Tottenham Threatening to Break Liverpool’s World-Record Transfer Spend With Three Ambitious Moves
When Liverpool spent in excess of £400 million ($545 million) last summer—including club records one after the other for Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, it was the first that a team had ever broken that barrier in the space of one single transfer window.
The nature of the modern transfer market, where soccer has money on a scale like never before, means that all 10 of the most expensive windows by individual clubs have come since 2019. As many of nine of them have happened just since 2022.
It was therefore always likely that Liverpool’s record spend wouldn’t last long, although few might have expected Tottenham Hotspur to be the club to potentially break it.
Spurs are going very big in the market as a direct response to successive 17th-place finishes. Last season, their Premier League status wasn’t guaranteed until the final match, taking the club alarmingly close to a first relegation in 48 years.
In addition to smart free-agent signings of Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dúbravka, £237 million ($323 million) has gone on midfielders Matheus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali, and center back Jan Paul van Hecke.
That spend alone doesn’t quite crack the top 10 most expensive transfer windows, falling £13 million short of the £250 million that Newcastle United unloaded this time last year. But, even with less than two weeks of the summer to go, Spurs also aren’t done quite yet.
Spurs Targeting Three New Forwards
According to The Athletic, Spurs are “working on” deals for Manchester City forwards Omar Marmoush and Savinho. The latter remains a target from last summer, despite a change in manager from Thomas Frank to Roberto De Zerbi. Marmoush, meanwhile, is second fiddle to Erling Haaland and struggled to produce last season.
There is not yet an agreement, but talks are “advancing.”
Fabrizio Romano reports that should a deal for Savinho not happen, Spurs would target Chelsea’s Pedro Neto instead. The Portuguese is already linked with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and carries a price tag thought to be around £100 million.
Spurs do, however, have plans to sign two wingers and are eyeing Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo on the left side of attack, with a view to building an entirely new forward line.
De Zerbi’s side currently trail Liverpool’s £415 million world-record spend by £178 million. To commit to spending at least that on just three Premier League players in today’s market is wholly plausible and perhaps even certain if Marmoush, Savinho and Gakpo are the targets in mind.
Even though Savinho and Marmoush have significantly underwhelmed over the past 12 months, City are expert sellers and have a habit of extracting big bucks for players they don’t need—see this week’s example of Tijjani Reijnders joining Al Qadsiah for a profit.
The club paid £59 million for Marmoush in January 2024. Savinho set City back just under £31 million a few months prior. Even though neither is a starter in City’s strongest team, both have proven ability in top European leagues. Marmoush was starring for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, while Savinho was crucial to Girona’s fairytale ascent into La Liga’s top three.
Gakpo has already been valued this summer in the same bracket as Morgan Rogers, who joined Chelsea for £117 million. There is reason for Liverpool to want to keep the Dutchman, although a serious offer could test their resolve in that respect.
