Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has tried to temper expectations after he insisted nothing magical would happen in the January transfer window for his injury-hit side.
Spurs’ mini-revival hit a major speed bump on Thursday night after they were blown away in a 4-2 defeat by Brighton.
Nine players were unavailable for Postecoglou and he will lose the suspended Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr and captain Son Heung-min for January due to international commitments after Sunday’s clash with Bournemouth.
While a centre-back is top of the club’s wish list and the PA news agency understands talks are under way with Nice over defender Jean-Clair Todibo, Postecoglou played down any assumption that a flurry of activity would occur in N17.
“Nothing magical’s going to happen in the January window,” Postecoglou said.
“What we need to do is just keep building. We’ve had one window with this team to change it around, to do things differently.
“The fact that we’re in the (fifth) position we are is a credit to the players. For all the challenges we’ve had, we just kept ploughing forward and that’s what we’ll do.
“We’ll see what we can do in January, but ultimately it’s about building a side that will get us to where we want to.”
One outgoing expected to be finalised in the coming days is Hugo Lloris’ departure with the former captain close to agreeing a move to Los Angeles FC on a free transfer, PA understands.
Postecoglou added: “Obviously there’s stuff happening but I’ve been focused on the game. I’m sure we’ll hear something next couple of days.”
Further movement in Spurs’ current squad could depend on incomings and especially with options light in midfield.
Tottenham’s long list of absentees means Postecoglou has used 27 players in all competitions this season, but he refuted suggestions this injury-crisis has enabled him to learn more about his team in a shorter space of time.
“I don’t think you need to go through injuries to see that,” he said.
“It would be unfair to judge some players. The way we play takes a fairly hefty physical toll, more than the way other clubs play. For us to sustain and maintain that and be a team, it’s no secret we need a strong squad.
“We’re nowhere near that at the moment, understandably so. Obviously we’ve only had one window. It was never going to happen (in one window).
“We’re still at the beginnings. Within that context, we want to compete. We’ve got ourselves in a position where we can compete. That’s what we need to keep pushing forward for.”
Meanwhile, captain Son urged his team-mates to bounce back from their Brighton humbling when Bournemouth visit on New Year’s Even.
He told SpursPlay: “Sometimes you have to be honest and take the result.
“Going 4-0 down is just hard and not the way we want to play, it is not our style of playing football.
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“It is very disappointing, but we have to move on because another game is coming very quick.
“A bad performance from us and it shouldn’t happen this, but the last 15 minutes we have to take that good energy into the next game because it’s at our home and we have to get three points before the new year starts.”
Oliver Skipp (knock) will be checked on, but Dejan Kulusevski is suspended for Bournemouth’s visit.
Postecoglou: There's a deadline on signing Werner
Ange Postecoglou has revealed Tottenham have a deadline if they want to make Timo Werner’s loan deal permanent.
The German joined Spurs on loan in January from RB Leipzig, scoring twice and assisting three goals in 14 matches in all competitions for the North London side.
However, Werner missed the last five games of Spurs’ season due to a hamstring injury he sustained against Arsenal.
Postecoglou admitted that he was relaxed about the situation, but whether a deal was made was out of his hands.
Speaking to reporters following their friendly in Melbourne against Newcastle United, Postecoglou said: "I think from our perspective, there's a deadline there.
"Again, a lot of that will depend on the negotiations between the clubs and how Timo feels.
"Again, from my perspective, I'm comfortable with that situation, and I'll let the other guys steer it to see what kind of outcome there is."
After a strong start to their season, Spurs eventually finished fifth in the Premier League, securing a place in the Europa League next season.
The Australian also believes the club need to bring more attacking players in as a priority to balance the higher workload next season after struggling with injuries this campaign.
"Yeah, absolutely. It's no secret [we need new forwards]. You saw the way we finished the season," he said.
"We obviously lost Richarlison and Timo Werner as well with injuries, but we're fairly light in that area.
"We started last season with Manor [Solomon] and [Ivan] Perisic, and we were quite healthy in that front third in terms of numbers, but as the year went on it became pretty evident that we needed to bulk up.
