The FINAL DAYS of Tottenham's transfer window, Archie Gray's EFFECT & Wilson Odobert | Gold & Guest

Hello everyone, Rob Guest from Football.London here and welcome to the latest episode of Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham, sponsored by NordVPN. Joining me as ever, it's Alistair Gold, you well? Yeah, I am. Thank you. I hope you are too. Yeah, kind of putting a bit of distance away from the result at the King Power Stadium and kind of looking back at it and looking ahead at what's to come. And obviously the Rob Guest Derby this weekend, which I don't know if you're looking forward to as much as you normally would be. Sounds like there's a few injury problems going on at the Toffees. But that and transfers, we've got loads to talk about today. Yeah, we'll start with transfers as we're now closing in on transfer deadline day. That is 11pm on Friday, August the 30th. Tottenham very busy in the transfer window so far in terms of incomings. Number of outgoings as well. Ange, I can remember speaking ahead of the Liverpool game in May and saying change has to happen at the club this summer. And that's pretty much exactly what's happened in terms of outgoings. You're looking now at the squad, you probably want three or four more players to head out of the exit door in a week. Things are really starting to take shape. Yeah, they are. I did like a Q&A earlier on the website and in setting it up, I just had to quick look at the window itself just to refresh my mind at kind of who's gone out, who's come in. This is mad. So this is who's gone out of the Spurs squad this summer, right? Oliver Skipp, Emerson Royale, Joe Roden, Eric Dyer, Ryan Sessegnon, Tongion Dembele, Pierre-Emile Hoibier, Ivan Perisic, Jafet Tenganga, Troy Parrott, Brian Hill, Aleja Valise, Dane Scarlett. Technically, you could add in Matthew Craig there and Jamie Donnelly if you want from the Academy. Junison Sootbell about to go to Cordoba as well. It's just, yeah, it's just mad. It's probably someone I've already forgotten as well in all of that. That's... huge I think even you and I we have to do these articles don't we over the course of a season like you know the 10 players that could leave Tottenham Hotspur I must admit we probably don't mean that all of them are going to go we kind of think like a selection of those will go but my goodness that's it's got to be the biggest clear out in recent years at Spurs isn't Very much so. I think even if you go back 12 months, Harry Winks, Davinson Sanchez, Hugo Lloris in January. That Harry Kane chap as well. Yeah, well, I'm not really going to mention Kane because I think that was a player pretty much everyone wanted to stay. It wasn't right. But it shows what a huge change in him going. Yeah, and I mean, you have a look at the squad over the past couple of years and you can point out the players who need to move on. And pretty much everyone's gone. Now you're looking at getting the move for Sergio Reguilón, Giovanni Lo Celso, a loan move for Manus Solomon. Then in terms of the loan market, again, Ashley Phillips and Alfie Devine. And then you're pretty much left with the squad and wants for the season, really. What's that witchcraft? The squad he wants? yeah well I think the only other one who we were probably thinking was going to head out the door was jed spence but he's now part of the team played on monday night at lesser end remarkable really to have just you know just made all these changes the manager wants fresh start and you think it's exactly what the club needed uh given like not qualified for europe the year before He came in, you know, we dropped away from challenging for those Champions League places, hadn't got close to winning the trophy. You can't just persist with the same squad and hope something different happens. You need to make big changes. He's asked for that and Spurs have delivered. Yeah, it was a squad that had stagnated. It was a squad that had reached, you know, I think a lot of those players had reached the end of their, it sounds awful to say, but their shelf life at Spurs is probably the best way to put it, is that they needed fresh challenges. They needed new experiences. And most importantly of all, probably, they didn't fit the Postakoglu system, perhaps. And it's something that we've always kind of, every summer, you and I talk about the players that have to go, the players that have to go. now they have gone and as people have always called for these players to go I know there's the expression I don't like as much dead wood things like that I don't I don't agree with calling them deadwood at all because there's a lot of you know talented players who go on to do very well in their careers but if they didn't quite fit the system or they needed game time to have actually we kind of focus a lot on incomings and there are a lot of incomings you know £65 million on Dominic Solanke, £40 million on Archie Gray, £30 million on Wilson Oduber, Timo Werner back again, the Yang Min Hyuk deal for January as well. Obviously, Lucas Bergvall arriving in summer, despite having that been done in February. So, yeah, there's been incomings as well, but you... I think the outgoing thing may be underappreciated, but it's an element of a transfer window that probably there is not as much focus on how important it is. And I do think that's probably, it could end up being, with a couple of those players coming in, I think are going to be potentially like stars, real, real stars. But I think that could even be the biggest part of the transfer window is that they've managed to prune this squad to more the kind of lean, mean fighting machine that I think Postakoglu really wanted it to be. And well, we'll see, you know, but it feels like There's depth in pretty much most of the positions. Maybe goalkeeper, you could maybe do with another stronger alternative, but whether that's this window or next, we'll see. And maybe in the defence, you could argue about midfield, but I would say there's a lot of bodies in midfield. But I do feel like, and this is the thing, everyone's going to argue about the quality of players like some people might say oh you need a top winger to come in as well I would look at the number of wingers and the fact that manna solomon can't even get in the squads and he's going to have to leave this summer really kind of shows you I don't think you can even put another winger in there I think it's that difficult there's so many options um but yeah do you think that's as important the kind of getting as I say getting rid but the pruning of the squad as much as the incoming Yeah, 100%. I think as football fans, all the focus is, of course, going to be on incoming. Because, you know, fans want new players to come in to the club and, you know, make a big, big difference. But in order for that to happen, there's got to be outgoings. And I think, of course, all the attention has gone to be on those players coming in. But when you look at the players going out of the dot, Spurs have done a really, really good job this summer and they need praising for it. And I think maybe