Tottenham Hotspur have been signing more than they have been selling this summer transfer window, adding six new experienced faces to the team, including three blockbuster transfer bombas in Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes, and Sandro Tonali. There are more expected to be on the way, too, as Roberto De Zerbi has implied four new signings with Spurs still needing to overhaul an anemic attacking front.
There are players Tottenham will need to sell in order to bring in new faces, and while the likes of Richarlison and Pape Matar Sarr, for example, are expendable while Cristian Romero has already been transfer listed, there are players Spurs are trying to keep who could go.
Lucas Bergvall submitted a transfer request out of North London during the 2026 World Cup when he saw how interested De Zerbi was in Fernandes and Tonali, and after his sensational performances for the England national team in big games, Djed Spence is getting transfer love from clubs as prominent as Inter Milan.
Roberto De Zerbi won't hold anyone hostage
Roberto De Zerbi had a pointed message for both key players when speaking to the media, via Fabrizio Romano, “I would like you to stay if you want to stay. If you don't want to stay, if you want to leave, then you have to leave”.
Succinct, blunt, and 100 percent fair. That is the modus of De Zerbi as manager, and Spence and Bergvall absolutely have to respect what the Italian coach is telling them here. De Zerbi clearly wants to keep Spence and Bergvall and values both as players, but he is not going to stand in the way of people who do not want to be at the club and do not believe in the project.
Tottenham are trying to convince Lucas Bergvall to stay despite the transfer request and the interest from Nottingham Forest, and while De Zerbi has said that he has not heard of the player requesting a transfer, Spurs fans are not buying it - and there has been no word of the Swedish international recommitting his future to the club.
Meanwhile, Djed Spence seems fully COYS and has not been pushing his way out at all, but he could potentially get more playing time elsewhere as De Zerbi is locked in on Destiny Udogie at left back - and Spurs just purchased veteran Andy Robertson and left back of the future Souza, too.
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