Forgive me for being a few days late on this, I’m currently on holiday and have been writing it during my limited screen time (which I heartily recommend). As an aside, I could not recommend Hvar more as a relaxing holiday destination.

We went into the summer knowing that there were some critical areas of the team and squad requiring improvement. The appointment of Ange Postecoglou changed these a little, understanding that the new system required specific characteristics and skill sets. For me the key areas for focus were goalkeeper, centre-back, creative midfielder and – particularly if Kane were to leave – a forward.

I think we’ve managed to tackle all of these priorities fairly effectively. What we’ve really struggled to do, though, is add depth — more on that later, but broadly: it’s good that we’re only playing one game a week, as we are going to need to stay fit and injury-free.

Goalkeeper

Guglielmo Vicario is already proving his worth, his ability with his feet is as impressive as his traditional goalkeeper attributes. This is critical for Ange-ball, and we saw in the League Cup exit to Fulham how much the drop-off is to Fraser Forster in terms of our ability to build up effectively. Vicario was a good price, is a good age and seems a good character. I’m really happy with this transfer.

Centre-back

Micky van de Ven is a baller. He’s a good foil for Cuti Romero because he’s less of a maniac, whilst still being Actually Good At Football. He can pass, he can carry, he can play out of tight spaces. He’s also strong, rapid, a good reader, and seems a great fit for the high line. He’s going to be a huge favourite.

Creative midfielder

James Maddison fits Tottenham like a hand in a glove. We’ve wanted to sign him since he was a teenager but it has happened when he’s at the peak of his powers, and for a knockdown price because he was approaching the end of his contract. We got him for around half what a player of his ability should be worth. He is the closest thing we’ve had to a Christian Eriksen since he left (and boy has he been badly missed). When you don’t have a creative player like this, you can’t always quite put your finger on what’s missing — because your team is seemingly doing all of the football things, without this sprinkling of genius — and you end up getting frustrated at players that simply don’t have it in their lockers. Maddison’s vision and execution are exceptional. He can take the ball in tricky situations and look after it, but he can also pick locks that look impenetrable. He can change the tempo with injections of forward thrusts on the ball or zipped passes or, conversely, putting his foot on the ball. What a player. I know I’m going to love watching him.

Attacker

I believe, in an unusual-for-Spurs piece of forward (pun intended) planning, we had already signed our “replacement” for Harry Kane last season in Richarlison. We spent £60m doing it, and we got a player who can play both through the middle or wide on the left. He can press and harass but he can also score goals, illustrated both in the Premier League (mainly from the left) and for the Brazilian national team (nainly form the centre). Clearly he is never going to achieve the levels of output that Kane did for goals or assists — few, if any, in world football can — but he’s a good system fit and a solid player (albeit many are currently feeling doubtful of him).

My view is that Ange Postecoglou’s *system* will help to replace Kane. Indeed, the numbers of goals from defenders and midfielders already show this is already true to some extent. We have the ball more, we have the ball in the box more. Son and Kulusevski will take some time to adjust to the roles required of them when out wide. Both will adapt, because they’re very good players, but they might not be ideal for what Ange requires. With that in mind, I’m a little underwhelmed by some of our rotation options.

Brennan Johnson adds electric pace, versatility and a directness that I think will be genuinely useful. A lot of people have raised concerns over his data: it doesn’t look good when compared to other, similar forwards, or even to other similar forwards at Nottingham Forest. When you watch Nottingham Forest or Wales, however, he stands out — Nathan produced some ‘per touch’ data where things look a lot better.

So if we start to sort some of the attacking attributes we're looking for not by his minutes on the pitch but by how often he actually saw the ball it's a fair bit better pic.twitter.com/Q93SThgMle

— Nathan (@NathanAClark) August 24, 2023

I think Spurs fans who haven’t seen much of him will be pleasantly surprised by what he can bring in terms of running behind and getting onto passes from our creative passers (Maddison and Kulusevski in particular). He doesn’t have one-vs-one dribbling ability in the way you would hope for an Ange winger, but with his pace he will look to play give-and-gos and run in behind at pace. And he has good cut-backs and decent composure in front of goal. I don’t quite know where he fits in yet — right, left or centre — but I do think he’s good, albeit expensive due to the home grown premium.

