Daniel Levy’s Contract Catastrophe: Tottenham’s Summer Showdown Looms Large [Full Story Link in Comment]
Tottenham Hotspur and contract situations have not been the happiest of bedfellows in recent years and this summer looks to be no different.
Spurs have had a number of long-serving players reach the final year or even end of their lengthy contracts, prompting situations that have forced chairman Daniel Levy’s hand or left him and the club powerless and having to simply watch on as the player decided on the next steps of their career, some sitting on a high contract until the last moment before having their pick of clubs as a free agent.
The most high profile last summer was record goalscorer Harry Kane reaching the final year of his deal and with no sign of him putting pen to paper on a new contract, Tottenham could not take the risk of losing him for nothing so ended up selling their star player to Bayern Munich.
Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier both found themselves in similar scenarios and entered the final year of their deals, the former sitting and waiting until a move to Los Angeles FC came along in January and the latter agreeing a loan move which will turn permanent this summer with Bayern.
Ivan Perisic has done similar with Hajduk Split when his deal ends at Spurs in June, while Davinson Sanchez was sold last September as he entered his final year. Lucas Moura left last summer after Tottenham decided against taking up the year option on his contract. Danny Rose famously sat out the entire final year of his contract at the club despite not being registered to play in the Premier League before leaving for nothing in 2022.
The main problem for Tottenham, Levy and Ange Postecoglou this summer and it will have an impact on the club’s transfer business will be those contracts reaching their final 12 months and ending in 2025. The club’s current star man and captain Son Heung-min will not be one of those because Spurs have an option to extend his deal by another 12 months.
However, there are decisions galore to be made elsewhere in the squad as the north London outfit currently have five first team players out of contract this summer, including Dier and Perisic, and another 12, if we are including Son before that option is triggered, who will have just 12 months left on their deals this summer.
Those with deals that expire this summer include Timo Werner’s loan contract from RB Leipzig and Tottenham will have to decide whether to take up the option worth around £15million to bring the German to the club on a permanent basis.
Ryan Sessegnon’s deal signed when he arrived for more than £30million in the summer of 2019, included five years and an option for the club to add on a sixth. Spurs will have to decide whether to cut ties with the 23-year-old left-back, who has had an injury ravaged year with two operations which it is hoped will bring an end to his hamstring woes, or give Sessegnon another year in which to potentially recoup some kind of loan fee this summer or transfer money in January or simply just hope that he can reignite his career at Tottenham.
Goalkeeper Brandon Austin is also currently out of contract this summer, although Spurs’ lack of homegrown club-trained players might see them extend his deal as a 25-year-old who has been on the bench in the Premier League eight times this season, particularly if he also has an option.
Then there are those Tottenham players who the club must decide whether to sell this summer or hand a new deal to due to their deals running out the following summer.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso both reach the final year of their contracts after both signing permanent deals in 2020 while Ben Davies will reach a decade at the club this summer and in doing so will find himself in the final 12 months of his contract. All three players have had less game time than they would have wanted this season and Spurs will need to decide who they want to try to cash in on.
Two goalkeepers in Fraser Forster and Alfie Whiteman have deals until 2025 while five returning loan players all currently have contracts until that summer, in the shape of Tanguy Ndombele, Sergio Reguilon, Joe Rodon, Japhet Tanganga and Troy Parrott, who all have varying degrees of interest from other clubs in their services.
To make things even more complicated, Spurs occasionally announce contracts when they are signed with the option to extend included in the published end date. That was the case with Sessegnon back in 2019 as it was this year with the new deals for Destiny Udogie and Pape Matar Sarr, which means that any of those players set to leave in 2025 could have undisclosed options for the club to extend their deals to 2026 or they may already be included so technically they are out of contract in 2024.
Either way it all leaves Levy, Postecoglou and Tottenham with plenty of decisions to make this summer over whether to stick or twist with a large portion of the Australian’s squad reaching that crossroads of their Spurs career.