"We're in Europe as well next year, so we'll have more games, and it's definitely an area of the park we'll need to strengthen."
West Ham finalise Lopetegui appointment after Moyes departure
West Ham have confirmed the appointment of Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach, following David Moyes' departure at the end of the season.
Moyes' second stint at the London Stadium came to an end with Sunday's 3-1 final-day defeat to champions Manchester City, as the Hammers finished ninth in the Premier League table.
That was their third top-half finish in four full seasons under Moyes, who also led them to the Europa Conference League trophy last year.
However, a section of the club's fanbase continued to criticise Moyes' style of play throughout 2023-24, and it was announced at the start of May that he would not be extending his contract.
Reports immediately suggested Lopetegui was the leading contender to take charge, and it has now been confirmed that he will officially begin working with West Ham on July 1.
Speaking to West Ham's media channels, Lopetegui said he was excited to start building a future at West Ham.
"I feel that we have a fantastic platform," he said. "I think the last few years have been very good years to have this base, of course, but my ambition as a coach is always to be better and better, to achieve more and bigger aims and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this – to compete. We are very ambitious about this.
"I am where I want to be. I am here because I want to be here and, for us, it was a fantastic day when we closed our agreement here because our commitment is 100 per cent to be here.
"We had other opportunities, but I am very happy that West Ham chose me because I chose West Ham too, so we are really happy about this.
"We came here with the idea and the thought to make a big, big noise. That's why we came here, and we are excited by this challenge.
"Of course, we are going to do our best to help the club and the team to achieve the best level and to achieve our aims. I assure the fans that they are going to be key in all our achievements."
Lopetegui walked out of his previous role with Wolves on the eve of the 2023-24 season, having grown frustrated by a lack of transfer activity after saving the side from relegation in 2022-23.
He previously enjoyed stints in charge of Porto, Spain and Real Madrid, also leading Sevilla to Europa League glory and three successive top-four finishes in LaLiga.
Leverkusen 'not interested' in unbeaten season before Europa League defeat, says Xhaka
Bayer Leverkusen were "not interested" in maintaining their unbeaten record, according to Granit Xhaka, who acknowledged his frustrations after Wednesday's Europa League final disappointment.
Xabi Alonso's Bundesliga champions had not suffered defeat since the final game of last season against Bochum, but succumbed to their next loss in the decisive moment against Atalanta in Dublin.
Ademola Lookman stole the headlines with a remarkable hat-trick, powering Gian Piero Gasperini's team to their first title in 61 years, when Atalanta won the Coppa Italia.
A 3-0 defeat ensured Leverkusen will have to settle for, at most, a domestic double as they look to bounce back on Saturday in the DFB-Pokal final.
Yet Xhaka insisted Alonso's side never had the undefeated streak in their minds as soon as kick-off arrived at the Aviva Stadium.
"Honestly, we're not interested in the unbeaten record," the former Arsenal midfielder said to RTL. "We didn't care about that from the start.
"It's about the game and unfortunately we lost a final today. That's football.
"We said yesterday that it would be a difficult game. Compliments to Atalanta."
Leverkusen's unbeaten streak spanned nine months and 51 games this season, starting their 2023-24 campaign with a first-round DFB-Pokal thrashing of lowly Teutonia Ottensen in mid-August.
Alonso's impressive men triumphed in 42 of those matches during their historic unbeaten run across all competitions, drawing the other nine as Leverkusen coasted to their first Bundesliga title in history.
Scoring 143 goals and conceding just 39 across that dominant period, not many would have expected Gasperini's side to shutout Leverkusen and beat goalkeeper Matej Kovar three times in the process.
Leverkusen are the first league-title winners to lose the UEFA Cup/Europa League final in the same season since Benfica in 2013-14, and the first German side to do since Borussia Dortmund in 2001-02.
In single-game only finals, this was also the biggest margin of defeat for a German team since Eintracht Frankfurt lost 7-3 to Real Madrid in the 1960 European Cup, perhaps explaining Xhaka's annoyance.
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