Reports: as many as eight players could leave Tottenham this summer in squad overhaul

While the focus of Tottenham Hotspur’s forthcoming summer transfer window has mostly been on who is going to come into the club to keep head coach Antonio Conte happy, thus preventing him from evaporating in a puff of rage and brimstone, the flip side of that coin is that Spurs are going to have to be just as proactive about getting players OUT of the club to make room.

Pursuant to that, there are two new reports out in the English media that suggest that Spurs managing director of football Fabio Paratici should maybe just permanently glue his phone to his ear. Charlie Eccleshire writes in The Athletic that Steven Bergwijn is now almost certain to leave the club in the offseason for regular first team football with Spurs not standing in his way. Over in the Standard, Dan Kilpatrick includes Stevie in a list of six Spurs players that could potentially leave, along with Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks, Davinson Sanchez, Emerson Royal, Sergio Reguilon, and Joe Rodon. Other reports have suggested the club could also listen to offers for Matt Doherty, who is currently out for the season.

That’s a lot of players, and probably not all of them will leave. Of those, the suggestions are Bergwijn and Winks seem the most likely to depart, with both of them looking for regular football to help their chances of making their country’s World Cup teams. But Spurs are likely going to adjust their demands to help usher a few out the door. Eccleshire tweeted early this morning that Spurs are likely to take a haircut on players like Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele to free up funds for incoming signings.

Conte is said to want to bring in a new backup GK, a left-sided CB, two fullbacks, a CM, and a backup striker to Harry Kane, though more or less would in part depend on outgoings. While Tottenham have historically left their business until late in the window, that seems less likely this time around due to the sheer amount of business they have to do — I think we’ll probably see some of the obvious outgoings early in the window, though others may linger on depending on interest from other clubs.

Either way, it’s shaping up to be another frantic offseason, and next year’s team is likely going look substantially different than this year’s. Never a dull moment at Tottenham Hotspur, is there?