Ivan Perisic, overall, had a very disappointing time under Conte as a left wing-back. He does already look marginally better under Postecoglou. He is a reasonable match for what’s needed: a winger who can go both inside and out, has the ability to beat his man, and who can cross the ball. But he is an old man now. A rapidly declining old man. A rapidly declining old man who I’m told isn’t exactly a popular member of the squad. I think we’d have let him go had an offer come in.

Despite his very solid showing against Burnley, I have some concerns over the signing of Manor Solomon (and that’s ignoring the circumstances of his transfer). I’ve watched all of his Spurs minutes, all of his Fulham minutes and some of his pre-Fulham minutes and I see a player who is quick footed and can create enough separation to allow him to get shots away when in the pocket on the left. But, he doesn’t do it *that* regularly, and can get doubled up on and crowded out easily. There’s lots of coming towards the ball when under pressure and returning it to where it’s just came from, with him 10 or 15 steps deeper than he was on receiving it. In those situations you want him to be brave and take a touch and try to turn. He’s a very situational player and those situations are: receiving on a counter 1v1 against a lesser player and coming on against tired legs. That skillset has its uses, especially against teams that leave as much space in behind as Burnley did. Glass half full, he’s a right-footed Andros Townsend (which would not be a bad thing). Glass half empty, he’s a marginal improvement on what Lucas Moura had become. Sorry, I know that’s quite a pessimistic take, especially after his providing two assists twice and everyone will yell ‘give him a chance’, but I’ve watched this player and this is what I’ve observed and one match against Burnley won’t make me do a 180 (yet) — though, I trust Ange so much that I frankly think he could get something out of nearly every player.

The most frustrating thing about the Solomon signing for me, though, is that it has clogged up a 25-man squad place, and we’ve ended up in a situation where because we didn’t have enough spaces, we had to put signings on hold. I’d rather have had Conor Gallagher in the squad than Solomon. So, with that, on to midfield.

I think, in terms of our midfield options, in an ideal world we woul want two more profiles — a goal-scoring midfielder (that isn’t the creative one — i.e. not Maddison’s role), and a back-up to Yves Bissouma at six. Conor Gallagher would have given us the profile of the former. Reports suggested that the two players Ange wanted from the off were Maddison and Gallagher. If that’s the case, I think it’s really poor that we didn’t deliver him, particularly if the primary reason we didn’t deliver him was that we did not have space.

The most suitable back-up to Yves Bissouma within the squad is Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, who himself was a central figure in our transfer window. I think there’s a recognition that he’s good enough to start at a lot of teams and, therefore, that he might want to leave in search of a starting berth. It appeared that he’d join Atlético Madrid and, frankly, I think everyone would have been happy with that (assuming they’d have paid a fair price). He’s one of the most divisive players in the Spurs squad and, in the eyes of many, linked to our recent mediocrity. Under Ange, he’s looked really useful as a game-closer, and looked genuinely really good playing as the six in the pre-season friendlies. He seems to have taken his demotion pretty well, but I still expect him to move on in January.

It looked like Bryan Gil was being made available for loan or even a permanent transfer, and there’s a part of me that’s glad that he didn’t end up leaving, since I still believe he has something to offer. He’s certainly one of our few players who has genuine 1v1 ability in wide areas, and his tenacious pressing will be useful. Let’s wait and see once he’s fit.