one of the early downsides, Brian Hill, I mean, you'd want him to go permanently rather than alone because then you're going to be in the same situation in 12 months' time because it's not worked for him in the Premier League. He's done really well when he's been playing in Spain when he first came through at Sevilla and had the loan spells with Valencia and then back at Sevilla. And he's like, He's clearly not suited to the Premier League. So it's just about getting him that permanent move, which will hopefully come at some point soon. I think he's still got another maybe two years left on his contract. It's 2026. But when you're looking at the outgoings still to happen this month, Sergio Reguilón, Giovanni Lo Celso, they have to be permanent moves because they've got one year left on the deals now. I don't think they'd have a problem shifting them on loan. Might be a different story permanently as well in terms of just bringing in a fee that maybe you want for the player and the buying clubs might have a different idea in regards to a price altogether. Yeah, and I think you're quite right. It's one of those where on paper you kind of think you've got an Argentinian midfielder who plays constantly for his international side, set up the winning goal at the Copa America. You've got a Reguilon, a player that did very well, especially for Brentford last season, former Real Madrid player on paper. It's like they should be easy to get out the door. But actually, there's other elements to it. And exactly like you say, the contract situation in lots of clubs would take them. And you can't really do an obligation to buy either because that doesn't really work because they would be like, why? Why would we do that? We could get free in the summer. Um, you would have to do a little bit like the Eric Dyer situation where it would be a loan fee. Um, and then that kind of kicks in a certain number of perform, uh, appearances. And he also gets a permanent deal. It's complicated, but it's kind of the way around it. um I agree I think I get what you say about kind of praising the club for getting them out I would also say you probably had to then subtract um some of that praise for bringing some of them in because obviously some of them have not worked out at all um obviously tongi in that list being a high profile one and um I was just looking through the list again. A lot of them served their purpose at the time, I think is probably the best way to look at them. You could certainly say with Tongi and probably La Celso to a degree and maybe Reguilon, they kind of didn't reach the heights that anyone wanted them to reach. Man of Solomon is a bit of a different story. It was unfortunate, I think. He's never kind of really been able to show what he can do. um but yeah yeah the outgoings I think has been a huge part of this window but I do think they've bought well as well I would probably like a little bit more but I'm also kind of very wary of I guess it's twofold to this there's I'm not going to go down the whole homegrown foreign player thing because people get very upset about that but that is one thing and having to leave further players out but also not blocking the way of some of these very talented young players you know You've got Archie Gray and Lucas Bergville now who have come into training. Even when you sign someone like Archie Gray for £40 million, that's not a player who is a speculative punt, someone that is maybe going to be good in the future. That is a player that you're thinking he's going to be sensational pretty much straight away. But still, there's an element of the unknown of actually seeing him in a Premier League set-up and how he's going to react and everything. And everything we've heard, and we've kind of been hearing this throughout the summer, so it's no shock to say it now, but essentially, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall have been brilliant in training and also the pre-season games. And I think, I don't know about your thoughts, this is a question for you really, they came on in that Premier League game at the King Power Stadium. They looked utterly comfortable in the Premier League environment, didn't they? Yeah, very much so. I think that was evident in the pre-season games. Yeah, sometimes you've got to take opposition into question, but they played Bayern Munich in two games in the final few pre-season friendlies and coming up against midfielders like Polinia, Joshua Kimmich as well. Some very good players in there. And, yeah, I mean, Archie Gray's coming to the club, you know, on the back of playing, what, 52 games in the championship for Leeds last year. He was a young player of the year in the championship and the team of the year as well. So it's not like just signing an 18-year-old from a club's academy who's not played any, you know, first-team appearances and then you're expecting him all of a sudden. to go into Andrews' Tottenham team and just, you know, be a huge hit from the get-go. And then Lucas Bergvall's made the big impression in Sweden, played a number of games as well, coming from Jurgården. So, two very good players there who do look like they're ready for the Premier League already, and that's maybe a lot sooner than some people expected. Maybe some thought it'd be a case of just easing them in for now, but... I imagine Archie Gray might be in the starting XI this weekend against Everton. Could be. Could be. Yeah, this is it. And it's like when you say 52 appearances in the Championship, we're not talking about 20 minutes at the end of the games. He started pretty much every game. He was in there week in, week out in a very physical league. Lucas Bergvall, since his move especially to Spurs, has been a regular starter. I know you could argue definitely about the levels of the competition in the Auschwitz compared to the Premier League. But that's the unknown. And then when he comes in in the summer and you look at him and put him against other opposition, put him in the environment around other Premier League players, it just fits. And I think the fact that they're 18, it's almost like a distraction. It's like it doesn't It's the old cliche. If you're good enough, you're old enough kind of thing. And you can't really lump them in. I'd even say with someone like Jamie Donnelly or a Lancashire or players like that who are a year older because their first team experience is so limited. Jamie's obviously gone off and got his first start for Leighton Orient. That's his first start as a senior player. And whereas you've got Archibald Lucas Bergvall, who are a year younger and they have played so much football already. And it's like, they're not, they're kind of battle hardened already. It's not like just throwing in an academy player and hoping that they, they do well. So I think it's one of those, if you'd asked me to start the window, I would have absolutely said, let's say a number six, like a big experience. Number six would be great. I won't lie, in the last few weeks, I kind of was wondering, is that kind of going to get in the way of Archie Gray? I think