with two defeats from two – but there is scope for more additions in January and beyond. Sufficient gaps have been created in the squad for further additions – but this summer is thought to be just the start.