Ashley Phillips was a ‘one for the future’ signing, but the exit of Davinson Sánchez has made him a ‘one for now’. He has enormous potential and, whilst I’m rolling my eyes a little at how a signing has immediately jumped ahead of our fantastic home grown centre-back, Alfie Dorrington, I’m pleased to see that Alfie’s name has also been mentioned in terms of cover for the first team. I’d have Dorrington — also ‘physically ready’, as people have said of Phillips — ahead of our signing from Blackburn in the pecking order based on Under-21 performances and frankly because it sends a great message to our Academy players, but it’s fairly typical of English football that it works this way instead; Phillips with his 500-odd minutes of men’s football is preferred. How are we providing minutes to our young players? My parochial little rant over, I’m happy to see Postecoglou putting faith in talented young players who fit the system ahead of older, more experienced players who don’t.

There has been a huge amount of criticism of the club, and specifically of Daniel Levy, for the failure to offload several of our players. Even some of those we eventually found loans for were players that sections of the fanbase felt we should have sold permanently or released. I agree with the principle entirely but, from what I know, it’s not as simple as has been made out.

When Mikel Arteta joined Arsenal, he was given permission to get rid of several squad members for little or no money. Within two windows they had sold or released Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian, David Luiz, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis, Mesut Özil and Shkodran Mustafi. Mattéo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira were sent on loans and then left on permanent transfers. Héctor Bellerín and Alexandre Lacazette left the season after, both for nothing. This clearing of the decks was seen in the wider community as fairly desperate and wasteful, but we have to accept that the scorched earth policy worked and led to a genuine title challenge.

Ange Postecoglou, it seems, has been given similar permission. The criticism has been that Daniel Levy — operating without a Sporting Director because he has not yet appointed one — has been asking for too much money for unwanted players, or has been unwilling to tear up contracts. I believe that the truth is somewhere in-between. Whilst it is true that we could agree to mutual terminations of contracts, what we would basically be doing is paying players the remainder of their contract value in order for them to not be registered for the club anymore. Lloris, Perišić, Dier and Forster all have a year left remaining, so would have been possible options for this. Spurs were never going to pay off two years of Tanguy Ndombele’s huge contract, though. My understanding is that Spurs were open to accepting offers lower than they were hoping for for some of our players, but that the players themselves rejected numerous moves. In the case of Hugo Lloris, I am told that he rejected at least four moves. Davinson Sánchez rejected several too, before agreeing to move to Galatasaray, who have Champions League football. Eric Dier wants to see out the last year of his contract before moving to a European team on a free transfer in the summer. So, whilst I think that some criticism can be levelled at Levy — particularly for not hiring a Sporting Director in time to manage the huge amount of business required during the transfer window — some of this was outside of his control. Well, I guess you could blame him for signing them in the first place — though, frankly, not many of them were sneered at at the time.

I would also add that the type of re-build that we are doing here is greater than one transfer window. So whilst it’s frustrating that we end the transfer window with players on our books that we’d ideally like to have shifted permanently (Sergio Reguilón, Tanguy Ndombele, Japhet Tanganga and Joe Rodon spring to mind), we have to project forward one window, or maybe two and remember that these players will be gone, creating more capacity for younger, more suited players.

All this being said, and with some distance from the mania of deadline day, I do think this has been a very promising transfer window overall for us, with the age profile of the squad moving in the right direction, and the squad moving towards being one suited to playing progressive, possession-based, high energy, pressing football. We’ve dealt with key issues, and dealt with them well. We have players we can enjoy watching and who are capable of playing the type of football that Ange wants them to play.

COYS!

P.S. Nathan is currently working on a video about Brennan Johnson, look out for that on The Extra Inch Patreon.

I’m so pleasantly surprised by how much the team has picked up Ange-ball (see: Have Spurs already mastered build-up play?). I honestly thought it would take several months for us to successfully transition from the dismal shit that Conte was trotting out to a modern positional play model, complete with intriguingly high defensive line, intense high pressing, inverted full-backs and a single pivot in midfield.

