Tottenham’s final 25-man squad for the first half of the Premier League season is about to be submitted, but there is one homegrown problem the Lilywhites have to solve.
Kevin Danso and Pape Matar Sarr departed the club on Tuesday, securing loan moves to Sunderland and Juventus respectively, while Kota Takai sealed a straight loan move to Belgian side Sint-Truidense V.V.
Tottenham also added two new players to their squad on deadline day, raiding their London rivals Chelsea for Mykhailo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo.
Over the course of the summer, Spurs have signed 10 new players while allowing 12 to leave, bringing their net spend across the window to £135m.
Tottenham have one fewer homegrown player than needed and one extra non-homegrown player
Football.London have revealed that at the end of the transfer window, Spurs are left with 18 non-homegrown players in their squad, one more than permitted by the Premier League.
Additionally, the club have seven homegrown players while the Premier League rules require a minimum of eight. Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Mathys Tel do not need to be named in the full squad and can instead go in the U21 list.
Premier League non-homegrown players (18 currently, 17 maximum allowed): Antonin Kinsky, Martin Dubravka, Andy Robertson, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Mykhailo Mudryk, Savio, Omar Marmoush.
Premier League homegrown players (Seven currently and eight minimum required): Dominic Solanke, Tosin Adarabioyo, Brandon Austin, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Conor Gallagher, Wilson Odobert.
Notable Under-21 players: Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Mathys Tel.
Why having an extra non-homegrown player is not an issue for Spurs
Spurs can get around the minimum homegrown number of eight by naming Archie Gray in the full squad rather than the U21 list.
However, their numbers mean that one non-homegrown player will miss out from the club’s Premier League squad for the first half of the season.
Richarlison could still leave Spurs, with the transfer window remaining open in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, while the club could also opt to leave out Xavi Simons, whom De Zerbi has said will not be ready until March or April of next year.