As we head towards the final sector of the season for both the men’s and women’s teams, I thought it would be fun, with the transfer window opening in 10 weeks, to look at what coaches Ange Postecoglou and Robert Vilahamn could be looking to bring in and move on for their respective sides.
Tottenham Men’s
It’s been a fantastic first season for Postecoglou. With eight games to go, the chance of Champions League football is still possible, but ultimately this season has been about the club playing under a new identity, which they’re succeeding in.
Injuries have hampered us, like all Premier League teams, and games have been up and down sometimes. However, I couldn’t be happier with what the big bear Aussie has brought to the club and things will only get better, to quote D:Ream.
I’m sure both the coach and scouting team have been busy identifying potential incomings of a back-up left-back to give Destiny Udogie some competition, a winger who could operate on both flanks and a left-footed (or someone who feels comfortable on the left side) centre back.
I’m sure fans would also argue for a decent deputy for Pedro Porro and a number 6 to sit in front of the centre-backs, stop any counterattacks, control the game and normally start plays.
Personally, with the players I’m letting go, I’m adding one or two squad players to join the incoming Swedish talent Lucas Bergvall into the first team.
Additionally, Alfie Devine is developing well on loan this season with real step-up performances for Port Vale in the first half of the season and has shown glimpses at Plymouth in the Championship and deserves the opportunity to be a part of the first team.
In other areas, I’m going to move Dejan Kulusevski into an attacking central midfield, as his cutting on the left would cause more damage in the centre behind the forward. This means I’ll be looking for a high-value right winger, who can also play on the left.
Incomings
Timo Werner – RB Leipzig – £15 million
As a squad player, Werner would fit in perfectly as he can cover the forward frontline and is currently having a solid loan. Many of our attacking plays start with him pulling defenders to the left, making the space in the middle and German has the pace to move past and make the pass to set up a go.
Maurits Kjaergaard – RB Salzberg – £12 million
The Danish central midfielder can provide cover in both the CM and DM roles and could be a good choice to come off the bench with his left foot giving something different.
The 20-year-old gets decent match ratings whenever he appears in the Austrian league and Champions League and has a high percentage of pass accuracy with potential in other areas.
After watching his highlights, so I’m taking it with a pinch of salt, he has great control, can shift his feet quickly and runs with great strides. He reminds me of Pape Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur. He would also cost roughly three times less than Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher.
Amadou Onana – Everton – £60 million
It’s a bit shit to kick a club whilst it’s down, but if Everton handled their finances better, they wouldn’t see to sell off their best players, but if you’re spending 92% of all revenue on wages, then you deserve to lose your players.
In Onana, he is the perfect player to slot into Ange’s six role. The 22-year-old scores high percentages in tackles, ground and aerial duels won and has the potential to be moulded into a world-class six under Ange.
Antonee Robinson – Fulham – £25 million
Spurs won’t be the only club looking for a high-class LB with the other top six sides, but luckily Wolves Rayan Aït-Nouri, Pervis Estupiñán from Brighton, Rico Henry and Tyrick Mitchell from Brentford and Crystal Palace respectvely could possibly be in the running for moves.
Robinson is the perfect player to give Udogie competition. His chance completion is brilliant, with currently six assists, and he is great in one-on-one situations in both attack and defence. At 26 years old, the US defender is the ideal age and would adapt to Ange’s style.
Jack Grealish – Manchester City – £50 million
I’ve been racking my brains about who to bring in on the wing. The choices were between Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams, Matias Soulé at Frosinone on loan from Juventus, or England international Grealish.
Ultimately, I’ve gone with Jack because he would excel under Ange. After winning everything under Pep at City, it’s time for the 28-year-old to play regularly and bring the creativity back. Ange seems to be the type of manager to let it blossom, and his Premier League experience would be vital, but he will need to take a wage cut.
I would swap him from the left to being a majority right winger and use his preferred foot, but it’s useful if things need to be switched around and Jack can go to the left.
Riccardo Calafiori – Bologna – £30 million
I was going to go with Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth, but he is so injury-prone that it would worry me, even as a free. I’m going for Calafiori because he’s similar to his English counterpart, but he’s younger and will provide better backup to Micky Van der Ven.