The first three games of the season were — on paper — tricky. And yet, we’ve looked highly competitive and, at times, dominant in each, improving along the way. For example, the latest game saw, in my view, the best use of substitutions yet. Ange Postecoglou changed the flow of the game with his bench options.

One of those that came on and helped secure the win was Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. He has been touted around this transfer window, and I think he’s a useful player to present as a case study for our squad management in this transfer window (and beyond).

Højbjerg is an interesting one as he’s both our best alternative to Yves Bissouma, and also arguably our best ‘game closer’ in the role he was used in against Bournemouth. But he’s also a highly saleable asset: a competent Premier League player with bags of experience and, at 28, probably either peak age or just post-peak. As such, in this crazy market he must be worth around £35m. The amounts we’ve been offered this window, it seems, fall well below that.

So should we sell? Well, I don’t think so. But the predicament we’re in is that we’ve *already* got too many players for the 25-man squad before we even consider adding new players. So we’ve left ourselves potentially accepting bids for players we’d ideally rather not sell (Davinson Sánchez is probably also in this boat) else we risk players being left out of the 25-man squad and, thus, sidelined and miserable until January and, in the meantime, losing value.

So what do we do? The options appear to be:

• Sell the likes of Højbjerg and Sánchez now for fees probably (significantly?) below what they’re worth.
• Loan or even release a bunch of players in the final day or two of the window.
• Accept that we will have to leave players out of the 25-man squad.
• Possibly a combination of all three.

Højbjerg out of the starting XI with two years left on his contract and one of the older players in the squad. Selling him makes sense from a business perspective, particularly as he is one of our more sellable assets and actually has suitors. However, given his still-important role in the squad, the only scenario which I’d sell Højbjerg and even Sánchez in now would be if we were to replace them… which kinda defeats the purpose unless we get Under-21 players or, possibly (depending on others we can shift), home grown players. So, we find ourselves in a tricky spot.

We’ve been lumbered with more players than we’d have liked because:

1. A bunch of our players have lost value over the last few seasons because they’ve either been under-utilised, frozen out, set-up to fail, or they were poor team fit signings in the first place.
2. Wages in the Premier League are higher than in other European leagues and players don’t often actively choose to lose money.
3. Some of our players are deluded and think they should be playing at a level that, at this point, is frankly unachievable. I’m looking at you, Hugo.
4. Prices have gone bananas so you better be sure you’re paying up for someone you really want.

But I do think we need to see this window as the start of a longer-term process. It’s going to take us two or three more windows to re-shape this squad, which had become bloated, poorly balanced and was older than I’m sure Daniel Levy would have liked given the choice. We’ve made great strides, and we are ahead of where I expected us to be right now, but there’s lots more work to do. Don’t let ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘good’ as they say.

COYS.

Each year I write about the Premier League’s 25-man squad requirement and the implications of the home grown players rule and how it will impact on Spurs’ transfer strategy. The home grown player numbers could impact on how many signings we can make, the nature of those signings and/or the size of our squad for the rest of the season.

The Premier League ‘Home Grown Players (HGP)’ Rule

The basic point is that we can name a maximum of 17 non-home grown players (HGPs) in our squad. The common misconception about the requirement is that clubs must name eight HGPs in their squads. We could name fewer than eight HGPs, but would need to also name fewer than 25 players in our squad — for example, if we only have seven HGPs, we can name a 24-man squad, 6/23, 5/22, etc. 

Remember, an HGP is defined as one whom, 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). Source: Premier League.

As ever, we will not need to name players who are under 21 on our squad list, so could augment our squad with youngsters. This would mean that we could manage with, say, a 22-man squad with just five HGPs, but would need plenty of under 21 players who are ready to play. For the 2023/24 campaign, players considered ‘under 21’ will have been born on or after 1 January 2002. This means that for the current season we could still have a number of ‘freebies’ who are fairly well-known names, the likes of: Troy Parrott, Pape Matar Sarr, Max Robson, Yago de Santiago Alonso, Maksim Paskotši, Nile John, Matthew Craig, Josh Keeley, Jude Soonsup-Bell, Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine. Some of these players will ultimately be sent out on loan, of course.

