Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou could be "taking a big punt" at Spurs amid some recent news, according to journalist Dan Kilpatrick.
Which players have left Tottenham?
The north Londoners have reshaped their squad very well over the summer transfer window, with Spurs sealing the signings of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, young centre-back Ashley Phillips, defender Micky van de Ven, playmaker James Maddison, winger Manor Solomon, striker Alejo Veliz and Brennan Johnson.
Going the other way, star striker Harry Kane stood out as the most blockbuster departure from Tottenham, with the England international sealing a multi-million pound switch to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
Alongside Kane, Sergio Reguilon, Joe Rodon, Djed Spence, Harry Winks, Alfie Devine, Troy Parrott and Dane Scarlett all sealed permanent or temporary moves elsewhere.
Tottenham also facilitated all of these transfers without the presence of a sporting director, something Postecoglou called "unusual".
“It's unusual,” Postecoglou said.
“If you look at the way the club's worked previously, [a sporting director has] always been in place. So that means it's different, which I assume won't be the case moving forward.
“When there's already a process in place, then you know how it's going to work. Whereas there's a new manager and no sporting director so I think anyone would say it's unusual. Usually you'd have one or the other. Maybe a new coach, maybe a new sporting director but there's processes there.
“Here, you've got both so you're going into a window where a lot of things that are usually embedded in this kind of period aren't there.”
Out of the window, Spurs also managed to offload both defender Davinson Sanchez and midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, who have both joined Turkish side Galatasaray on permanent and loan deals respectively.
Tottenham will be glad to temporarily rid themselves of Ndombele's £200,000-per-week wages, while Sanchez's Spurs career took a downward trajectory since he joined from Ajax in 2017.
However, despite their transfers not exactly working out, reporter Kilpatrick has said the sale of Sanchez is a particularly big gamble.
Commenting before exit was officially confirmed, Kilpatrick wrote on X:
"If Spurs sell Sanchez, they're taking a big punt on Romero & VDV staying fit until Jan. But he obviously had no future under Postecoglou & deserves to go & play, so it makes sense to get a fee now. Would have been so much better to do it sooner and replace him obviously.
"In an ideal world, Phillips gets some minutes (as back up RCB, assuming Dier is not going to come back in) but doesn't have to start games & Spurs sign another senior CB early in January. But an injury at the back and their positive start could get hit the rocks quickly."
Will Spurs sign a defender in January?
For much of the summer window, Spurs were linked with another defensive signing after van de Ven, including Torino ace Perr Schuurs among others.
It is potentially realistic to believe the Lilywhites could plot another move for the 23-year-old in January, especially considering he could cost just £34 million to prise away from Serie A.