The 21-year-old left-footed centre-back has the pace and strength to take on his man in a one-on-one situation. He has fantastic pass completion stats and would be the ideal profile to provide backup to VDV.
Kyle Walker-Peters – Southampton – Free
Bringing the former academy graduate back to the club for free should be done. The 26-year-old has been brilliant since his move to Southampton from Tottenham and has the pace and skill to become an inverted right-back and a fantastic deputy to Porro.
Finally, I was going to leave the signings as this, but one more wide player/ creative midfielder would be the cherry on top. This deal would either be done early, a week or two of the window opening, or on deadline day.
Eberechi Eze – Crystal Palace – £55 million
Bringing in the 25-year-old would be a massive coup for the club and signals intent, like all the other signings, that they will be pushing on all fronts. The issue is that Man City are also reportedly considering bringing in Eze, which would open the door for Grealish to leave.
He would be Pep’d. He’d win trophies, but he would have to fit Guardiola’s system and lose what makes him, him and the creativity he brings. Also, there’s too many alignments with Eze being under the same agency as Ange and a lot of the Spurs players and one call from the Aussie will be enough convincing.
Total – £247 million
Outgoings
When it comes to outgoings, Tottenham has started well, with Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, and Ivan Perisic bringing the wages down. They’d be joined by:
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – £25 million
Bryan Gil – £10 million
Emerson Royal – £30 million
Ryan Sessegnon – Free
Sergio Reguilón – £10 million
Djed Spence – £10 million
Japhet Tanganga – £8 million
Joe Rodon – £14 million
Troy Parrott – £20 million
Total – £127 million
Maybe
Oliver Skipp – £25 million
Giovani Lo Celso – £25 million
Total – £177 million
Loan
When it comes to loans, the majority of these are graduating from our U21s and still in their teens. They can see how successful Devine has been at Port Vale and Plymouth and the same can be said about his teammate Ashley Phillips.
As for Brandon Austin, getting game time will benefit him when replacing Fraser Forster in the 25/26 season and this will be Tanguy Ndombele’s final loan before his contract ends.
As for Luka Vuskovic (who’s currently on loan at Polish side Radomiak Radom), I’d keep him within the U21s and under the radar of Postecoglou and reassess in January if a loan move is needed to a Bundesliga club or go to Austria and play under RB Salzburg.
Tanguy Ndombele – Anywhere, I don’t care
Ashley Phillips – Play-off/Promotion challenging Championship team, like Coventry or Middlesbrough
Brandon Austin – Top tier League One side
Jamie Donley – Play-off challenging Championship team, like a Coventry
Alfie Dorrington – Dutch side. If not playing, then a second-half spell in League One or Two
Will Lankshear – Top tier League Two side, if done well and second half spell in the Championship
Yago Santiago – Top tier LaLiga 2 team
Jude Soonsup-Bell – Top tier League One side.
Alejo Veliz – Mid-level Serie A or Bundesliga side where he can get minutes.
Tottenham Women’s
Now let’s flip and focus on the women’s side as Vilahamn will want to continue progressing his Tottenham side after a first season that could include an FA Cup final and top the best of the rest table behind the top four clubs.
The squad was well stocked in the January window with game-changers. Amanda Nildén has cemented herself at left-back and Robert has all but confirmed the club will trigger the permanent option on the loan deal from Juventus.
Meanwhile, Nildén’s countrywoman Matilda Vinberg will get a real chance to shine next season after a bright start, and the same can be said about Shuang Wang.
One player I won’t be adding to the outgoings is striker Nikola Karczewska, whose summer loan to Bayern Leverkusen came as some surprise. I guess it was because Martha Thomas was on her way and it opened the door for Beth England to take the nine jersey.
The 22-year-old Pole has plenty to offer to Spurs. She can provide something different upfront compared to Thomas and England, who are pretty similar and that’s why it hasn’t worked when they’re on the field together.
Outgoings
I’m going to focus on outgoings first, as many of these players are already fringe players and are approaching the end of their careers.
