Tottenham fans will be hoping that Fabio Paratici has something else up his sleeve after a summer like no other in north London. Tending to bide their time in the transfer market before making their move in the past, Spurs already have six new players signed on ahead of their opening game of the new season against Southampton.
Djed Spence was the latest to complete a move to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, joining from Middlesbrough on Tuesday morning for a fee of £12.5million rising to £20million with add-ons. As much as all supporters would love the players to keep on coming in through the door, the priority for Paratici and Spurs is to now move players on to ensure they have a balanced squad.
Spurs have to keep to the squad rules in both the Premier League and Champions League, something which has proved rather tricky in the past due to the different non-homegrown and homegrown player regulations in the aforementioned competitions. So how are things currently looking for Tottenham and what does Paratici need to do before the end of the transfer window?
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Premier League
Let's start with the Premier League and the rules all 20 clubs have to follow. Premier League rules state that no more than 17 overseas players can be named as part of the 25-man squad, with the remaining eight places available to homegrown players.
As well as that, teams also name a separate U21s list for the season, something Tottenham took full advantage of last campaign with Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp and Dejan Kulusevski able to be listed with the U21 players. Following the club's January business, Spurs had five spare places in their 25-man squad after only submitting 20 names (12 non-homegrown, eight homegrown).
Able to include Sessegnon, Skipp and Kulusevski on the U21 list in 2021/22, the trio unfortunately no longer qualify as U21 players as they were born before January 1, 2001. The Swede will instead be named as a non-homegrown player and the England U21 duo will be down as homegrown. Pape Matar Sarr and Bryan Gil can still be included as U21 players, however, if both remain in N17 for the season.
Losing Pierluigi Gollini and Steven Bergwijn from last season's non-homegrown list, Tottenham will add Ivan Perisic, Clement Lenglet, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison to the numbers following their transfers. Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso are included again for the time being following their respective loan spells but both are not part of Antonio Conte's plans going forward.
In terms of homegrown numbers, Spurs have 11 following Fraser Forster and Spence's moves to the club and Jack Clarke's transfer to Sunderland on a permanent basis. Tottenham can name more than eight homegrown players in their 25-man squad if they wish but this would subsequently reduce how many foreign players they can include.
Paratici and Conte have work to do but a handful of summer exits will certainly make life easier for them.
Premier League non-homegrown players: Hugo Lloris, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Davinson Sanchez, Clement Lenglet, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min, Richarlison. (17 - on the limit)
Premier League homegrown players: Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Matt Doherty, Djed Spence, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies, Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Harry Kane. (11)
U21 list: Harvey White, Pape Matar Sarr, Bryan Gil, Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott.
Champions League
What complicates matters for Conte and Paratici is that the homegrown rules differ between the Premier League and Champions League. The main issue is that players who learned their trade outside of England are seen as non-homegrown, even if that means they came through an academy at a Welsh or Irish club.
Matt Doherty, Ben Davies and Joe Rodon do not qualify as homegrown in European competition for this reason. As is the case in the Premier League, Eric Dier is classed as non-homegrown due to his years in Portugal where he came through the system at Sporting CP.
In UEFA competition, clubs also submit a B list for those born on or after the 1st January 2001 and registered at the club for an uninterrupted period of two seasons. Gil and Sarr are young enough to be included on the B list but unfortunately for Tottenham they haven't been at the club for an uninterrupted period of two seasons, meaning they will instead have to be named on the non-homegrown player list.
With Doherty, Davies, Rodon, Gil and Sarr on the non-homegrown player list for the Champions League, as well as the addition of Richarlison, Perisic, Bissouma and Lenglet, Spurs are at a total of 22 in that section and five over the limit of 17. The fact that Doherty, Davies and Rodon are not considered homegrown players does mean that Spurs will need to keep an eye on the situation as there are four spots for 'club trained' players and four for 'association trained' players.
Brandon Austin, Japhet Tanganga, Harry Winks, Skipp and Harry Kane are considered the former, with Sessegnon, Spence and Forster the latter.
Champions League non-homegrown players: Hugo Lloris, Matt Doherty, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez, Clement Lenglet, Joe Rodon, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Pape Matar Sarr, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Kulusevski, Bryan Gil, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min, Richarlison. (22 - five over the limit)
Champions League homegrown players: Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Harry Kane. (8)
B list: Harvey White, Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott.
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