Tottenham Hotspur

An experienced Netherlands international, he joins from Brighton & Hove Albion and has signed a long-term contract with the club.

Jan Paul said: "It's a huge honour to become a Spurs player and when you join such a big club, it's a dream come true.

"I already have a really strong connection with the Head Coach, who I'm looking forward to working with again. Micky (van de Ven) has also told me some great things about the Club, so I can't wait to get started.

"I've been at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as an opposition player and now I'm looking forward to walking out there in front of our fans wearing the Spurs shirt. That will be a special moment."

Sporting Director, Johan Lange, said: "Jan Paul is an outstanding defender who has excelled in the Premier League and at international level, and someone we have been tracking for a number of years.

"As well as his technical qualities and strong defensive instincts, he also has the maturity, character and professionalism that we look for when recruiting players.

"As we continue to build our squad, it is important to bring in players who can contribute immediately while also being part of our long-term vision.

"Jan Paul fits that profile perfectly, and we are excited about what he will bring to the team."

Head Coach, Roberto De Zerbi, said: "Jan Paul is someone I know very well from our time together at Brighton, and I'm delighted to be working with him again.

"He is a strong, intelligent centre-back who is brave in possession and plays with personality. Those are important qualities for the way I want our team to set-up.

"Off the pitch he is mature, a leader and has a hunger to learn and improve every day.

"Jan Paul has made great progress over the past few years and I believe he can develop even further here at Tottenham Hotspur."

Passionate and imposing, 26-year-old centre-back Jan Paul arrives from Brighton where he has become an accomplished Premier League and international defender.

He had initially joined the Seagulls at the age of 20 and on the back of just one season of senior football. He made just 16 appearances for NAC Breda in his debut campaign, which included outings in the second division side’s run to the KNVB Cup semi-finals, before sealing the move to England.

To gain further experience, he immediately returned to his homeland, sealing a loan move to Eredisivie side Heerenveen. Spending the 2020/21 campaign playing top-flight football for the first time, he also enjoyed another run to the KNVB Cup semi-finals.

Experiencing his first taste of English football the following season, Jan Paul moved to Championship side Blackburn Rovers on a season-long loan and enjoyed an outstanding campaign. He went on to be named the club’s Player of the Year, becoming the club's first loan player to claim the award.

His Brighton and Premier League debut came at the start of the 2022/23 as the Seagulls enjoyed their greatest ever season, finishing sixth to qualify for European football for the first time while they also reached the FA Cup semi-finals. Growing into a vital component in Roberto De Zerbi’s side on the south coast, the ball-playing defender made 39 appearances across all competitions the following term, which included seven appearances in the UEFA Europa League.

A constant figure at the back for Brighton, Jan Paul claimed the club’s Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season awards for the 2024/25 season before enjoying another fine campaign in 2025/26 - he registered the second highest number of passes in the Premier League with over 2,500 made while only two players enjoyed more touches of the ball in the competition.

Making his Netherlands Under-21 debut in June, 2022, he earned his first senior cap in September, 2024, in a 2-2 draw with Germany. He has 13 international caps to date and made his World Cup debut on Monday as the Dutch drew 2-2 with Japan.

Welcome, Jan Paul!

Our young side will travel to PIMS Park to take on Peterborough United on Sunday 9 August, kick-off 2pm.

It will provide a unique test for our youngsters against senior opposition in the third tier of the Women’s football pyramid and be key preparation ahead of the 2026/27 Professional Game Academy League campaign.

Supporters will be able to attend the game and tickets will be available via Peterborough United.

Posh won the FA Women’s National League Division One Midlands title last term, remaining unbeaten in 22 league games, and achieved promotion to the third tier for the first time in their history.

Details of further pre-season fixtures for our Under-19s will be confirmed in due course.

The 28-year-old Scotland international has penned a long-term contract in north London and will join us upon the opening of the summer transfer window after four successful seasons at Villa Park.

Ahead of her N17 arrival, here are eight things you may not know about our new forward…

A stellar season

This term, specifically in the Women’s Super League, was one of Kirsty’s best goalscoring campaign to date in her career.

Netting an impressive 12 goals in 22 league games, she finished as the third highest goalscorer in the league – behind Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw and Arsenal’s Alessia Russo.

Her 12 goals also saw her become the highest-scoring Scottish player in a single WSL season, previously beating Kim Little’s 11 goals in 2012.

Right or left footed?

One of Kirsty’s strongest attributes is that she can play anywhere along the frontline, notably on either side as a winger, and the way she scored her goals last season certainly backs this up.