Amy James-Turner – Will join her wife in the NWSL
Ramona Petzelberger – Frauen-Bundesliga or Division 1 Féminine club
Becky Spencer – Somewhere she can play regular first-team football
Rosella Ayane – Promoted WSL team or high-tier Championship team
Drew Spence – A great player who will get a mid-table WSL move
Shelina Zadorsky – Either joins West Ham permanently or move to the NWSL
Ria Percival – Women’s A-League before likely becoming Auckland FC’s marquee signing for the 2025/26 season
Maybe
Ellie Brazil – Championship loan
Gracie Pearse – Either loan or permanent move to a Championship side
Asmita Ale – Either loan or permanent move to mid-table WSL club
Incomings
As for incomings, I want to continue to build a squad that can compete with the big four and with the number of outgoings that will include a goalkeeper, two central defenders to compete with Molly Bartrip and Luana Bühler, a back-up left-back, a winger and an England superstar.
Grace Clinton – Manchester United – £600-750k
Not to be overdramatic, but chairman Daniel Levy needs to break not only the domestic transfer record but the overall WSL transfer record to bring in incredibly talented Clinton on a permanent basis. Clinton (under Robert’s coaching) has grown and developed into the player she is now.
Man United is entitled to demand this amount, and I don’t want to witness the break-up of Grace’s wonder twins’ relationship with Celin Bizet. It would be a real sign of intent that we want to change for Champion League positions next season.
Ellie Roebuck – Manchester City – Free
This move depends on Roebuck’s fitness and whether she’s fit and ready to return because that’s the most important thing.
However, if she’s raring to go and wants a fresh start, as Man City has found another goalkeeping gem in Khiara Keating, then North London would be a terrific destination. Roebuck was fantastic last season for City, where she was Mary Earps’ number two in England. Finally, the number of clean sheets will increase.
CJ Bott – Leicester City
I was so impressed by Bott’s performance against Tottenham recently. She stopped everything from attacks to blocking shoots, to the point that it got annoying that every time we were building to something, the New Zealand defender was there to ruin it.
I know she’s mainly a right-back, but with Ash Neville and Charlotte Grant holding those positions and with the majority of the defence gutted out, I would be okay with moving the 28-year-old into the centre and providing cover whenever Neville and Grant bomb forward.
Samantha Kerr – Bayern Munch – Loan
With Bayern Munch announcing the signing of Germany international midfield Lena Oberdorf, this could push Sam Kerr’s already limited minutes even smaller.
So a loan move to the Lilywhites might suit both sides as Tottenham won’t be able to afford a permanent fee for the Scot, who’s under contract at the German champions for three years, and they will see their player get more game time.
At 24 years old, the Scot will want to play as many minutes as possible to help her country get into the Euros and judging by her stats, she could be a great addition with brilliant pass accuracy, dribbling and wins a high number of duels.
Eva Nyström – Hammarby
We’re going back to Sweden to pick up Vinberg’s former Hammarby teammate Nyström. She would feel at home as the Finnish international will be linking up with countrywomen Eveliina Summanen and Olga Ahtinen and the young Swede in North London.
The centre-back had a decent season in the Swedish Damallsvenskan and could easily force her way into the starting line-up. Her pass accuracy was 87% and her strengths were aerial duels and positioning.
Jazmin Wardlow – Central Coast Mariners
Finding a deputy left-back to challenge Nilden every week and who could easily step in if the Swede was injured or Robert wanted to change things around was difficult.
I looked at different players and their stats until I came across Wardlow. The American can handle the ground duels, isn’t afraid to go forward, is a threat in the box from set pieces and has high pass accuracy.
Katie Robinson – Brighton – Free
To gain a young, English talent like Robinson can’t be turned down, especially on a free. Robinson would be an ideal player to come onto a game in the second half, press a tired defence and put in crosses for England or Thomas to get their heads on it.
Being international teammates with Jessica Naz and seeing how Robert has turned Clinton into a regular England player, the potential is there for her to take the next step in her career.
Alternative to Roebuck
Zecira Musovic – Chelsea – £200k
If Roebuck wants to stay closer to her family, the alternative choice would be Sweden’s number one, who has lost her place to the brilliant Hannah Hampton.
I don’t know how Tottenham fans would feel about a Chelsea player joining the club, but we have a history of signing ex-Chelsea players with England and Spence. Adding a top talent like Musovic is a nonstarter, and with the club’s Swedish connections, it would be a seamless switch.
So here are my choices for the summer transfer window for Tottenham Men’s and Women’s to make us competitive for the 2024/25 season.
The Bear Cave 