Fabio Paratici has plenty to sort on his Tottenham to-do list over the next few days before the team jet off to South Korea for their summer tour. Seeing five players return to Hotspur Way last week to begin their preparations for the new season, a large number of the first-team squad returned to training on Monday morning.
New signing Yves Bissouma has linked up with his new Spurs teammates for the very first time after his transfer from Brighton & Hove Albion, while Cristian Romero and Davinson Sanchez are also back despite playing international football in June. Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Pape Matar Sarr were also spotted at the club's Enfield base after spending time away on loan last campaign.
Other players may choose to return early but the remainder of the Tottenham squad will be back in time for the squad's flight to South Korea on Saturday, July 9. Making four new additions ahead of the 2022/23 season, all connected with Tottenham will be hoping a few more come through the door over the next few days so that they can spend some quality time with Antonio Conte, his coaching staff and the players.
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So what exactly does Paratici have on his to-do list this week? football.london takes a look.
Get Spence deal over the line
Djed Spence's potential move to Tottenham is taking quite some time. Heavily tipped to join the Lilywhites from Middlesbrough after such a successful loan spell at Nottingham Forest, agreeing on a fee for the England U21 international is proving to be a bit of a stumbling block.
"Hopefully, it will come to a quick conclusion because that would help everybody," said Boro boss Chris Wilder on the transfer at the weekend, as reported by The Northern Echo. "That's the way we'd like it to be, although the situation isn't always straightforward. It is taking its time, but hopefully, it can get sorted. If not, then as I've said all along, Djed comes back to us."
Middlesbrough have their own valuation of the player and they will be holding out to receive as much money as possible for Spence. One club is going to have to compromise if a deal is to come to fruition sooner rather than later, however. It is now down to Paratici and Tottenham to agree on that fee to give Conte a new right wing-back for his Spurs system.
Sign a new left-sided centre-back
Another key position that Tottenham have yet to strengthen this summer is on the left of their back three. Spurs did initially want a new left-sided centre-back during the January transfer window as Ben Davies was the only natural in the role last campaign but they instead shelved their plans until the summer.
Looking at Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni and RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol, Clement Lenglet of Barcelona could be the player to come in and strengthen the position. The Lilywhites are in discussions over a loan move for the French international, who they tried to sign in a similar deal last summer, and will push through a deal for the 27-year-old if they cannot secure their top targets for the role.
In an ideal world Spurs will have done the bulk of their transfer business in time for their pre-season trip to South Korea, thus leaving Paratici with only a few days if a new left-sided centre-back is going to be on the flight to Asia.
Move on players
Tottenham have been very active in terms of incomings but the same cannot be said about outgoings. Confirming at the start of June that 12 of the club's youngsters would leave this summer at the end of their contracts, Pierluigi Gollini has returned to Atalanta following his loan spell at the club and Cameron Carter-Vickers has joined Celtic permanently.
Question marks surround a number of Tottenham stars heading into the new term, most notably Gil, Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele. Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguillon could also potentially be on their way due to the club's wing-back plans.
Harry Winks appears a certainty to depart after dropping down the pecking order following the signing of Bissouma from Brighton, while Steven Bergwijn looks set to finally complete a move to Ajax following so much speculation about his future. football.london understands that reports suggesting a fee has been agreed with Ajax for Bergwijn are slightly premature, but the move is expected to go through sooner rather than later.
July is usually when transfer business starts to ramp up and things could really get going for Tottenham in terms of outgoings. It's now time for Paratici to work his magic and move players on.
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