they've got a superstar in their hands, Archie Gray. I think he is going to be the person this midfield is going to be built around at Spurs. I just get that impression from not only what I've seen, but from what I hear as well. So it's a really difficult one because we're all the same. I'm lumping us in as well. We'll call for young players to be played. And in the next breath, we'll go, oh, wouldn't it be great if they signed player A or player B? Oh, they're amazing. That player who, I don't know, plays in La Liga or plays in the Bundesliga or whatever league. or even the Premier League, and then you kind of forget yourself in a way. You kind of think, oh yeah, that player that I really want to see get lots of minutes has just been buried, put to the back of a queue kind of thing. Even someone like Mikey Moore, he's so young, but we're all so excited to see what he can do. But I was just, I mean, even in the Q&A earlier, I was, someone was asking about potentially bringing in another winger. And I was looking at it. On the right alone, you've got Johnson, Krusewski, Odebes, Son can play there. And you've got Mikey Moore can play on the right. On the left, you've got Son, Werner, Oduber, Johnson, Moore again. Richarlison can play on either wing if you want him to as well. I think Solanke can play on the wings as well, if I remember correctly. I think he started off able to play on the wings. And of course, that's not even mentioning Manor Solomon. So, yeah, it's like, where do you even put another midfielder without essentially putting some of those players, you know, into the wilderness like a Mikey Moore? How's he ever going to go and get minutes anywhere? And yeah, I would still like to see another one or two signings if possible. But I'm also aware that comes with squad regulation challenges that I'm not going to go into. But, you know, I do also feel that people are slightly underestimating just how good some of these players they've brought in. I think Odebeer is going to be very interesting as well. Yeah, there was some training footage of him at Hotspur Wave, what they've published there. That clip of him walking out to training is brilliant. And then you just get Fraser Foster, who's got Richarlison in the headlock, just walking across the shop. It's like a comedy moment, wasn't it? I had to tweet about that because the video itself is kind of a bit boring. It's like the one they put out, it's just like players walk out and you just suddenly see this comedy duo going across the screen. It's excellent. Yeah, and then they put out another video that might be about 90 seconds long, and that's just focusing on other bearing training. He looks a very quick, tricky player. They were doing the usual finishing drill where one player had fired the ball across the face of the goal and player would be on the opposite side pointing in the other bear was you know playing from the right and at the end of it showcased his ability to find the back of the net as well some really good finishes one in particular where he's just pretty much bamboozled Archie Gray turned him inside and out produced a cross turn and then fired it across Alfie Whiteman into the corner so Yeah, he looks like he's going to be a good player. He's already got that Premier League experience under his belt from Burnley and certainly someone who's going to be in contention for the matchday squad this weekend. Well, this is another one. It's like 19-year-old, but he played 30-something games in the Premier League last season. And it's just like... It's kind of different. And I appreciate, absolutely understand that people want more senior, experienced players, but don't write off the talent that Spurs have brought in as well. And... Yeah, it was a bit of a funny one because obviously he arrived on a Friday, needed his work permit essentially processed, I'm guessing, for like a change of job. I know he'd already worked in the country, but you need all that kind of signed off. But because it was a Friday, that then meant all the home office departments that he would have gone through would be closed at the weekend. so he didn't end up getting that until the tuesday um and then he was able to like fully get into the swing of things so he's available now um yeah just kind of asking around about him seems uh you know like we said very talented young player kind of quite uh quite a quiet guy to be I'm sure that most a lot of players are when they first come in I think his grasp of english he can understand english really well and he's still building up his language skills to speak it I mean he's only been in the My levels of speaking a foreign language after a year would probably be far worse than that. But yeah, he can play anywhere as well. Right, left, number eight, number 10. There's a load of positions I can use him in. And this is the other thing about young players that I think maybe is overlooked. Postacoglu really relishes working with young players. He says that in his book that I read, and he said it in interviews before as well, that if anything, he kind of leans towards younger players because they're more moldable and adaptable to his views. And he wants, like we said, versatile players. Maybe when you're a little bit older, you're less willing to take on new ideas. You may be less able to fit into other places within the system as well. But with the young players, it can essentially shape them into whatever he wants from the start. And, you know, he's got some very, very young players. Sorry, very, very talented players, also very young, that I think he can shape to whatever he wants. You know, Gray could end up being a number six. He could be a number eight. Who knows? Could end up still being a right back. I would imagine it would be midfield, but he could be. Bergvall, he can play anyway. He could be a 6'8". He could end up being a winger. He could play a 10. And like we say with Odebe, he's kind of four different positions that he could potentially play in as well. And Odebear running at people, I think, is going to be a frightening thing for defenders. I do worry for Timo Werner as the lone player. I think he's going to have to be absolutely on it. Otherwise, Odebear is going to have his place. But it's also a push for someone like Brendan Johnson, who obviously was disappointing against Leicester. But players like that have an exciting player who you would imagine Odebeer will also be very good as an impact sub to begin with. I think he'll come off the bench against tired legs and cause absolute nightmares. And that then puts the pressure on the starting players to match that before he comes on. So, yeah, it's improving the quality. It's improving the squad. There's a question for you. Do you feel the squad is a better one than it was last season? Yeah, I think it's better. Undoubtedly, you've got a striker. Even though you've lost all of those players. Yeah, don't get me wrong. You've lost some experience there with Hojbjerg. Skip's got 100 appearances to his name in the Premier League. Emerson's more than capable of playing