From this season, Bryan Gil and Harvey White would need to be named on our squad list should we wish to use them as they were born before 1 January 2002.

The UEFA ‘Home Grown Players (HGP)’ Rule

Obviously we are not in any European competitions next season, but the UEFA rules may factor into our squad planning as, hopefully, we will be planning for a European campaign in a year from now.

The UEFA rules are a little different to the Premier League rules — have a look at article 45 (‘Player Lists’) of the regulations. UEFA don’t just want clubs to have players trained elsewhere in the FA structure; they have additional requirements for club-trained players. They want to encourage clubs to bring through their own young players.

The good news is that last year a rule change was implemented whereby Welsh players who trained at clubs affiliated with the English league system now count as ‘homegrown’ in Europe. Previously they counted as ‘foreign’ players. For us, this is Ben Davies and Joe Rodon, who trained at Swansea. They would now count as ‘homegrown’.

If we wanted to name a ‘full’ (25-man) squad in a UEFA competition, we would need at least four ‘association-trained’ players and four ‘club-trained’ players in List A (players over 21). Those that currently qualify are:

Club-trained players

• Harry Kane
• Alfie Whiteman
• Brandon Austin
• Japhet Tanganga
• Oliver Skipp
• Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
• Harvey White
• Troy Parrott (from 2024/25 season)
• Max Robson (from 2024/25 season)

Association-trained players

• Fraser Forster
• Ben Davies
• James Maddison
• Joe Rodon
• Ryan Sessegnon
• Djed Spence

Players under 21 can be included on List B so long as they have been ‘eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA, or a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year.’

We have a whole host of potential List B Players who might be useful were we to qualify next year though, of course, several will likely be out on loan.

Summary

We currently have 30 players who would need to be named on the Premier League squad list if we wanted to play them (the maximum allowed is 25). A good few of these players are expected to leave (Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez, Hugo Lloris, Ivan Perišić, etc), Brooklyn Lyons-Foster is a previously unused youth player, plus we have two goalkeepers in Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman. Therefore, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions about whether the squad list restrictions will be an issue for us at this point; but I would say probably not.

Of the 30 players, 17 are not HGPs. We will, no doubt, be selling several non-HGPs, and so it should not be a problem, but it is something the club will need to keep in mind when signing further non-HGPs.

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I am the host of The Extra Inch; a Spurs podcast that delves into the analytical side of Tottenham games. If you already follow the podcast, consider becoming an xSub for additional content, including videos, extra podcasts and access to our Discord server.

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I’m currently in Chicago (more on that later) and waking up a little early due to the time difference, so I’ve put that extra time to good use and had a think about how our squad might start to shape-up this summer.

I am super, super excited about the appointment of Ange Postecoglou but my main (only?) worry is that our squad is not especially well set-up to implement his style. Alongside this, read my Twitter thread in which I explain why I think we need to off-load up to 18 players as soon as possible. The key reason being that we have a two-competition squad going into a one-competition season.

So, I’ve gone through the squad and made some judgements on where I think we are with each player. This is just my opinion and there are a lot of assumptions here but, if nothing else, it shows the scale of the work to do in re-shaping the squad. I think we need to consider the way players can fulfil roles rather than positions specifically but it’s so much easier to group traditionally by position, so I’ve gone with that here.

Here are my categories:

• SELL – just get rid
• ACCEPT GOOD OFFER – if we keep hold of them it’s not a problem, but a good offer would mean it’s sensible to sell
• ANGE POTENTIAL – a player I think could fit the system well
• SHRUG – just too many variables
• NO FURTHER DISCOURSE – you know why
• N/A – we don’t own Kulusevski or Lenglet

GOALKEEPERS

LLORIS – SELL

If all had been well at the club he’d have been sold two or three seasons ago. The decline we’ve seen since then has been steep and has not made for easy watching. We will be playing a style of football that requires him to play out a fair bit and he just can’t. Now that his elite shot-stopping has gone too, there is simply no point in keeping hold of him.

