Mid-June News Roundup

Transfer news, stadium news, kit news, and more from the world of Tottenham Hotspur

In a somewhat unusual turn of events for Spurs, the off-season has already been quite eventful, even before the transfer windows had officially opened (the Women's window still hasn't).

But let's start things off with the most straightforward announcement.

2022/23 home kit launch

Is this the best picture of the new kit? No. Is it my favorite? Definitely.

I do think the new home kit is an upgrade over last season's, which was just a little too minimalist/classic for my taste. It ended up growing on me and I got one with Son flocking near the end of the season (one can never have too many Sonny shirts!), but it wasn't interesting enough design-wise to be truly memorable. This year's shirt has some fun neon details in the ringer collar/sleeves similar to the 2020/21 away kit, which is one of my favorite Spurs shirts in my (admittedly small) collection, primarily due to the exquisite dark green colorway. I also like the subtle curved line across the chest and the textured fabric on the new kit. I have gone on the record many times as saying that I prefer Adidas kits to Nike (my Bundesliga club has Adidas shirts and they just fit and feel so much better), and Nike has a long way to go in terms of putting out innovative designs and not relying so much on templates from club to club. This is an improvement, but still relatively tame compared to some of the unique kits we've seen for other clubs.

We also got to see the new home goalkeeper kit, albeit with less promotional fanfare, when a certain player wore it for his signing photos. This brings me to the next topic...

Actual transfer business!

I'm just as shocked as you are that there is actually transfer news to share in the middle of June. In fact, the Men's team made its first signing on May 31! Before we get to that exciting signing, let's start with the new goalkeeper so we can bring the kit news full circle.

Incomings

Snagging Fraser Forster on a free transfer from Southampton is a shrewd bit of business from the club, I have to say. The 34-year-old is still at the top of his game if his recent appearances for the Saints were anything to go by; I particularly enjoyed the masterclass he put on when they beat Arsenal. He's a clear upgrade on Gollini and was already serving in a supplementary role at his former club, so tension around lack of minutes won't be an issue, as it might have been if we had signed an up-and-coming keeper instead. If anything, he'll be a positive presence in the dressing room as a veteran of the Premier League.

As for the keeper kit, I kind of love this shade of yellow. The downside is that it has the neckline bib detail situation that's rumored to be present in the away kit, and while I think it works great on a monochrome kit like this, it's going to look very goofy on a multi-color kit. I hope that rumored kit doesn't end up being the real thing. Anyway, the best part of this keeper kit is the short sleeves. I might finally grab a Lloris shirt this season now that I know I can wear it even in the sweltering Texas heat.

The other incoming for the Men's team so far is another free transfer, Ivan Perišić from Inter Milan. I cannot overstate how thrilled I am about this transfer. When it was first rumored I thought that it was surely too good to be true because Perišić was almost too perfect of a fit for Spurs' current needs. But what do you know, the club actually got it done! It helps that Ivan is apparently very excited about the move himself. I had the pleasure of watching him play for Bayern Munich on loan two seasons ago and he was hugely integral to the team's success. He's a model professional, able to come into any lineup/formation and execute his role flawlessly. He will also be a great mentor to younger players and help Conte to continue imparting a stronger mentality in the club. Perhaps the biggest benefit to signing Perišić is that he's a versatile player positionally. He can play at both wingback and winger on either side of the pitch. I would expect him to take the starting LWB position from Sessegnon and play there the majority of the time unless injuries necessitate him filling in elsewhere.

These two transfers signal to me that the club is employing a win-now strategy this season. And why wouldn't they? When you look at the form table since Conte took over, Spurs weren't far off Manchester City and Liverpool. We may not be able to close the gap entirely when it comes to the PL title, but with a few more experienced, proven performers added to the squad we could definitely be challengers for a domestic cup and make a deep run in our first season back in the CL. The announcement that the ownership group is injecting £150 million into the club to be used for transfers would also suggest a win-now strategy. It's heartening to see that (so far) the club is taking this golden opportunity with Conte and running with it.

Sadly, no news to report yet on incomings for the Women's team. The transfer window opens on the 17th, but with the Euros beginning in early July we might see a delayed flurry of activity closer to the beginning of next season. As I've said previously, the top priority has to be strengthening the attack, with additional depth in midfield and defense being lower priorities.

Outgoings

Both Spurs teams have already announced quite a few outgoings from the squads.