right-back, left-back, centre-back, if required. But you brought in a striker. which, you know, the club have needed for a year now. Someone who has got, what, 19 Premier League goals last year. Yep. Timo Berners brings that experience as well in attack. You've got probably Championship's Young Player of the Year, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, next best thing in, uh, Sweden, uh, superstar in the making. Now, there's been some really good, you know, moves in the transfer market and, uh, I think the squad's in a good place, but it's about winning these games now, which they should have done on Monday. But I think the squad's looking good, a lot of cover, and that's what's going to be needed anyway when you've got eight Europa League games coming up on the calendar very soon. Carabao Cup, they'll be entering next month as well. So no, I think the squad's in a good place and, yeah, better. Yeah, no, I agree. I do think Solanke was a huge piece of the puzzle. I do. I think it was the area last season where they really struggled to kind of account for Richarlison's times out with his injuries. And I think, yeah, Solanke's... It's exactly the kind of signing I think the fans were after, really. It's an improvement to starting XI as well, I think. No disrespect to Richarlison, but it's just because he wasn't available enough, really. I'm sure if he gets to run a Games, he'll put in a real challenge this season to... to kind of, you know, push the lanky as well. But, um, yeah, I do think that there's, there's more options there now as well, but, uh, yeah, it's a very young one, a very young squad. I don't think there's any getting away from that. Um, it would have been nice to maybe have, I bought, they had a 26 year old and 28 year old of the two kind of older signings. The rest have been teenagers. Uh, Yeah, I would like another experience heading there, absolutely. But there's still eight days or so to go. We'll see what the rest of the window brings. But yes, I do think there'll also be a wariness of kind of blocking the path of these players who are for the now as well. It's not even like blocking a path of a player who maybe next season after will be good. It's blocking the path of someone that can play right now and be a bit of a star. So, yeah. Yeah, I think the squad is stronger. I think it's in a better shape. I can see two starting XI's in it, which is kind of what you want for all these competitions. So, yeah, I think there's still a little bit of work to be done, but I think it's getting to where Postacoglu will want it to be. Yeah, so still a few outgoings needing to take place. Two of them, loan deals, Ashley Phillips and Alfie Devine. You'd imagine back in the championship for both of them. I mean, he didn't quite work out for Alfie at Plymouth. I think it was nine starts from 15 of his appearances for them. Whereas previously when he was at Port Vale, he was pretty much starting 11 every week and having the big impacts. But as I mentioned on the previous podcast, I think it was Ian Foster was the manager who we'd work with in Plymouth. on England duty and he lost his job pretty quite quick into Alfie's time there. So that did have an impact on his playing time, I think. But you know what he's capable of. There's going to be a host of clubs queuing up for both of the players. And I think when Tottenham are planning for a team for the future, I think it's just so, so vital that both of those head out and learn again and just, you know, keep getting that experience, which is only going to aid their development in the long run. Yeah, sometimes the kind of the good thing about having a stronger squad, sorry, the bad thing about having a stronger squad is that it does mean that some of the young players are going to find that their game time is going to be really restricted. And in that case, especially when they're ones who, you know, Alfie Devine had a terrific summer. I thought he was so good every time he came on for Spurs. I thought that showed that while the Plymouth loan maybe wasn't the greatest on the pitch for him, I think it kind of helped forge him as a player. I think he's going to get better and better. So, yeah, I think, yeah, I mean, again, I don't want to stray into the registration rules, but it was likely that maybe Ashley Phillips would have had to be left out of the Europa League squad anyway. So he can go somewhere, you know, Plymouth's young player of the season last for just over six months or not even that really. And I think both of them could go to very good championship squads. I think even with Alfie, I think the experiences this summer alone will make him a better player and experiences at Plymouth will have made him a better player ready for a championship move or a foreign move. You never know. You could end up getting a good offer from another league that you feel that will benefit them. Sometimes getting a move abroad kind of toughens them up as players. I mean, Jed Spencer is a great example. I know he's a little bit older, but he's had a couple of loan moves abroad now to Rennes and to Genoa. And look at him now. It's fantastic. He's kind of back integrated into the squad. likely to get a fair few minutes this season, the way he's going. And yeah, it's just up to them to continue where they're going. I don't think either of them are players that Spurs have written off or anything like that. I think they're just at the stage in their career where they need to continue their development and then come back and challenge. And I think Jed Spencer is a great example now to all of those players that it doesn't matter what's gone on before or whether you felt like you weren't going to break into the squad. Sometimes you just need circumstances around you to change and you're in there. Yeah, one player who is leaving Tottenham, one of the academy players, Jude Sonsub-Bell, he's heading to the second division in Spain to join Cordoba. Spurs have a sell-on clause, don't they? And obviously he's out in Spain now having his medical, so that'll go through. Pretty quickly. He'll actually come up against Iago Santiago pretty soon, who joined Elche. Their teams are playing start of September. So maybe one to keep an eye on from a Spurs perspective. Decent move for him. Get a chance to play regularly in Spain. And, you know, if you take your chance, then there might be a La Liga club looking at you come next summer. Yeah. I mean, with Jude... It's been a difficult one for him because he's been excellent for the under-21s, been a terrific player for them, was a really good kind of... Sometimes you bring in signings who you hope will be able to make an eventual first-team impact, but also there's the element of really improving your academy. And I think Jude played a big part in them having a great season last season. Mainly was playing off the right, but he can kind of play through the middle as well if required. But... If you're going to be very clinical and cold and clinical about it, he never really got near the first team. He never really was mentioned among it, you know, didn't particularly