“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Crystal Palace have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Crystal Palace can tell you which week it ends in.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Crystal Palace heard it as anything else.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jaydee Canvot and Crystal Palace agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I watch every Crystal Palace game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rotherham United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Crystal Palace will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The fee is $8.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tottenham drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Crystal Palace can pretend not to have heard.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jean-Philippe Mateta. 1‑0 against Wolverhampton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crystal Palace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tottenham lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Crystal Palace pay $8.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tottenham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Tottenham are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Tottenham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Romero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Xavi Simons has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tottenham lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tottenham have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Crystal Palace pay $5.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tottenham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Add another name to the list: Bolton Wanderers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Destiny Udogie. The answer from Tottenham has not changed — yet.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Nicolás Ibáñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The phone has started ringing about Mateus Fernandes again, and this time the name on the line is Cardiff City. Tottenham are listening politely and promising nothing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Atlético Madrid pay $51.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Wolverhampton will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tottenham were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Dominic Solanke was one of the reasons people came, and $51.8M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tottenham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Add another name to the list: Atlético Madrid have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dominic Solanke. The answer from Tottenham has not changed — yet.
Sandro Tonali was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Tottenham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Romero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Aston Villa? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.