Although she predominately started in a central position in Aston Villa’s attacking line, the eight of her 12 goals came on her left-foot with the other four on her right-foot, showcasing that she doesn’t really have a weak foot.

A familiar foe

Kirsty is name that Spurs supporters will know fondly – but for the wrong reasons.

Since facing the Scotland international for the first time in 2018/19 campaign, when she was playing for Manchester United, she has scored six times against us in the WSL and WSL 2.

Three of those came just this term, where she scored the opener at Brisbane Road before netting a brace as we ran out 7-3 winners at Villa Park in February.

And she didn’t stop there, scoring twice more as we met in the World Sevens last month at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.

Reunion

Kirsty will reunite with Head Coach Martin Ho after the pair worked together at Manchester United for two seasons.

Martin joined Marc Skinner’s coaching staff in 2020 as an assistant manager while Kirsty, who had been at United since 2018, had just completed her first full season in England’s top flight.

Talking about Martin, she told us: “I loved working with him previously as his sessions were just such high standard and really brought the best out of me.

“So, when he obviously got in contact with me about being the one to sign me, I was like, ‘wow’ and I just got so excited.”

Give us a paw

A popular theme in the squad, Kirsty is another player who has her own dog. He’s called Hugo and is a three-year-old cocker spaniel.

Interestingly though, despite being a big fan of dogs since a young age, her dad is allergic to dogs, so she had to wait until she moved out to finally get one… and she wasted no time in doing so.

Learning her trade

Before beginning her youth career in the WSL academies, first joining Manchester United before moving to Liverpool, Kirsty played in a local boys team called Warley Blues Boys with some friends she used to play on the street with.

She believed her time with the boys team helped with the physicality and aggression that she now possesses in the WSL.

Nickname

Upon completing her media duties with us after signing her contract, Kirsty actually revealed that Martin already has a nickname for her.

Answering some quickfire questions for our social channels, she revealed her nickname is ‘Kirky’.

Biggest influences

Speaking to West Riding FA in 2022, Kirsty said that her parents have had the biggest influence on her career.

She told them: “They work so hard to make sure me & my brother are okay so I’ve got my ‘never give up’ attitude from them.

“They drove me all over the country to various teams and camps to make sure I can achieve my dream. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to make it to any sessions when I was younger.

“My mum also used to be an athlete, so she knows what you have to do to be a professional athlete.”

Having joined us last summer from SK Brann, embarking on his first campaign as a Head Coach in the Women’s Super League, Martin guided us to a record-breaking term, securing our highest-ever points tally in a single WSL season to finish fifth in the table.

The Scotland international, who will join us from Aston Villa, has previously worked under Martin during their time at Manchester United, where he was an assistant coach from 2020 to 2023 in their early years in England’s top flight.

Penning a long-term contract in north London, Kirsty spoke of her excitement to reunite with Martin at Spurs and hasn’t been surprised about his immediate impact at the club.

“He's an unreal coach, unreal manager now,” she said, speaking about the work Martin has done. “I loved working with him previously as his sessions were just such high standard and really brought the best out of me.

“So, when he obviously got in contact with me about being the one to sign me, I was like, ‘wow’ and I just got so excited. I couldn’t say no to this because I just want to work under him, I think he's going to be one of the best managers in the world.

“He brings high standards. He always wants to be better. I know him well. He could win like 10-1 and have a disappointment that we have conceded a goal. It just shows how professional he is and I like to be a part of that. He wants to win things – and that's a big thing I want to achieve in my career.”

Watch | Kirsty's first interview as a Spurs player

In Profile: Kirsty Hanson  Tottenham Hotspur

Djed was a late substitute in the game, coming on to make his World Cup debut and help the Three Lions grab their fourth goal to cement the victory in Dallas.

Luka had started the game as England made a fast start, our all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane scoring a retaken penalty on 12 minutes after a foul from former Spurs midfielder Luka Modric on former Spurs academy player Noni Madueke in the box.

Martin Baturina levelled with a stunning strike on 36 minutes before England were ahead again - Kane once more - but Petar Musa levelled in added time to see the sides go in at 2-2.

Thomas Tuchel's side started quick once again after the restart and retook the lead once more as Jude Bellingham got on the scoresheet and they should have probably gone to score a few more but for some heroics from goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

Djed came on with 10 minutes left and almost scored with one of his first touches of the ball but his prod was denied by Livakovic after a breathtaking run from deep.

England eventually put the game out of sight with Rashford's strike, six minutes from time, and Djed was involved, stretching the defence to allow Saka to thread in the Manchester United forward.

