Ange Postecoglou’s big Tottenham transfer problem as he has some major decisions to make
familiar problem is rising its head at Tottenham Hotspur as the transfer window reaches its final few weeks with the Premier League set to begin
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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has plenty of decisions to make when it comes to his Europa League squad
Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has plenty of decisions to make when it comes to his Europa League squad
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When Mrs Potts sang of a ‘Tale As Old As Time’ in Beauty and the Beast, she may as well have been singing about Tottenham Hotspur’s troubles with balancing their homegrown and foreign player limits.
While the Disney songwriters probably didn’t have Spurs’ player registration compliance and the associated transfer tangles it creates on their mind when penning that particular tune, for Ange Postecoglou the subject is going to cause him some headaches over the coming weeks with plenty of decisions to be made.
Tottenham have four new arrivals of sorts so far this summer in Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and the returning Timo Werner, while Yang Min-hyeok will join the club in January.
So what does that all mean in the context of the club’s squad requirements for both the Premier League and the Europa League and also any potential further transfers? Here’s a breakdown of the current situation.
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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has plenty of decisions to make when it comes to his Europa League squad
Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has plenty of decisions to make when it comes to his Europa League squad
Don’t miss any of the latest and best Spurs news – sign up to the free Tottenham newsletter for updates straight to your inbox
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When Mrs Potts sang of a ‘Tale As Old As Time’ in Beauty and the Beast, she may as well have been singing about Tottenham Hotspur’s troubles with balancing their homegrown and foreign player limits.
While the Disney songwriters probably didn’t have Spurs’ player registration compliance and the associated transfer tangles it creates on their mind when penning that particular tune, for Ange Postecoglou the subject is going to cause him some headaches over the coming weeks with plenty of decisions to be made.
Tottenham have four new arrivals of sorts so far this summer in Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and the returning Timo Werner, while Yang Min-hyeok will join the club in January.
So what does that all mean in the context of the club’s squad requirements for both the Premier League and the Europa League and also any potential further transfers? Here’s a breakdown of the current situation.
Premier League
Ok, we’re starting off with the easy one here as Spurs haven’t got any real problems with their Premier League squad. That’s because the rules in this competition are pretty straight forward.
Tottenham will have to name a 25-man squad for the league for this coming season. Within that, they cannot register more than 17 non-homegrown (foreign) players and the remainder of the squad, up to that total of 25, must be homegrown. However, there is also the bonus in the Premier League that clubs can name any players aged 21 and under within a separate Under-21 list, which frees up space in the main 25-man squad.
For the 2024/25 campaign, Under-21 players will have had to be born on or after January 1, 2003 to make the list so that means Gray and Bergvall will not need to be registered on the main list and the same will go for Hyeok in January.
When it comes to homegrown players, the Premier League describes one as “a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)”
Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie and Pape Matar Sarr have all now moved across to the foreign player list from the U21s list due to their age. Sarr unfortunately does not count as homegrown, despite some hope he might, for complicated reasons explained in full in this article we wrote a couple of months back right here.
So when it comes to the various numbers, the exits of Emerson Royal, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele and Bryan Gil mean that Tottenham currently have 16 foreign players for their Premier League squad, one under that maximum of 17
They also have, with Solanke on board, nine senior homegrown players over the age of 21 – the minimum required is eight – with Ryan Sessegnon, Joe Rodon, Troy Parrott and Japhet Tanganga having departed.
So as we stated, clubs can only name squads of 25 in the Premier League, without needing to include U21 players such as Gray, Bergvall, Scarlett and others. Veliz would have counted on that latter list but has now left for Spain.
That means that should Giovani Lo Celso and Sergio Reguilon leave as expected, then Spurs would have three foreign player spots open in their squad, but only two open overall unless one of the nine homegrown players is not registered. There are three goalkeepers in that latter category in Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman, but we’ll come to why the latter two are important later on.
So in essence that currently allows for two more new signings for Postecoglou without the need for further exits when it comes to his Premier League squad.
That’s the easy part done and below is the current Tottenham Premier League squad as it stands. Now prepare for the mess that is European squad registration
Premier League non-homegrown players (16 currently, 17 maximum allowed): Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Sergio Reguilon, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Giovani Lo Celso, Manor Solomon, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Pape Matar Sarr.
Premier League homegrown players (9 currently and eight minimum required): Dominic Solanke, Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Alfie Whiteman, Ben Davies, Oliver Skipp, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Djed Spence.
Notable Under-21s players: Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Alfie Dorrington, Jamie Donley, Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine, Ashley Phillips.
Europa League
Right, make sure you’re fully awake and concentrating for this one because it gets a bit messy with European squad limits and different classifications.
The first immediate difference from the Premier League rules is that the under-21s list is called the B list and in UEFA’s eyes it only applies to players who have spent two years at the club, so that means Gray and Bergvall do not apply and neither does Ashley Phillips, while Veliz also would not have qualified had he stuck around.
The other major difference for the A list comes in the classification of homegrown players, which in European competition falls into two different categories.
But let’s start with the basics first. UEFA’s rules state that no club can have more than 25 players on their A List during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers and that list must be submitted online by September 3.
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