train with them as much as the other young players would be. And we'd seen, you know, Will Lancashire, we've seen Mikey Moore used on the right, even though he's not really playing on the right for the under-21s. And Jamie Donnelly, of course, another one as well. So, He wasn't getting that close to it, and I think this is a good move in that he'll go there now. It's a 40% sell-on clause for Spurs. I don't think there's any fee, I think, because they hope that down the line they'll get more out of this 40%. I think he's signing a two-year contract with an option for a third. It might get announced as a three-year deal, perhaps, but... It's a good starting point. Like you say, go there, score some goals, catch the attention of the La Liga clubs and you're flying because he's got a lot of talent. He does. He's a very effective player, just didn't quite make that breakthrough towards the first name. Yeah, one player who has been linked with a move to Spurs, it's João Gomes from Wolves. Brazil player, made quite an impact at Wolves last season, notably scored twice against Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in February. I think you've already said today in your Q&A, that's not a move that's going to happen. Yeah, no, I think I said it yesterday as well. It's just one of those that, I think it actually started on the internet as on, on social media as a wolf, a wolf. So I think it was wolves fans set up a prank account and like put it out there. And then, yeah, then admitted afterwards it was a joke. And it obviously one of those that kind of gained a bit of traction. Um, yeah, it did. everything kind of asking around, it doesn't seem to be anything in it at all in terms of a transfer for this summer. Hey, I would love there to be. I do think he's a very good player and, you know, it would be a terrific addition at Spurs, but certainly doesn't appear to be anything in it as of this window. Certainly seems to be The word coming out from in and around the club. But yeah, it's funny how these things kind of happen and start off. It was always like, I remember people used to do like April Fool's jokes. It was always centered around like a takeover of the club. It was like, it was the Patriots owner, the Kraft family, I think. were going to take over. Someone did an April Fool's prank, admitted it was an April Fool's prank, but then what would happen was that every year someone would chop out the bit where they said it wasn't true and it would get circulated on WhatsApps and the internet and social media. And every year people would say, oh, look, look, it's going to happen. Spurs are getting taken over by the Kraft family and all this sort of stuff. And it was like... It's just funny the way social media works. Things spread like wildfire now. It's incredible. And you can just have, I think the original account, it had like 100 followers or something. That's not to say that the amount of followers you have is important, but it did kind of show that it was a newly set up account perhaps. And yeah, it just got to the level where it started to enter the national consciousness of Spurs fans. But yeah, unfortunately, it seems to be nothing in it. Yeah. Right. It's that time of the podcast now where Ali will let everyone know about the benefits of using NordVPN. Yes, this isn't a prank. This is very much true. This is NordVPN and something I've used many, many, many, many times over the years, which is why I feel very qualified to be able to talk about it. 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Um, but also, um, it's, uh, for work wise, it's been invaluable at times of, uh, either just being able to work because sometimes in some countries they don't let you work without a VPN you can't connect to the various things we do with our system but also little things like being able to watch replays when I'm covering matches if I don't have a replay screen I can just plug into whoever is showing it back in the UK and um and yeah it's it's a very secure service it kind of helps you if you're using public wi-fi it helps you save money if you're looking to book flights let's say from another country you can set your device to think it's somewhere like I don't know if you're booking flights to sweden let's say set your device to thinking it's in sweden and then you'll be able to buy from their um end of the the airlines and things like that and that can save you a bit of money too and it's NordVPN, it's the fastest VPN in the world. It means no buffering, no lagging, and you can stream your favorite shows from anywhere in the world without your bandwidth throttling, which I know is very important to you. You don't like your bandwidth throttling. You can get a really good discount as well because they're partners of the show to get your NordVPN plan. If you go to nordvpn.com forward slash gold guest, our link will also give you four extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk for Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee, and the link, in case you just missed it, is in the podcast episode description box. Right, we'll discuss Tottenham's loan players now, because it was a decent week for the six players out on loan. We'll start with Jamie Donnelly, who made the move to Leighton Orient last week, straight into the starting XI against Charlton in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Game didn't go quite to plan for Orient. They lost in the last minute. I think it was Luke Berry who scored, 92nd-minute winner. Jamie Donnelly played as an attacking midfielder behind the striker, got a good amount of minutes under his belt and seems to have made a really good impression. One of the You know, fellow London news outlets was at the game and they did their play ratings and Donnelly scored eight out of ten. So not a bad start for him and he'll just be looking to kick on from that now. Yeah, I mean, we said it at the time, I do think it's a great move for him. I think people talk about levels, championship, League One, all of this sort of stuff. As long as you fit the system and you're playing loads of minutes and you're getting exposure to first-team football, that's all that matters. um yeah I thought he did well um he almost got an assist straight away um and he just handled that step up well and everything kind of we've heard around kind of coming out of orient seems to be they're raving about him they're delighted with him um not too far from to travel either I would imagine um just just popping across london slightly and um yeah I think it's uh I think the jamie donnelly we'll see come back next summer a bit like alfie divine will be an even better player than the one that left and who knows in january similar to alfie divine I would imagine as most loans for the young players have this recall clause perhaps if he's absolutely flying for orion and they kind of feel okay he's maybe finding it a little too easy in league one we'll test him at a championship club we'll see but uh yeah a good move for him and a good good start really just to see him in those surroundings Yeah, in