FORSTER – SHRUG

He’s done ~okay when called upon, he’s better with his feet than Lloris, but it’s a low bar and we should be looking to improve on him. But there’s just so much other business to do, and at least he’s homegrown. I’d be tempted to keep him for now and look to bring in a better, more suited back-up over the next two windows. I’m going to guess that’s what Postecoglou will do.

AUSTIN – SELL

Please, Brandon, for the good of your career: go play some actual football matches.

WHITEMAN – SELL

Please, Alfie, for the good of your career: go play some actual football matches. Unless we sell Forster and one of these two becomes the back-up, it makes no sense to keep either and certainly not both. These guys are 24 now.

FULL BACKS

PORRO – ANGE POTENTIAL

He’s a relentless final ball merchant so asking him to dial that back and play volume passes from an inverted position is going to require some serious coaching from Postecoglou and self-discipline from Pedro Porro. But once we have sustained possession, his crossing will come into its own. That’s if he even plays FB; there’s a strong possibility that he could play wide right and hold the shape and just shell crosses in. I think there’s a degree of versatility and also a base talent level that will really interest Ange. I like him lots and think he has a place in the squad.

EMERSON ROYAL – ACCEPT GOOD OFFER

His renaissance across the last season was a beautiful thing to see — he certainly never deserved the treatment he got. But he really offers little in the final third. He is pretty good at coming inside and his unambitious but safe passing could become a strength in build-up. My feeling is, though, that Ange will be wanting more and I don’t think he’s ultimately suited to a more fluid, possession-based style. He is a really good player in the right system (highly aggressive low block and counter without too much expectation of attacking) and will do well elsewhere, so I think if a good offer comes in (and it certainly could), we should sell.

SPENCE – ANGE POTENTIAL

Full disclosure, I love Djed Spence and have done for a long time. I view the way Antonio Conte used him (or didn’t) as one of his biggest crimes. I think there’s lots to work on for Ange — Spence’s driving runs, both inside and out — are a huge strength and his high pass completion will offer encouragement about what he could offer when moving into the middle of the pitch. Very excited about how this will play out.

DAVIES – SHRUG

Davies has essentially become a specialist left-sided centre-back in a back three. He looked really quite poor when asked to play a more traditional left-back role at the end of the season, though he did have a couple of good games as a left wing-back. However, the bar was low at that point after Ivan Perišić had had a string of dreadful matches. It’s highly unlikely but maybe Postecoglou starts with a back three (he did play this way with Australia for a while) simply because that’s the way our squad is set up for. If that’s the case, he may get a stay of execution. Or maybe he stays as a ‘defensive’ LB who can allow Pedro Porro or Djed Spence to play more ambitiously on the right. I just can’t call it with Davies. It’s hardly the biggest problem — he’s a great guy who is universally popular within the squad and who has been an adaptable squad player over many years, so I’m not going to pretend I have particularly strong feelings either way.

PERISIC – SELL

I can’t see any way he stays — some reasonable crossing, some good corners, but he is a shadow of what he was previously and particularly hopeless defensively. He needs to go and I think he will.

SESSEGNON – SHRUG

I’ve backed Sessegnon when others have given up on him because it’s clear to me that the talent is there. But he really struggles with keeping a positive mindset, and you can see the confidence drain out of him when he makes a mistake. Ability-wise, there’s plenty of Postecoglou potential, but I think it’s going to take a lot to build him up to here he was mentally, and I just worry that there’s too much other work to do. I’d be down for essentially kicking that can into the long grass and loaning him out to Luton for a season.

REGUILON – SELL

I don’t see this one working. He’s too frantic, too much in a hurry, and I don’t think he has the ability to step inside and become a midfielder. Not for me.

