Tottenham fans are extremely excited ahead of the 2022/23 season with the club very active in the transfer market so far. Luring Ivan Perisic to north London on a free transfer from Inter Milan, Spurs then completed a similar deal for Fraser Forster with his Southampton contract expiring.
It wasn't long before Fabio Paratici was in action again, this time managing to strike a deal with Brighton & Hove Albion for midfielder Yves Bissouma. A standout player for the Seagulls in the past couple of years, the addition of the 25-year-old has handed Tottenham a midfield upgrade and they really are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the park.
More deals are expected to follow in the coming weeks but it is all going to be about Paratici balancing things out in terms of the club's homegrown and non-homegrown player numbers, as they have a set of strict requirements to meet when it comes to naming a Premier League and Champions League squad. Tottenham have had plenty of problems with this in the past, notably seeing both Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho having to leave out players in Europe due to the club exceeding the required quota.
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So, where do things stand at present in terms of Tottenham's non-homegrown and homegrown numbers in the Premier League and Champions League following the signings of Forster, Perisic and Bissouma? football.london takes a look.
Premier League
Once the Premier League transfer window closes for business on Thursday, September 1, clubs will, as ever, need to submit a 25-man playing squad for the 2022/23 campaign. Rules state that no more than 17 overseas players can be named as part of the squad, with the remaining eight places available to homegrown players.
Teams also name a separate Under-21s list for the season, which in turn does free up gaps in the 25-man squad for many clubs as Under-21 players don't have to be included on the main list. Following the closure of the January transfer market, Tottenham had five spare places in their 25-man squad after only submitting 20 names (12 non-homegrown, eight homegrown), with players such as Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp and Dejan Kulusevski not included and instead down on the U21 list.
With Paratici and Antonio Conte expected to complete a lot of business this summer both in terms of incomings and outgoings, Spurs must balance things out as they cannot afford to be going over the limit in terms of non-homegrown numbers, especially as the rules in the Champions League differ and have caused the club plenty of problems in the past.
Having only named 12 non-homegrown players in their Premier League squad back in February, Tottenham are in a decent position at present before their summer transfer business. New signing Perisic will take Pierluigi Gollini's spot in the squad after the goalkeeper returned to Atalanta following his loan spell, with fellow new arrival Bissouma taking up another non-homegrown spot and Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso included again for the time being following their respective loan spells.
Kulusevski will then take the non-homegrown numbers to 16 as this time he needs to be included as a non-homegrown player as he no longer qualifies for the U21 list. Pape Matar Sarr and Bryan Gil can be included as U21 players, however.
Sessegnon and Skipp are also in the same boat as Kulusevski as they are no longer eligible to be named as U21 players because they were born before January 1, 2001. The duo will instead be included on the homegrown list for 20222/23.
Spurs currently have 11 homegrown players at the club after Forster's free transfer from Southampton and Jack Clarke's return from his loan spell at Sunderland. However, the latter is likely to be on his way again as he searches for regular first-team football, with Joe Rodon and Harry Winks also linked with transfers away from Tottenham.
Tottenham's non-homegrown numbers will also change as Ndombele and Lo Celso don't appear to have a future under Conte, while Emerson Royal, Sergio Reguilon and Steven Bergwijn could also move on for good.
Premier League non-homegrown players
Hugo Lloris, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Davinson Sanchez, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Kulusevski, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min (16)
Premier League homegrown players
Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Matt Doherty, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies, Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Jack Clarke, Harry Kane (11)
U21 list
Harvey White, Pape Matar Sarr, Bryan Gil, Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott
Champions League
What will complicate matters for Conte and Paratici is that the homegrown rules do differ between the Premier League and Champions League. This has caused previous managers major headaches and resulted in Pochettino leaving players such as Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, Vincent Janssen and Juan Foyth out of his European squad.
The main issue is that players who learned their trade outside 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 Rodon do not qualify as homegrown in European competition for this reason.
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, thus 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 Perisic and Bissouma, Spurs are at 21 and four over the limit of 17. The fact 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, Winks, Skipp and Harry Kane are considered the former, with Sessegnon, Clarke and Forster the latter.
Champions League non-homegrown players
Hugo Lloris, Matt Doherty, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez, 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, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min (21)
Champions League homegrown players
Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin, Japhet Tanganga, Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Jack Clarke, Harry Kane (8)
B list
Harvey White, Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott
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