the same division, Matthew Craig, he's at Barnsley now. Really good loan spell with Doncaster in the second half of last season. You know, a key player in their push for the playoffs because they were around the relegation zone. I think when he initially came in, not quite gone to plan for him at Barnsley just yet. He has started all three of their games, two in the league, one in the Carabao Cup. but it has been coming off around the 60-minute mark. But, you know, at least he's in the starting 11 and he's not like one of these where he's on the bench and then coming on for a few minutes here and there. But again, he'll be one looking to make a big impression, you know, brand new club. Sometimes it just takes a bit of time getting used to your new teammates and that. But no, I think he'll be pleased that at least he's getting the minutes in and, you know, just, as I said, looking to kick on from there. Yeah, he was a real under-the-radar kind of lone player last season, wasn't he? In our lone round-ups, we're kind of very aware of... He was absolutely kind of smashing it for them, really. He was just flying at that level for Doncaster, and... Yeah, this will be another kind of big move for him, I think. I'm fascinated to see how far he goes and what level he ends up playing at because I do feel he's a lot better than people will probably know he is. I mean, I guess most fans will only have seen him come on briefly at the end of a game, won't they, in the Premier League when he got that debut. But I think... yeah I think he's a name that we'll be hearing a little bit more of over the coming years whether it ends up being as a tottenham player I don't know but certainly he'll uh yeah he's uh got quite a bright future ahead of him I hope yeah stepping up to the championship uh now dane scarlett made his oxford debut last friday got uh about a minute or so uh came on around stoppage time uh barely touched the ball I think it was one touch of the ball but I watched the end of the game so it was Coventry Oxford and just relentless pressure from Coventry and they did end up getting the winner from Hadji Wright and It's going to be difficult, I think, for Dean getting into the team because they've got Mark Harris up front who scored in both of their league games so far. They got about 19 goals in all competitions last season. But Oxford, they've got Blackburn this week and then they've got Coventry again in midweek, but this time in the Carabao Cup. You'd imagine, you'd think he should start that Coventry game because, I mean, when he was at Hootswitch last season... Probably the worst thing that could have happened to him was he was cup-tied because a few days before that move to Ipswich, he played in the second half for Tottenham against Fulham and that meant he missed out on a couple of starts for Ipswich. But yeah, he's back on the pitch, which is a positive. Now we'll just be looking to make that impact for Oxford starting against Blackburn this weekend. Yeah. So it's a tough move when you kind of go into a club that's been promoted and it's a tougher challenge for them. Absolutely. The worst case scenario is it ends up like the Ipswich move that he doesn't get a lot of minutes. Um, Yeah, I mean, obviously, you can't really judge it on the first game. To get one minute, it's just purely him coming into the squad and not being as at ease with everything as everyone else would be that's been there longer. But yeah, we'll be watching him closely. I think we've said it on a previous one. Dane needs goals. That's it. He's a striker. He needs to score goals. He needs minutes to do so. And yeah, injuries can happen to other players. So he's going to get his chance and he's just got to be ready for it. There's a lot of talent there. he's just got to show people that he's a goal scorer I think yeah uh some very positive news for tottenham uh we'll move across to spain now and that's el ojo belize already played more football uh than he did for severe last season one game yeah uh so he started for espanol away rail via the lead the other day played 70 minutes I think it's severe it was like 30 minutes maybe across six appearances barely played so early in the squad sometimes let alone kind of get on the pitch yeah so good good start for him good to see him back on the pitch and then brian hill made an impression as well for gerona sounds like he was their brightest attacking player they played last thursday away at rail batiste drew 1-1 in in the end and it's a good long move for brian really because they've got champions league football to look forward to so I think champions league draws next thursday uh yeah I think hopefully all being well it is a really good low move for the player and that results in a permanent move away from tottenham next summer tough question for you alejo valise will we see him play a competitive game for tottenham hotspur again Uh, yeah, I think we will. I think it'll, it'll come back and just got to assess the situation, you know, next summer. It'd be a bit strange to have paid. What about 15 million for him 12 months ago? Was it 13 million around that mark? Yeah. Yeah. Around that mark. And then, you know, just that's it. Well, uh, we'll sell him on next, next summer. Uh, So I think when he did play on a couple of occasions, he did make an impact, notably the Brighton game. And I mean, hindsight's a wonderful thing, but if Spurs had kept him for the second half of last season, they played quite a lot of football in the end because they just didn't have a striker and Son ended up playing through the middle and that just didn't work for him. So, again, like you said with Dane, Eloy Valese needs to, you know, be scoring the goals and making a mark for Espanyol. And if he does, then, yeah, hopefully we'll get to see him in a Spurs shirt once again. I think this season is the one. I think it has to happen for him this season. I know it's very kind of putting a real kind of time limit on it, but I just feel it's more to do with the players that are already there at Spurs. I think, you know, Solanke, obviously, they'll hope is the long-term kind of striking option. I'm sure Richarlison will want to stick around for a lot longer as well. But you've also got Will Lancashire, you know, he's the kind of the young striker that they're all keeping an eye on at Spurs as well. And we've already mentioned Dane and we'll see. I just feel like for Valise to force his way into the equation, he has to have a really good promising season now. I mean... You look at Troy Parrott. You know, Troy Parrott, you would have thought he would have at some point get a Spurs chance after those early couple of games. Went away for years, never ended up coming back and playing for Spurs. And now he's, you know, RZ in the Eredivisie. So, yeah, I think it's all laid out there for Lehovelis. It's kind of what he's got to do. And just hopefully he can do it because he is... I do think his physical attributes suit English football. I think... But yeah, it's just about it clearly didn't make enough of impression this summer. It wasn't