UDOGIE – ANGE POTENTIAL

I don’t want to spoil Nathan’s video so on this one I’ll stay relatively tight-lipped. Check out this tweet and, of course, the exceptional video.

CENTRE BACKS

DIER – SELL

I almost put ‘SHRUG’ for Dier, as I definitely think the last season of form in a poorly-performing team is not reflective of Eric Dier as a centre-back. But I also think that we have so many players to lose and that Dier should ideally be one of those. Postecoglou has made Carter-Vickers a mainstay of his defence, and maybe that scales up to Dier. But I frankly just think we can do so much better, and the idea of Dier/Romero in a back four is not something I’m comfortable with. In my view, the reports linking us with Harry Maguire don’t tally well with Eric Dier staying at Spurs.

ROMERO – ANGE POTENTIAL

Obviously. He’s extremely good. He urgently needs to play in a more stable defensive pairing, though.

SANCHEZ – SELL

Davinson Sánchez just doesn’t have the on-ball ability to thrive, in my opinion. He’s got a lot left to give in his career, but not at Spurs. He has been a good servant but it’s time to move on.

TANGANGA – SELL

Japhet Tanganga is in his mid-twenties now and he really needs to be going and playing games. I can’t see it happening at Spurs.

RODON – SHRUG

There’s just something about Rodon that makes me think… maybe? He’s pretty good (though not exceptional) on the ball and has pretty well-rounded defensive abilities. We’ll sign better centre-backs this summer which will no doubt push him down the pecking order, but I feel like he’s one that might make a bit of a comeback in pre-season and could put himself in contention.

LENGLET – N/A

I thought he was ‘okay’ overall last season in a defence that generally struggled. I wouldn’t sign him. We can do better.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD

HOJBJERG – SHRUG

I would strongly urge you to listen to this interview — I think that Hojbjerg’s emotional intelligence will chime with Potecoglou, and my natural inclination is that he’ll remain a part of the midfield for a season whilst we transition, and then perhaps we sell him in summer 2024. I know that will upset a lot of people, who think that Hojbjerg is terrible and the main problem in our team. But he’s not. He’s a competent, if unspectacular player, who can probably fulfil a couple of different midfield roles under Postecoglou and, therefore, might be quite useful for a bit. But man does he need to not play every week; he’s so much better when he gets proper rest.

BENTANCUR – ANGE POTENTIAL

So much depends on how he comes back from injury but, if he’s anything like the level he was at before he got hurt, he should be an important midfielder for Postecoglou. Our best presser.

SKIPP – ACCEPT GOOD OFFER

Postecoglou needs to find a playmaking number 6 and, whilst I think Skipp is better than he has shown for the first team to date, I don’t think his passing is adventurous or creative enough overall and, therefore, we should accept a good offer. If that doesn’t come, we could keep or loan him.

BISSOUMA – ANGE POTENTIAL

I thought his performances at the end of the season were seriously impressive. I can’t see him playing the play-making 6 role, but as an 8 he is ideal. A starter for me.

SARR – SHRUG

I’m intrigued to see what Postecoglou makes of Sarr — it’s difficult for us to make a clear judgement on him because we’ve seen so little. Pre-season will tell us more, but my instincts are that he’s quite similar to our other midfielders (albeit maybe more ambitious with his passing) and that we might loan him out and see how he develops. Hell, send him to Luton with Sessegnon.

WINKS – SELL

Winks profiles as the Postecoglou 6 but we should be able to do better so we should sell him.

NDOMBELE – NO FURTHER DISCOURSE

You already know what I think and it’s pointless going over it again. I don’t want that smoke.

LO CELSO – ACCEPT GOOD OFFER

In theory there’s a lovely mesh there between his 8/10-ishness and what Postecoglou wants from his 8s. But, also, we need to reduce numbers and he holds significant value whilst being wanted by Unai Emery at Aston Villa. If we get a good offer I think we should probably sell him (though I do rate him).