Spurs Men are saying goodbye to Pierluigi Gollini at the end of his loan from Atalanta, while Cameron Carter-Vickers is making his loan move to Celtic a permanent transfer after a successful title-winning season with the Scottish club (which also bodes well for his future with the USMNT). Several youth players were released or chose to move on at the end of their contracts. Tanguy Ndombele and Giovanni Lo Celso have not yet found permanent homes (officially, anyway), but are unlikely to be back in a Spurs shirt again. Steven Bergwijn is also looking likely to depart the club, probably to Ajax, but a deal hasn't been completed as of this writing. There are a few more players who are possible outgoings, but no solid news on them yet.

Spurs Women, meanwhile, are undergoing a slightly less dramatic off-season than last summer, when a full starting-XI worth of players were released (only a few of them actual starting XI quality, but still!). So far, three players have left the club at the end of their contracts:  Josie Green, Angela Addison, and Rachel Williams. Green is one of just two players on the 2021/22 squad that had made 100 appearances for the club, so it's sad to see such a tenured player moving on. Addison had struggled to get minutes under Rehanne Skinner and seemed like a poor fit for the new system, so I was not surprised to see her leave. Williams' departure is a big blow, both in terms of her on-pitch performances and her leadership in the team. However, it does suggest that Spurs could be going in for a big-name striker to replace her. Fingers crossed!

The Women's team also had a couple of players return to their parent clubs (Tang Jiali and Viktoria Schnaderbeck), while a few have returned, perhaps temporarily, from loans out (Esther Morgan, Eleanor Heeps, and Grace Pearse).

Contract extensions

In addition to the new contracts previously reported (Becky Spencer, Kit Graham, and Ashleigh Neville), Spurs Women opted to extend a few contracts by a further year to round out the preliminary roster before the transfer window. Shelina Zadorsky, Ria Percival, Tinja-Riikka Korpela, Jessica Naz, Rosella Ayane, Maéva Clemaron, and Cho So-hyun will all be with the club for another full season, barring any loan moves.

Kit will feel like a new signing when she gets back from her ACL injury, honestly, and the same goes for Ria (although her return is much farther away than Kit's).

The Chioma mystery resolved

Sometime around January, I had started to get very frustrated with the lack of information from the club on Chioma Ubogagu's status. Why was she being left out of the matchday squad consistently? Was she injured? Had she fallen out with the manager and was being kept out of the team for non-performance reasons? Well, we finally learned why the club had not said a word about her for all those months. They were legally obligated not to because she was serving a provisional suspension for a banned substance violation involving her acne medication (the medication isn't performance-enhancing itself, but could possibly mask other substances that are, hence the ban). Her request for a Therapeutic Use Exemption was denied, but luckily the appeal decision reduced her suspension from a potential two years (which would have been essentially career-ending for Chioma) to just nine months, including the months already served during her provisional suspension.

It could have been a lot worse, but still feels unfair considering that it was an honest mistake. You could also argue that the club didn't do its due diligence when Chioma was signed by having the team doctor clear all of her medications, but it seems like they were at least as supportive as possible after the violation came to light. Rehanne especially seems to have shown a lot of concern for Chi's mental health.

Her suspension is a cautionary tale for other athletes, as Chioma wrote about in her Players' Tribune story about her experience. Give it a read if you haven't already because it's important to hear her perspective on the ordeal. I'm looking forward to seeing her back on the pitch in October!

International duty

I won't mention every single Spurs player that's playing with their national team, because there's a lot. Poor Maksim Paskotši was part of the Estonian team that conceded five goals to Argentina, all from Lionel Messi, just to give you an idea of the depth of international talent on the Men's team, from youth level to senior. The Women's squad has a pretty light summer in terms of international duty, since other than friendlies, the main competitive matches are the Euros starting in early July. But since Ash Neville was (criminally) not called up for England, the only Spurs players participating in the tournament are Tinni Korpela and Eveliina Summanen, both of Finland. Shelina Zadorsky has some CONCACAF Women's Championship games with Canada as well, around the same time as the Euros.

