Spurs now leading race for £60m star

Tottenham Hotspur aren’t hanging about this summer, ringing the changes ahead of Roberto De Zerbi’s first full season in charge.

With Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi ready to join the crew after the World Cup, fans anticipate attacking additions to help propel this club back into the Premier League ascendancy, but De Zerbi seems set on creating a fluid, ball-playing backline to support his attacking endeavours.

Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that Spurs are pushing to seal a deal for Brighton & Hove Albion defender Jan Paul van Hecke, with personal terms already agreed.

Van Hecke is one of the most underrated centre-backs in the Premier League, but for £70m, ENIC need to make sure they bang this nail on the head.

The Lilywhites do not have bottomless financial resources, and they still need to add a number of elite forwards to the ranks.

Spurs preparing offer for Premier League forward

Robertson and Senesi will make a real difference for a Tottenham team in transition, but the Londoners need attackers to mount a climb toward the upper levels of the Premier League.

Manchester City’s Savinho is the name on everyone’s lips, but he’s had an indifferent year under Pep Guardiola, starting only seven times. Would he be the catalyst for change?

Interestingly, though, the young Brazilian isn’t the only winger on ENIC’s radar, with Spurs lining up one of Liverpool’s most prominent stars.

According to Caught Offside, Tottenham are preparing a formal bid to sign Cody Gakpo, with the Netherlands international’s future at Anfield uncertain now that Arne Slot has been sacked. It is said that Spurs are leading the race for his signature.

Valued at £60m by the Merseysiders, Gakpo has faced his detractors this season, but he’s still one of the most dangerous forwards in the Premier League, and given how he could dovetail into De Zerbi’s system, he may even prove a better signing than someone like Van Hecke.

Why Gakpo could be a better signing than Van Hecke for Spurs

Van Hecke is one of the most talented centre-backs in the Premier League, powerful and rangy and excellent on the ball. However, for £70m (or maybe even higher), you have to question whether it represents perfect value for money.

Gakpo wouldn’t exactly come cheap himself, but he has performed at the highest level for Liverpool, both in the Premier League and out on the continent.

At the start of Liverpool’s Premier League-winning campaign, TNT Sports pundit Peter Crouch remarked that Gakpo had “gone up a level” for Arne Slot’s side, while journalist Declan Carr subsequently labelled him as a “monster”.

There’s no question that he then plummeted along with the rest of the Redmen in 2025/26, but Gakpo is an accomplished Premier League forward who could be a shrewd addition to a Spurs side in need of more presence in the final third.

Much of Gakpo’s underlying data has remained the same, even as the wheels have come off at Liverpool, and while Spurs haven’t exactly been a picture of harmony over the past ten months, there have been dramatic improvements since De Zerbi took the reins.

Gakpo scored 18 goals and provided seven assists across all competitions this season, and you wouldn’t put it past him to return to such form in a fluid De Zerbi outfit down N17, taking on a focal role on the left flank.

Van Hecke could be an excellent signing, but with Senesi and Micky van de Ven already promising to take centre-stage at the rear, there’s a strong case to be made that a seasoned Premier League forward could prove an even bigger hit.

Gakpo could be that man, ready to move on from his time at Liverpool.