WINGERS

SON – SHRUG

I think so much of Son’s future rests on what happens with Harry Kane. If Kane leaves, then Son probably becomes our number 9. If Kane stays, perhaps Postecoglou starts him on the left. It’s not clear to me how well he fits into the system, but he’s such a brilliant player that I’d guess Postecoglou would want to work around him.

KULUSEVSKI – N/A

We should sign Kulusevski because he’s young, and excellent, and could play either as an 8 or wide on the right. Love him.

GIL – ANGE POTENTIAL

Like Kulusevski, I like Bryan Gil’s versatility in the system. He could probably play on either flank or as an 8. He’s also a fantastic presser. I definitely expect to see him involved a lot.

FORWARDS

KANE – NO FURTHER DISCOURSE

Everything that could possibly be said on him as already been said many times over. Here’s where I am.

RICHARLISON – SHRUG

Again, so much depends on Kane. I’d like to think that at least he’ll get more game time across left-wing and number 9. He’s a good player, though, and I’m happy to have him.

We also have several youth players who are bubbling under the surface and could interest Postecoglou. Alfie Devine is the most obvious one, and we have returning loanees Harvey White, Troy Parrott and Dane Scarlett. There are also some more pretty promising prospects including Alfie Dorrington (CB), Rio Kyerematen (CM) and Tyrese Hall (AM). There will be something that Postecoglou does that nobody predicts — like, I dunno, Harvey White inverted LB or something. I’m buzzing.

So I’ve got:

• SELL – 9
• ACCEPT GOOD OFFER – 3
• ANGE POTENTIAL – 7
• SHRUG – 8
• NO FURTHER DISCOURSE – 2
• N/A – 2

Selling twelve would be a good start, but man that’s a hell of a busy summer.

Okay, so there’s where the Spurs stuff ends. If you’ve got no interest in my trip to Chicago, stop reading here!

—————–

I’ve been asked so much about what I’ve done and plan to do that I thought I’d give a quick round-up.

Friday

Saw: We landed late so didn’t have time to do much besides check in, grab some beers and eat.

Drank at: Revolution Brewing / Maplewood Brewery and Distillery

Ate at: Chef’s Special – Chinese recommended by the server at Maplewood. Incredible walnut shrimp.

Saturday

Saw: Some of the key sky scrapers, Millennium Park and various other bits on a Greeter tour – highly recommended. Architectural boat tour. Outstanding!

Drank at: Billy Goat Tavern. I’d skip. Revolution Brewing (again). This place is so good.

Ate at: Breakfast at a small cafe in a fancy-ass building. Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria for lunch – had to try the Chicago deep dish but it’s mid. Do it, but don’t expect much. Grabbed some light bites from Revolution Brewing in the evening — the wings are good.

Sunday

Saw: a grand slam walk-off at the Guaranteed Rate Field! Insanely fortunate first experience at a baseball match watching the White Sox. Thanks so much to Adam for getting us access to the patio and some Sox merch.

Drank at: Marz Brewing (really fun place, great beer)

Ate at: Guaranteed Rate Field patio at lunchtime, followed by Green Street Smoked Meats in Fulton Market, which was incredible and highly recommended.

Monday

Saw: Shedd Aquarium, some of the Riverfront Trail.

Drank at: First Draft (sports bar with a fantastic beer menu) / The Old Plank.

Ate at: First Draft / The Old Plank (shrimp tacos whilst watching the Stanley Cup).

Remaining plans

Do some shopping, hit some more breweries (some of Corridor Brewery & Provisions, Hop Butcher For The World, Begyle Brewing, Dovetail Brewery, Hopleaf, Alarmist Brewing & Taproom, Old Irving Brewing Co, Half Acre Beer Co), see some Chicago Spurs folk (Tuesday, 18:00, Corridor Brewery & Provisions), check out the Skydeck and maybe the 360, eat at Galit and Au Cheval. We’re packing a lot in.