There were a few cool milestones and awards worth noting from international play:

• Ria Percival was named New Zealand Women's international player of the year for her performances pre-injury.
• Cuti Romero (and Gio Lo Celso, I guess...) won the Finalissima with Argentina, beating Italy.
• Gareth Bale received an MBE award for services to football and charity as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The monarchy is bad, but Gareth is good.
• Along with the two-time Hotspur Bale, Ben Davies and Joe Rodon qualified for the World Cup by winning the playoff final against Ukraine.
• Harry Kane scored a penalty against [redacted] to reach the 50-goal mark for England.
• Son Heung-min scored a free kick on his 100th appearance for South Korea (and another free kick in the following match... #NoMoreKaneFreeKicks)

I will here insert the first PSA of the newsletter:  if you've also been frustrated by the lack of Nations League coverage on the Fox networks and have no intention of subscribing to FuboTV for streaming, there's a free app called Vix that has all the Spanish-language streams. I do not speak Spanish myself, but it's a nice alternative to paying $69.99 for another streaming service that I absolutely do not need.

(h/t:  a local SA FC podcast that will probably not be of interest to any of y'all, but I will nevertheless link to out of gratitude, PuroSAFC)

Elsewhere in the world of Spurs

Eric Dier may have been disappointed not to get called up to the England squad for the Nations League games, but he seems to be making up for it by having the vacation of his life. He's done it all:

• Attending the NBA playoffs in Miami with Japhet Tanganga and Brandon Austin
• Watching the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco with Matt Doherty
• Reuniting with Moussa Dembélé in Saint-Tropez
• Visiting his old youth academy at Sporting in Portugal
• Simply enjoying life in Ibiza

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Emerson Royal is not having the best time back home in Brazil. He is luckily safe after an armed robbery, but hopefully he gets back to England without any further incidents.

Leaving the Hive

The club announced that Spurs Women will be leaving their previous home ground of the Hive, where we'd played all three seasons in the WSL so far. The new home ground will be Brisbane Road, also the home of Leyton Orient FC, who have a long-established relationship with Tottenham. I've heard that the move is not so great for fans who like to drive to the matches, but it should be better for public transportation options. With a capacity of over 9K, hopefully the home support will continue to grow. The pitch is supposed to be a lot better at Brisbane Road than the notoriously awful pitch at the Hive, so that's an improvement. As an overseas fan who watches most matches on the FA Player, I'm just hoping for good camera angles. Of course, select matches will still be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium throughout the season.

I found an interesting article about Brisbane Road, and apparently all four corners of the ground feature residential flats with balconies that look out onto the pitch. Can you imagine?? This looks like a really unique stadium and I'm looking forward to taking in a match there when I finally make it over to London. Now, if we can just convince Leyton Orient to switch the red seats out for our common lilywhite, that would be fabulous 😉.

Pre-season just around the corner

Because of the World Cup interruption during the PL season, the fixtures are going to start early this year, on the first weekend of August. That means pre-season is also getting moved up.

The Men's team heads out on their pre-season tour on July 9, starting with a stop in South Korea. Spurs are hugely popular in Korea thanks to Son and Cho both playing for Tottenham, so they're sure to get a great reception there. They play two teams whilst in Korea, Team K-League (a selection of players from the Korean league) and Sevilla.

Then they head to Scotland to face Rangers at their home ground, Ibrox. Finally, in a scenario designed to exasperate a large section of Tottenham fans, we'll play José Mourinho's Roma in Israel (of all the places they could have held that match! Good grief.).

There's a quick turnaround from the final pre-season match on July 30 to the first PL matchday on August 6, so let's hope Conte is satisfied with the preparation achieved in these friendly matches; there won't be time for much training when the squad gets back to England. Once again:  what was FIFA thinking, holding the World Cup a) in Qatar and b) in the middle of the league season? (I know the answer, it's just frustrating.)

I haven't heard anything about pre-season plans for the Women's team, but hopefully will have some news to share in that regard for the next news roundup. After such a grueling season for the thin squad, I just hope they're resting up (international duty besides) and are ready to hit the ground running in September. I want to say I saw a report stating the new season would begin on the weekend of September 11 (happy birthday to me), but now I can't find any news links to that effect, so don't quote me.

Second PSA:  The WSL rebranded its official name from the Barclays FA Women's Super League (FAWSL) to just Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL). So if you see that new abbreviation out in the wild, remember, it's the top-flight women's league we know and love. They also updated the logo to be a little more streamlined.

*deep breath* I think that's just about everything that's happened in the Tottenham Hotspur (cinematic) universe since the last matches were played in May. Calling it the "off-season" isn't very accurate, since we know that transfer business is only going to heat up from this point on, and a large cohort of the players are busy with international matches even before we get to the club pre-season friendlies. But it would be a boring summer without any Spurs news, so I'll take it.

COYS