Tottenham Hotspur are trying to build a younger squad that can dominate the next decade, and, as part of that, they made a trio of signings this past summer with a gear towards the future. Spurs signed Mathys Tel permanently from Bayern Munich after a promising six month loan, and then they bagged two of Europe's most talented ascending attackers in Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons.
But if you ask most Tottenham supporters, the best signing of the future that Tottenham made was the year before in Swedish center midfielder Lucas Bergvall, who started to break out at the end of the 2024/25 season and ended up playing a crucial role on the road to Spurs winning the Europa League title (well, before his injury cut his season short and prevented him from directly contributing against Manchester United in the end).
Bergvall hasn't been able to get as many minutes this season, which has frustrated Spurs fans since new manager Thomas Frank really should be giving him more starts than the less dynamic and talented Rodrigo Bentancur.
But that hasn't stopped Bergvall from getting widespread acknowledgment that he is a special talent. The CIES Football Observatory recently released their valuations of teenage talents in world football, and they valued him at 68 million euros, nearly seven times more than what Spurs originally paid for him.
A Tottenham star in the top 10
Not only that, but Bergvall is the 10th most valuable teenager in the world overall, valued just a handful of millions behind Real Madrid star forward Endrick, who cost the Merengues a lot more than Bergvall cost Tottenham and was originally hyped up as the next big thing in world football.
Now, Tottenham fans won't like that Bergvall is valued by CIES behind Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, but when you consider the players at the top of the list are phenoms like Pau Cubarsi, Lamine Yamal, Estevao Willian, and Franco Mastantuono, you really have to say that Bergvall is in a great spot and amongst iconic company.
Bergvall could be valued even higher and doing even more if Frank weren't holding him back a little bit. As it stands, Bergvall is just about as valuable as Endrick, and given what he has accomplished for Tottenham lately, it wouldn't be out of the question for Spurs fans to argue with CIES that their spots should be flipped. But being right behind Endrick isn't a shameful spot at all, especially when you consider that forwards usually go for more money than midfielders anyway.