Roberto De Zerbi wants to continue to bolster his Tottenham Hotspur squad in the summer transfer window but must remain within the rules
Tottenham have had a busy summer transfer window so far and Roberto De Zerbi will require further additions to his squad in the weeks ahead.
Spurs have already splashed out £237million on new signings with the most expensive being Sandro Tonali from Newcastle for £92.5million plus £7.5million in potential add-ons, which could make the Italian the north London club’s first £100million player. That meant the Lilywhites broke their transfer record for the second time after getting Mateus Fernandes from West Ham in an £85million deal a week before.
That came after £52million was spent on Brighton centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke with free transfers also tied up for Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka to bolster De Zerbi’s squad.
Walking out of the Tottenham exit door have been Luka Vuskovic to Brighton for £46million with £4million in add-ons and Radu Dragusin to Fiorentina on loan with a £21.4million obligation to buy. Midfielder Alfie Devine joined Preston in a £6million deal and Alejo Veliz went to Brazilian side Bahia for £7.8million.
That came after Yves Bissouma departed north London when his contract expired and Randal Kolo Muani and Joao Palhinha left at the conclusion of their loan deals.
So with Tottenham looking to make further signings this summer, with Manchester City star Savinho tipped to make the move to N17, it’s worth looking at the Premier League rules and exactly who can and cannot be registered at the end of the transfer window.
The league’s registration rules state that a club must name a squad with a maximum of 25 senior players containing at most 17 non-homegrown players and the rest homegrown.
A homegrown player is a player who, according to the Premier League rules has “irrespective of nationality or age, 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)”.
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It’s a strange quirk of those rules that Austrian Kevin Danso qualifies as a homegrown player because he was in the youth academies at Reading and MK Dons for years before leaving England at the age of 16 and later returning for a season at Southampton. However Scotland captain Robertson is not, because he was first registered with the English FA only at 20 when he joined Hull.
Clubs are then helped by the fact that players born on or after January 1, 2005, regardless of where they come from, do not have to be registered in the main 25-man squad and instead go on an under-21s list.
So Tottenham currently have 21 non-homegrown players over the age of 21, when they are only allowed to have 17. They are Guglielmo Vicario, Antonin Kinsky, Martin Dubravka, Andy Robertson, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke, Kota Takai, Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Pape Matar Sarr, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Manor Solomon and Wilson Odobert.
They also have eight homegrown players over the age of 21 in Dominic Solanke, Kevin Danso, Brandon Austin, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Conor Gallagher, Djed Spence and Dane Scarlett.
So that means that Spurs currently have 29 senior players in total when they can only register 25. We know however that Manor Solomon and Kota Takai are expected to head out again after returning from loan, while goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is likely to be sold with Antonin Kinsky the new number one under De Zerbi with support from Dubravka and the homegrown Brandon Austin.
That means one other foreign player will have to be sold or loaned out just to fit into the regulations with captain Cristian Romero another linked with the exit door. Another option is that Xavi Simons or Wilson Odobert are left out and not registered until January as both work their way back from anterior cruciate ligament injuries, although the latter might be back before then.
In terms of the homegrown players, Dane Scarlett looks likely to depart this summer which frees up a space in that department.
All of that means that Spurs would currently only be able to sign a player aged 21 or over without issues or face the prospect of selling more players this summer, with Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence linked with moves, to fit in any new senior arrivals.
Matters would get even more complicated in future seasons if Tottenham qualify for Europe as UEFA do not allow an under-21s list with just anyone on it as they must have been at the club for two years.
For now though, Tottenham can keep signing players aged over 21 but it’s only going to cause some big decisions to be made in a frantic end to the transfer window if others do not leave beforehand. That squad limit of 25 senior stars with no more than 17 non-homegrown players must be adhered to.
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