Next up fro Djed and England is the test of Ghana on Tuesday 23 June (5pm) while Luka's Croatia take on Panama on Tuesday morning (12am).

Choose your all-time Spurs World Cup XI

The versatile defender spent almost 10 years in our colours through until January, 2024, during which time he represented England at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, plus the European Championships in 2016.

Now playing for Monaco after 18 months at Bayern Munich, Eric revealed last week that he’d spoken to his former Spurs team-mate Djed Spence ahead of the full-back’s involvement at this summer’s tournament – and now he’s looking forward to seeing how his old boss in Germany, Thomas Tuchel, uses the talent at his disposal when he takes charge of the Three Lions in Dallas this evening.

“I’ve worked with Thomas Tuchel (at Bayern) and he’s a fantastic manager, a fantastic person, his staff as well,” he said. “I was only with him for six months, but I thought he was fantastic and very charismatic, very intelligent.

“I think England have a squad full of quality. There's five or six nations that probably feel they have everything they need to win it, so it’s then about the details, set pieces, defending well – two huge factors. I look back at the finals I was involved in for Spurs – Man City in the League Cup, that was a corner. Chelsea in the League Cup, also a corner. The Champions League Final was a penalty and a second phase from a corner. It's very small margins at times.

“I'm just trying to think back to the World Cups and the Euros I was part of and the games don’t get any bigger. You have to you have to tread carefully all the way through, because every game is difficult in different ways and the level of football has increased massively – the tactical discipline and physical capabilities have improved drastically, especially in what you might see as the ‘smaller’ nations. So, it's a long journey, but England have everything they need.”

SPURSPLAY

Joining us from Aston Villa this summer and signing a long-term contract with the club, Kirsty can’t wait to be part of our journey.

An experienced player in England’s top flight with 125 WSL appearances to her name, the Scotland international will be a figure familiar to Spurs fans from our time in the FA Women’s Super League 2 and our seven seasons in the top tier, having had spells with Manchester United and most recently Villa.

A player with explosive pace, dynamic movement and clinical finishing, the 28-year-old comes off the back of an incredible campaign for her previous side, netting 12 league goals in 22 games to finish as the third-highest goalscorer in the league, but she is now ready for a new challenge and believes the club is at an exciting point.

“I'm absolutely delighted,” she told us. “It's an exciting time to be a part of this club and I'm so excited to get started.

“It's tough to move away from a club like Villa that I've loved for four seasons, but I'm ready for a new challenge. Martin [Ho], the club, the staff, the players, I think they're at such an exciting point and I want to be a part of that.

“It was so tough to play [Spurs] the season just gone. Even though it was tough, being on the end of such a heavy loss against them, I was like, ‘wow, they play unreal football’. You can see the level of detail Martin's brought in – they all work hard together, which is important to me.

“I like to be part of a hard-working team and who want to do it for the team. Obviously, there’s so much talent in that group, so I’m excited to play alongside them and also learn off them as well. We've got some world-class players and I want to be able to soak up everything that they've got and hope I can help them out as well.”

Working with Martin during their time at United for a number of seasons, Kirsty was full of praise for our Head Coach and can’t wait to reunite with him. “He's an unreal coach, unreal manager now and I loved working with him previously.

“His sessions were just to such a high-standard and really brought the best out of me. So, when he obviously got in contact with me about being the one to sign me, I was like, ‘wow’. I think I just got so excited.”

Kirsty notably scored against us in both of our meetings in the WSL in 2025/26, but she details exactly what we can expect from her when she pulls on the Lilywhite shirt.

“I'm a hard-working player,” she explained. “I'm very driven, motivated, but I've also got an eye for goal. I want to help the team go forward, whether that's in attack or to drive forward.

“But, also my defensive duties, I'm very defensive. I like to get stuck in, win the ball high up for the team. I'm very much a team player.”

Starting amongst the substitutes for his nation, he was thrust into the action just before the hour mark for Real Madrid's David Alaba with the scores level at 1-1.

Having seen Romano Schmid's first-half opener cancelled out by Ali Olwan just after the restart, Kevin was then in the thick of the action as a Yazan Al-Arab own goal restored Austria lead before Marko Arnautovic sealed the three points with a penalty, 12 minutes into added time.

The game in San Francisco marked Kev's 33rd senior appearance for his nation.

Next up for the defender and his nation is the challenge of Cristian Romero and Marcos Senesi's Argentina on Monday 22 June (6pm UK).