anywhere near that kind of the lineup. And, you know, Will Lancashire was was getting in ahead of him. And yeah, with Brian Hill, similar kind of thing, more so for Spurs. Spurs need him to have a really good season. So that value kind of remains reasonably high and they can get anywhere near what they paid for him. Such a shame because he's clearly very talented. It's just whoever scouted him and thought that he was going to be a Premier League kind of great fit for the Premier League. It's like, what are you doing kind of thing? It's like he's made for the Spanish league. That's his kind of league. It's perfect for him. Um, Who knows? You know, he might suddenly bulk up. He might come back looking like a Dama Truro. You never know. He may hit the weights. But I just don't feel like we'll probably see him pull on a Spurs shirt again. But, you know, Jed Spence is the one. He kind of ruins that argument every time because we all thought he was heading off this summer. Yeah, last one in the loan round-up. We'll briefly mention him, and that's Pierre-Emile Heuberg. Technically, he's a loan player because it is a loan deal for this season. Then he's moved to Marseille. He becomes permanent next summer because it's an obligation to purchase him. He started the other day. I think they won 5-1 away at Brest. It was a good start to the season for him. Yeah, I think he'll fit in well there. I was just reading some of the quotes from his press conference unveiling. I didn't realise there was that much of a French connection between Hojbjerg because of his mother. His mum. Yeah, she's French, holidayed in France quite a lot, fluent. So you can understand why he wanted to make the move to Marseille. Yeah, I still think it came as a surprise to some people because I think he was looking for a Champions League club. And yeah, that wasn't quite what he ended up with. I think Deserby's kind of trying to build a bit of a, like a Premier League style French team there with who he's looking at. And I know that Marseille have been looking at Manor Solomon. I don't think at this current stage, unless there's no other options come up, I think Manor Solomon is looking to stay in the UK. But yeah, It'd be a good move for Hojbjerg and, as we've said before, a good servant for Spurs. It's a funny one, isn't it? Because, I mean, Spurs had to include him in the shirt numbers as well, didn't they, for the season? Because I think what it is, while it's an obligation, it doesn't actually activate until a certain part of the season. So at this stage, he is technically still a Spurs player. Of course he is, because he's on loan, but... Yeah, I think there's a little bit more to the obligation. That's not to say that it won't happen because it is an obligation, but I think it's just, it's one of those, it's a certain time limit to when it kicks in, which also meant that no one could take his number. I'm sure I've seen before players leave on loan and then someone else takes the number. Oh, it does happen. I mean, we've got Raheem Sterling at Chelsea right now. He's not even, he's still there. I mean, this is it. When we talk about kind of squads and everything, you just have to look down the road at Chelsea where they've got about 10, 15 players who are like training apart from the first team. And yeah, having their numbers nicked by new signings while they're still there, it's just makes Spurs look normal. Because, I mean, we're looking at Spurs' squad numbers when they were released on Monday. I think two's available. Three will be when Reguillon goes. Four's available now because Skip's not there. Five because Hojbjerg's gone. Eleven because Brian Hill's gone. Eighteen will also come up, yep. Yes, there's a number of vacant numbers at the minute. A number of numbers. Appealing ones as well. You know, one's what you'd think a lot would want in the 1-11, but no, they're available and, you know, might be next season when they're taken. Did you see Will Lancashire wasn't on the list and then suddenly appeared on it a little while later? It was like, oh no, we forgot Will! yeah he's number 42 and he making moore's 43 he's all 41. yeah who jumped up someone jumped up into the 20s I can't remember who it was now someone had quite a big jump um I can't remember yeah I can't remember something I'm gonna have a little uh a little look at the shirt numbers now I think The ones I noticed in terms of changes, it was early Jamie Donnelly, Mikey Moore, and there'd been Will Lancashire. And then obviously Destiny, Doggy, Gulliam over Carrier, they changed their squad numbers as well. Mikey Moore's 47. Mikey Moore's 47. Yeah. I feel like someone definitely jumped up into the 20s, but I can't see them now. Maybe I was just making that up. I mean, obviously, Odebeer took 28, didn't he? Tongi's number. Yeah, there wasn't too many kind of other surprise switches around. And obviously, Pat Matisar's going to have P.M. Saar, isn't he? I think on his back. That was the only other change. Yeah, right. Finally, we'll move on to Saturday's game against Everton. Looking forward to it. They're funny games, aren't they? You know what threat you're going to get from Everton. Obviously, the threat at Goodison Park was there for all to see in terms of the set pieces and the problems that Vicario faced as well in the defence. Your guys are having some problems, aren't they, injury-wise? Yeah, I think it's 14 outfield players, senior outfield players available for the weekend. All three right-backs. How many teams have you had? I don't know. Yeah, all three right-backs are out. Doubtover, Tarkowski, Jared Brandthwaite's out. James Garner's out as well. Chimiti's a long-term one. Yeah, so limited options there, so... Not gone down well with the Everton fans because it looks potentially like Mason Holgate, Michael Keane gone to play. Two players who really should have been out of the door a couple of seasons ago. Jake O'Brien, who we've signed from Lyon, you'd think should come in for his debut because there's barely anyone else to select in defence and I can't really see Sean Dyche selecting some of the academy players and giving them a go throwing them in the deep end I just can't see it maybe in midweek when we're in Carabao Cup action that they will get the chance in the team but not this weekend Yeah, it's one of those where it's all set up for Spurs to kind of take grasp of the game. And that's when often Dr. Tottenham comes along to help everyone's ills and pains. Everyone apart from the Spurs fans, of course. Yeah, it's one that they should go into the game with a lot of confidence. They should go in there looking to take advantage of Everton's problems. um yeah irony there isn't there of you talking about players having to play that the fans wanted to gone years ago and uh it's kind of we started the whole thing about spurs kind of sorting out that issue to a large degree um yeah it's going to be a bit of a battle um would you I think we kind of spoke about this the other day would you put archie gray in there then as a number six Yeah, I think Archie Gray starts and Yves Bissouma