Tottenham received a humbling result at the hands of Newcastle on the road, causing some pundits to call their Champions League legitimacy into question.
Despite the defeat, Spurs are very much still in the running for a top-four place in the Premier League, and it was only a matter of weeks ago that the rebounding North London side blew out the current fourth-placed team, Aston Villa.
Tottenham are clearly a club on the rise under new manager Ange Postecoglou, who has benefited from a host of new faces who rank among the best players in the league at their positions.
Guglielmo Vicario has been a star in goal (as any Serie A observer expected), James Maddison was a legitimate Premier League Player of the Season candidate before his injury, and Micky van de Ven has been a star despite his poor performance at Newcastle.
Despite all the positives, Tottenham are indeed a few pieces away from truly being a sure-fire Champions League side that doesn’t have to scrap to the death for a top-four finish. They will also need to shore up their key areas of need in order to be more competitive in the Champions League again. After all, it was only a few years ago they were in the final against Liverpool.
Here are three areas of need Tottenham should address in the summer 2024 transfer window, and if they are able to make these upgrades in significant fashion, perhaps they could return to the Premier League title race.
A tempo-setting, playmaking midfielder
Tottenham already signed one of the best playmakers in English football this past summer, bringing in attacking midfielder James Maddison to vastly upgrade their midfield situation.
Maddison has immediately been Spurs’ second-best player behind a brilliant Son Heung-min. The ex-Leicester City star has four goals and seven assists to his name, and he leads the team with 2.4 key passes per game.
The thing is, Son and winger Dejan Kulusevski are the only other Tottenham players close to two key passes per game. Tottenham are reliant on Maddison as their only midfield playmaker, and when he went down with an injury, that absence was clearly felt.
Tottenham have quality midfield pieces in Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma, and Rodrigo Bentancur, but none of those guys qualify as playmakers. In fact, Sarr has the best key pass per game average of that trio, and his clip is a meager 0.6.
Spurs should be in the market for a midfielder who can set the tempo from midfield, complete a high volume of passes, control play, and create from deep. They aren’t going to find the next Toni Kroos in the summer 2024 transfer window, but they can easily find one or two creative, affordable, and ascending options to add balance and a new profile to a midfield that needs more help.
A physical, goal-scoring No. 9
Tottenham have replaced Harry Kane by focusing on the wings and shifting Son Heung-min inside, where the South Korean has been a real impact player – to nobody’s surprise.
Ange Postecoglou is doing far more with Son than his predecessors, specifically Antonio Conte. Son looks a lot more lively and confident, scoring 15 goals with 9 assists in his best all-around playmaking season yet.
Tottenham can keep Son in the middle and sign a true goal-scoring left winger if they aren’t satisfied with what they currently have, as loan acquisition Timo Werner’s future still very much hangs in the balance.
Regardless of what Spurs do with Son, though, they should be in the market for another striker. A true No. 9 with a physical, anchoring profile and an efficient goal-scoring touch would be wise.
Tottenham don’t have to splash the cash on a 20-goal Premier League forward if they plan on keeping Son – a 20-goal forward himself – at striker. But they should get someone who can score 10-15 goals and make others better with solid hold-up play.
A covering defensive midfielder
Although a playmaking center midfielder is already a key transfer priority for Tottenham in the summer 2024 window, it is by no means the only profile Spurs need to sign in midfield.
The middle of the park has always been important for any team looking to compete at the highest level of the Premier League, but it is especially important now when taking stock of the quality title contenders have in their ranks.
Liverpool were poor last season but have returned to the title race in 2023/24 because they took their midfield seriously. Manchester City and Arsenal were already the elite English sides in 2022/23, yet they still made major moves in signing Mateo Kovacic and Declan Rice, respectively, this past summer.
Tottenham could use a defensive midfielder who reads the game and provides “covering”, because Bissouma and Sarr are more box-to-box profiles. Sarr is only averaging 1.8 combined tackles and interceptions per game, and while Bissouma is at 4.4 – an elite total in the Premier League – Spurs need to bring in one more guy.
Someone who plays it safe, gets a high volume of interceptions, and allows the other midfielders more attacking freedom would be ideal. In a perfect world, Tottenham would sign a midfielder who fills the first and third needs on this list by providing playmaking and covering, but those Rice and Rodri-caliber players are rare and very, very expensive for Tottenham.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.