Tottenham have two and a half months to shape Ange Postecoglou’s squad to fit the needs of a packed season with raised expectations.
The transfer window has been open for a week and as of this moment Spurs and Chelsea are the only sides that finished in the Premier League’s top six last season to have signed anyone, with the north London side bringing in Timo Werner on loan for a full season and the Blues signing Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer.
None of the top six have paid out a transfer fee yet and beyond that only Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and West Ham have done so with Newcastle bringing in Lloyd Kelly on a free transfer. A few clubs have made loan deals permanent after options to buy were triggered.
Spurs have mainly been busy in moving players out of the club so far with five first team players heading out of the door, while Lucas Bergvall will arrive next month after his £8.5million move from Djurgarden.
Tottenham technical director Johan Lange worked with Postecoglou and chief scout Rob Mackenzie on a plan for incoming and outgoing players this summer which has been in place for months, with top targets and other highly-rated players in case they become available. Some are involved at international competitions which prevents them signing for anyone for a while but Postecoglou told football london last month that he is keen to at least get some faces through the door in time for pre-season early next month.
We’ve taken a look at what Postecoglou’s squad needs to look like in each department by the time the Premier League summer window shuts on August 30.
GOAL KEEPER
This is probably the one area of the squad that does not require an addition unless a bargain that is too good to pass up comes along. Otherwise Postecoglou has Guglielmo Vicario firmly in place as Tottenham’s main man between the sticks with experienced back-up from Fraser Forster and a homegrown player in Brandon Austin with the ink still drying on his new five-year contract.
A decision might have to be made on Alfie Whiteman in the final year of his deal in the wake of Austin’s long contract extension and whether he heads out on loan or finds a new chapter in his career. Spurs have plenty of young goalkeeping talent coming through in the shape of Josh Keeley, who trained with Republic of Ireland’s senior squad this month after stepping across from the U21s, and Luca Gunter, who was in fine form for Tottenham’s double silverware-lifting development side in the second half of the season.
With four goalkeepers aged 25 or above and at least two young stoppers learning their trade, with potential loan moves for them, Spurs are well stocked in this department.
FULL BACK
In contrast, the full-back position will be a busy one for Spurs in the market this summer as this window rolls on. Ryan Sessegnon has already been released and Sergio Reguilon and Djed Spence are not in Postecoglou’s plans following loan spells at Brentford and Genoa respectively, with Tottenham looking for permanent moves for both. The Spaniard is in the final 12 months of his contract, while Spence has three years to go on his.
Emerson Royal has interest from AC Milan, Flamengo and Saudi Pro League sides and Postecoglou is willing to let the Brazilian go should the right offer come in.
That would leave Tottenham with only one natural inverted full-back on either side in Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro, with Ben Davies and Micky van de Ven able to fill in on the left if required.
The indications in the past month have been that Spurs will likely bring in one new full-back who can fill the inverted role perfectly this season and sign a versatile centre-back who can also play as a full-back to help cover the other side.
With Van de Ven and Davies able to do so on the left – with the Welshman, one of Spurs’ few experienced players, tipped to remain at the club this summer – that perhaps lends itself to signing a right-sided centre-back who can play as a right-back, although the early indications appear to be that Tottenham are looking for a centre-back who is comfortable on the left as a signing later in the summer.
