Week of July 11, 2025
Hold onto your scarves, ladies and gentlemen, because we’re living through something that might be genuinely unprecedented in the modern history of Tottenham Hotspur. A week where the club actually acted like they want to win things. I know, I know – grab a chair, check your pulse, and maybe call your GP because this level of shock can’t be good for you.
In the space of 48 hours, we’ve signed Mohammed Kudus from West Ham for £55million and triggered Morgan Gibbs-White’s £60million release clause at Nottingham Forest. That’s £115million on two genuinely quality players before we’ve even hit the halfway point of July. If you’re feeling dizzy, that’s perfectly normal – it’s your brain trying to process the concept of Tottenham being decisive in the transfer market.
Thomas Frank’s first full pre season week as manager has been more active than most managers get in their entire first season. Kudus has already completed his medical and signed a six-year contract, while Gibbs-White is… well, that’s where things get properly Tottenham again. Forest are apparently taking legal action over how we approached the deal, because God forbid we have a transfer window without at least one bureaucratic nightmare.
But here’s the thing that’s got me genuinely scratching my head – ENIC have apparently green-lit this massive investment spree. The same ENIC who usually treat the transfer budget like a rare vintage wine, only to be opened on special occasions that never quite arrive. We’re already over £150million in spending this summer, and whispers suggest we’re not done yet.
Now, before you start thinking Daniel Levy has had some sort of spiritual awakening, let me introduce you to the real puppet master behind this summer’s spending spree: Saudi Arabia. Yes, you heard that right, we’re apparently close to finalising a stadium naming rights deal with a Saudi entity that could be worth £25million annually for 15 years.That’s £375million, which suddenly makes our summer spending look like pocket change rather than a revolutionary change in philosophy.
The cynic in me (which is about 97% of my personality at this point) now realises this isn’t about ambition – it’s about accountancy. Levy hasn’t discovered a love for winning; he’s discovered a love for having someone else’s money to spend. “Look, shiny new toys! And they’re not even coming out of our pocket!” But the tiny optimist buried deep in my blackened soul is wondering if we might actually be serious this time, regardless of where the money comes from.
Frank’s Fact Check
Rumour: This level of investment shows ENIC’s renewed commitment to success Reality: It shows they’ve found a Saudi sugar daddy to fund their Football Manager fantasies, suddenly spending big is easy when it’s not your money.
Rumour: The naming rights deal proves we’re thinking big Reality: We’ve been “close to finalising” a naming rights deal since the stadium opened in 2019 – I’ll believe it when I see “The Saudi Something Stadium” on the letterhead
Rumour: Kudus chose us over other Premier League clubs Reality: Kudus apparently “took two extreme measures” to push through the transfer, which sounds like he wanted out of West Ham so badly he’d have joined anybody, including us.
Rumour: Thomas Frank is already stamping his authority on transfers Reality: More likely Daniel Levy is having a mid-life crisis and decided to play Football Manager with real money.
The Dare Barometer: 8/10
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’re actually being daring. Not just competent, actually daring. Spending real money on players who are already proven Premier League quality instead of buying “promising youngsters” or “excellent value” options who turn out to be neither excellent nor value. If we actually complete the Gibbs-White deal without Forest’s lawyers derailing it, I might need to lie down in a dark room for a week.
Question of the Week
“Frank, is this the new Tottenham we’ve been waiting for?”
Right, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Yes, this has been an impressive week. Yes, Kudus is a genuine talent who’ll add pace, skill, and goals to our attack. Yes, Gibbs-White is exactly the kind of creative midfielder we’ve been crying out for since… well, since Modric.
But we’re still Tottenham. We’re still the club that managed to turn winning a trophy into sacking the manager. We’re still run by people who think “ambition” is a dirty word and “pragmatism” is a philosophy.
That said, if Thomas Frank has somehow convinced the board to back him properly, we might actually have something here. Kudus scored 14 goals in his first Premier League season for West Ham. Imagine what he could do with better players around him. Gibbs-White created more chances than any other English midfielder last season. These aren’t punt signings, these are players who can genuinely improve us.
The question isn’t whether these are good signings, they obviously are. The question is whether this represents a genuine shift in how we operate or just a panic-induced splurge funded by Saudi money that we’ll somehow still manage to mess up.
And about that Saudi funding, we’re apparently close to finalising a stadium naming rights deal worth £25million annually for 15 years. This explains everything. Levy hasn’t suddenly discovered ambition; he’s discovered other people’s money. The man who spent years haggling over £2million transfer fees is now throwing around £60million release clauses like confetti because it’s not coming out of his pocket.
The Gibbs-White Fiasco
Right, let’s talk about the crown jewel of this week’s chaos: the Morgan Gibbs-White transfer that’s turned into a legal thriller nobody asked for. We triggered his £60million release clause, you know, that contractual mechanism specifically designed to allow other clubs to buy a player for a predetermined fee. Simple, right? Wrong. This is Tottenham.
Forest are now accusing us of making an “illegal approach” and have ceased all communication with Spurs. They’ve filed a complaint with the Premier League and are threatening legal action. Let me get this straight. They put a release clause in his contract, we triggered it, and now they’re upset that we… triggered it? It’s like putting a “For Sale” sign on your house then calling the police when someone rings the doorbell.
Gibbs-White was set for a medical in north London on Friday, but instead of joining training, he’s probably sitting at home wondering if he should start unpacking again. Only we could turn a release clause, the most straightforward type of transfer, into a bureaucratic nightmare that requires lawyers.
Of course, we can’t just have a straightforward transfer window. Forest are apparently upset about how we approached the deal, despite them literally setting the terms. It’s classic Tottenham.Find a way to complicate the simple and make the straightforward contentious. Watch us end up paying an extra £10million in legal fees while Gibbs-White sits in limbo wondering if he should start looking for a new club again.
Next Week
If the Gibbs-White situation gets sorted and we actually manage to register both players without any more drama, Thomas Frank will continue his walk into pre-season with a genuinely improved squad. There is still work to do. Shift out the rubbish, continue buying Premier League ready players, and keep up this sense of optimism that this week has brought us. That’s not something I’ve been able to say about a Tottenham manager for… well, Poch maybe?
But remember. We’re still Tottenham. We’ll find a way to make this summer complicated, dramatic, or disappointing. It’s what we do. It’s who we are.
Still, for the first time in years, I’m allowing myself to feel something I thought I’d forgotten how to feel. I repeat it. Optimism. Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to maintain.
Frank will be back next week, probably having to explain why optimism was a mistake and why we can’t have nice things. But until then… dare to dream? COYS.
PS. Frank and this blog is a work in progress. I promise mischief, mayhem, sarcasm, all mixed in with realism and a factual and objective narrative.