Last summer, Tottenham had a chance to transform the future of their organization by signing one of the best young players in French football, 18-year-old Rennes breakout star Desire Doue. The versatile attacker and midfielder did it all for Rennes as a progressor, ball-winner, and creator, and instead of pursuing him with every fibre of their being when they had a chance, they went down with a whimper and watched as PSG turned Doue into a titan of the Champions League.
Tottenham fans haven't let Daniel Levy and the club's "decision-makers" forget this monumental transfer screw-up, but, as history as told us, no matter how much the fans bark at their possum ownership, the powers that be never learn.
This season, Tottenham have a chance to sign another slam-dunk, potentially generational prospect from Ligue 1 in playmaker Rayan Cherki, who has proven himself in a top-five European league over the past few seasons, benefiting from Lyon giving their new face of the franchise a level of graded responsibility.
One for the big moments in the big games, Cherki is now poised to be one of the biggest bargains of the summer 2025 transfer window with a release clause of 22.5 million euros, meaning he'd only cost Spurs a third of what they paid for Dominic Solanke last year.
Tottenham have lost to Man City before the battle started
Instead, Tottenham seem to be out of the transfer battle before it got started. Manchester City - the team with the most financial power and the most will to get big deals done - have been pursuing Cherki hard over the past week. From initial interest, Man City have now been pushing so hard that they look like the odds-on favorites to land Cherki soon, leaving Tottenham and any other competition in the dust.
According to the latest intel from Fabrizio Romano, Manchester City and Lyon are in negotiations for Cherki right now, and the 21-year-old will move for just around 30 million euros. City are "confident" they can sign both Cherki and AC Milan star playmaker Tijjani Reijnders within "days", because they think they will "advance" quickly on the deal for the Lyon star.
Tottenham have pretty much already lost a world-class young player who registered 12 goals and 19 assists last season between Ligue 1 and the Europa League. Cherki has that something special that, honestly, nobody else on Spurs has right now in that front four. And like with Doue, Spurs are going to whiff on a player because they were too busy doing something else instead of proving they can fight with the big boys.
Even at 30 million euros, more than this alleged release clause, Cherki is still a massive bargain and less than half the price of Solanke. Tottenham continue to look clueless on the transfer market under Daniel Levy, and, well, they aren't even in the picture at all in the transfer window because they are still waffling on a decision on Ange Postecoglou.