Tottenham Hotspur's 25 - Man Premier League Squad

The Premier League requires each club to submit a list of 25 players by 2nd September who will be their squad for the coming season although changes can be made during the January transfer period.  Of these 25 players, no more than 17 can be overseas players (not 'home grown') with the other eight being players who have been registered with clubs associated with the FA and FA of wales for three seasons prior to their 21st birthday.

Players at the club who are Under 21 can also be registered and are eligible to play.

The players included in these two lists are available to play in the Premier League, the Carling Cup and FA Cup competitions.  The decision was taken to cover the situation where clubs were playing weakened teams in the Cups and in some selected League games and in the past two seasons both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackpool were fined for this offence.  However, from this season that problem will not occur as a manager can decide what is their best team for each game according to the needs of the club.

Tottenham Hotspur - 25 squad players (Home grown players in blue)

1 Friedel, Brad
2 Gomes, Heurelho
3 Cudicini, Carlo
4 Assou-Ekotto, Benoit
5 Dawson, Michael
6 Gallas, William
7 King, Ledley
8 Kaboul, Younes
9 Bassong Sebastian
10 Corluka, Vedran
11 Lennon, Aaron
12 Livermore, Jake
13 Huddlestone, Tom
14 Modric, Luka
15 Kranjcar, Niko
16 Bale, Gareth
17 Pavlyuchenko, Roman
18 Defoe, Jermain
19 Van Der Vaart, Rafael
20 Cordiero, Sandro
21 Adebayor, Emmanuel
22 Pienaar, Steven
23 Dos Santos, Giovanni 
24 Alnwick, Ben
25 Parker, Scott 

Of the nine players listed as 'home grown', only Ledley King and more recently, Jake Livermore have come through the Tottenham youth Academy.

Tottenham Hotspur - Under 21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Angol, Lee(M)
Archer, Jordan (G/k)
Ball, Dominic (M)
Barthram, Jack (D)
Bostock, John (M)
Bush, Mason (M)
Byrne, Nathan (D/M)
Carroll, Tom (M)
Caulker, Steven (D)
Champion, Frederick (M)
Coulthirst, Shaquile (S)
Day, Daniel (D)
Ekong, William Paul (D)
Falque, Yago (M)
Fredericks, Ryan (M)
Gardiner, Thomas (D)
Granger, Billy (G/k)
Hawkins, Ronnie (M)
Jansson, Oscar (G/k)
Kane, Harry (S)
Lameiras, Ruben (M)
Lancaster, Cameron (M)
Lassen, Jesse Waller (M)
Luongo, Massimo(M)
Mason, Ryan (M)
McBride, Paul
McEvoy, Kenneth (M/S)
McQueen, Darren
McQueen, Alexander Luke
Michael-Percil, Roman (D)
Miles, Jonathan (G/k)
Modeste, Oliver (D)
Munns, Jack (M)
Nicholson, Jake (M)
Obika, Jonathan (S)
Oyenuga, Kudus(S)
Parrett, Dean (M)
Pritchard, Alex (M)
Ranieri, Mirko (G/k)
Rose, Daniel (M/Fb)
Sheriff, Ramil (D)
Smith, Adam (D)
Smith, Sam (M)
Stewart, Kevin (D)
Townsend, Andros (M)
Walker, Kyle  (D)
Ward, Grant (D/M)
Yeboah, James (D)
Zapata-Caicedo, Victor(S)

The list includes the latest signings - Brad Friedel, Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor but one surprising name included in the 25-man squad is goalkeeper Ben Alnwick.  He is the fourth goalkeeper in the squad behind Friedel, Gomes and Cudicini and his last appearance in the team was in the final game of season 2009-10 against Burnley in the 2 - 4 defeat.  Since then he has been out on loan at lower League clubs.

Of the players listed in the Under - 21 group, Kyle Walker would be expected to play a major part in the 1st team this year, with many expecting him to oust Vedran Corluka from the full back spot.  Also Andros Townsend has had a few appearances in the Cup competitions while Ryan Fredericks, Tom Carroll and Harry Kane made their debut in the Europa League game against Hearts at White Hart Lane last month.

Some of the players are already out on loan, Steven Caulker at Swansea City, Ryan Mason at Doncaster Rovers, Jonathan Obika with Yeovil Town,  Nathan Byrne at Bournemouth, Adam Smith at MK Dons, Oscar Jansson at Bradford and Mirko Ranieri in Italy.  For that reason it is surprising that Caulker is included in the Tottenham list as he will also be listed with Swansea where he is on a season long loan and clubs can not recall a loanee from a Premier League club.

Some names have been omitted, Souleymane Coulibaly signed from Siena, Cristian Ceballos who had been with Barcelona and Laste Dombaxe.  The first two have been highly rated young signings while Dombaxe made an impressive start with the Academy team last year before sustaining a serious injury which kept him out for the last weeks of the season.

Spurs' New Signings

Spurs Sign Taarabt and Alnwick

Adel Taarabt

With the January transfer window open Spurs have announced the signing of two young players.

They have reached agreement with Lens for the loan of French midfielder Adel Taarabt. He is 17 years old and will register with Spurs when his International Transfer Certificate has been received from the French Football Federation.

Taarabt is an attacking midfield player who can also play as a second striker and is able to play on either wing. He has represented France at U-16, U-17 and U-18 level and made his first team debut with Lens earlier in the season.

Taarabt is regarded as one of the best talents in Europe for his age group and it is reported that a number of other Premiership clubs, including Manchester United and Chelsea, were interested in signing him.

Goalkeeper Ben Alnwick has been signed from Sunderland with Marton Fulop moving in the opposite direction. Alnwick who is 20-years old broke into the Sunderland team during their Championship winning campaign of 2004-05 and then made seven Premiership appearances the following season - including playing at White Hart Lane when he saved a penalty from Robbie Keane. The initial fee will be £900,00.

He made a total of 22 first team appearances for Sunderland and has played for England at Under-17, U18, and U19 level. He was in the Under-21 squad for the game against Moldova last August.

Marton Fulop joined Spurs from MTK Hungaria in May 2004 and had loan spells at Chesterfield and Coventry. The Hungarian international played a number of pre-season friendlies but was third choice at White Hart lane behind Robinson and Cerny. He joined Sunderland on loan in November and his move now becomes permanent for a fee of £500,000.

Spurs are continuing their policy of signing young players with an eye to them developing into Premiership players with further experience.