available again after the ban the club imposed on him for the Leicester game. He was back in training with the rest of the players the other day. What I noticed was basically those who either came on as a sub or didn't play all day were the ones involved in outside training. Bissouma there with them. Yeah, I think for Basuma it's just a case of getting minutes here and there while you can and just trying to get back into the good books of Postacoglu and the rest of the players as well. Yeah, I think great starts. Yeah, I would start. I think it's actually quite a good game to start him in as well. I think he's a player that he kind of likes the physical battles as well. He's a very tall player. He's a very big player. And as we said, playing at right back, he had the most tackles in the championship for an under-21 player or 21 and under player last season. So he's absolutely able to put himself about in there as well. That won't be an issue. Yeah, we await to see kind of the latest on Rodrigo Benteke. We'll find out at the press conference tomorrow and how he's got on and whether there definitely was concussion involved. You would think from the way it all happened that there will be and the fact that he was unconscious. It looked like in the air anyway when he fell. That appeared to be from my lofty perch in the press box. And also... good to know about Pedro Porro it looked like an impact kind of injury from above but we'll find out whether there's anything more to that obviously you'll have Jed Spence there Reds come in or maybe even Archie Gray depends kind of what he decides to do there elsewhere probably Deci, isn't it? Deci has to come in. I think it doesn't send a great message, I don't think, if he doesn't then come in, because otherwise it doesn't look like it was tactical last time, which it clearly must have been. So go on then, what's your starting XI? What's your Spurs starting XI to take them on? Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van der Veen, Doggy, Gray, Saar, Maddison, Kulaseski, Solanke and Son. Same as you, I reckon. Yep, yep, I'd go for that. I'm obviously assuming Poirot's fine. It's a funny one. Even if Benton Kerr doesn't have concussion, I probably wouldn't want to throw him back in after having something like that happen to him. Well, I think his personal trainer back in Uruguay has been speaking, and he was saying, like, he's out. He won't be playing against Everton because of the concussion protocol. Oh, he has said the concussion, has he? Oh, okay. I saw there was something about him while I was doing some stuff earlier, but that's okay. Well, that's fine, and we'll no doubt get confirmation on that tomorrow. um yeah I think yeah the quote was due to premier league protocol rodrigo will not be able to play in the next match okay interesting because they used a concussion sub didn't they so presumably that must have meant they they feared that there was concussion going on so uh yeah well hopefully he's okay um I'm sure he'll have a big old bump on his forehead which appeared to be he had when he was walking out of the But yeah, it's, I feel like it sounds a bit daft to say because it's so early on, but it kind of is almost feels like a must win game because of the result in the first game. I'm not saying it's like the be all and end all the entire season, but I just think momentum wise, I think they need it before they head off to St. James's Park. Yeah, because no doubt it'll be another, what, 4-0 defeat? 6-1, was it, the other year? No. You know what's going to happen. I don't want it to happen. I'm not having that again. I cannot go all the way up to St. James' Park and see one of those performances again. And you're always beside me as well. There's a theme there as well. You're always kind of sat next to me, kind of. I don't think you're quite as suffering as I am, but having a report on it is a bit of a nightmare. Yeah, no, I think this weekend is, you know, a game Tottenham should be winning. And the need to win, really, especially when you're going into a game at St James' Park. Because we've seen what Newcastle have done to Spurs on the past few visits. And that's the last thing we want to see. Spurs being ripped to shreds in Newcastle again. Because then you're going into an international break and you might not have a win. And then is it the North London Derby when they come straight back? It is after that. There's nothing worse for you and I than writing stuff in an international break after a heavy defeat. It is just a time of bad feelings, toxicity, all of that. And no one wants to really hear anything. No one wants to read anything. We have to write it. yeah so please spurs um I know guesty doesn't want it particularly this saturday but if you could win this saturday and then go to some james's park and not put in a horror show performance that would be lovely yeah so how does ang fit wilson other bear into the squad this week then uh just before we finish because I mean what happens does team avena or another attacker drop out or Does the defender drop out in order to bring him in? Or does he leave Basuma out of the squad? I think... there's a part of me that kind of feels like he would have been tempted to leave Basuma out for another squad, but I also don't think you can injury-wise because I think it would leave the squad too thin on the day. And the thing with Oduber is he's fully matched fit. You know, he's played for Burnley in the championship already, scored the goal on their opening game. So he's kind of ready to fit straight in there. I think it's a... Yeah, someone like, like I say, a Timo Werner perhaps. It's a big call there. And this is what you want. You want to have the levels of quality in your squad where people can't even get on the bench. It's rubbish for them, but it's great for the levels of the squad and the competition. So... yeah I think we'll um obviously we'll find out on Saturday morning but I would imagine I think you put him in there and I think I don't think Johnson comes out at all I know people are very unhappy with his performance but I don't think I think you know that Johnson can come off the bench and as well if you're having him on there and do a really good job he's done that a few times last season I think think timo verna ends up becoming unless there's another knock obviously the poro could affect that if there's something with him um but I would say verna's probably the one most at risk yeah interesting uh see what happens but as I said on the last podcast this is what the head coach wants he wants these tough decisions uh because it means everyone's available Right, we'll leave that there for today's latest episode of Golden Guest Tottenham. We'll be back early next week to reflect on the game and then look ahead to another trip to St. James' Park. So in the meantime, just keep with us at football.london for all your latest Tottenham news. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com forward slash goldguest. Our link will also give you four extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box.