Tottenham's homegrown players to be further cut as Lucas Bergvall decides to join new club

Lucas Bergvall's desire to leave Tottenham Hotspur is set to create a familiar problem for Roberto De Zerbi later down the line.

It emerged on Sunday night that the midfielder wants to leave for a new club, and sources say he is now almost certain to have departed by the end of the summer window.

Spurs fought off interest from Aston Villa and Chelsea back in January, but now look set to lose one of their most talented young players.

The 20-year-old has already emerged as a target for Nottingham Forest, while several clubs across Europe are keen admirers.

If he does depart, then Bergvall will be a significant loss to Tottenham not only in the here and now, but also in the coming years.

His exit looks set to pose a major problem for De Zerbi, and one which caused Thomas Frank plenty of strife at the start of last season.

Tottenham ready for Mathys Tel deja vu

Tottenham faced significant issues when naming their Champions League squad in 2025-26, as a lack of homegrown players resulted in them omitting Mathys Tel from their 25-man group.

That caused the Frenchman to consider his future at the club, and also left Spurs unable to use him in European action when their injury crisis hit.

He was eventually added to the group for the knockout stages, but not before his absence had caused significant issues behind the scenes.

Bergvall's exit could prompt a feeling of deja vu in North London, as he was due to count as a club-trained player by the end of the 2026-27 campaign, having been at the club for three years by that point.

Clubs must name at least four players who spent three years at the club before the age of 21 as part of their squads for European competition, with a further four classed as locally-trained players, who developed elsewhere but in the same country.

Without Bergvall, Archie Gray, Mikey Moore and backup goalkeeper Brandon Austin would be the only club-trained players at senior level, creating a huge issue if the club qualified for Europe for 2027-28.

If a club cannot meet the eight-man homegrown quota or the four-man club-trained figure, then they must leave an empty space in their squad for each gap.

That could effectively see their 25-man squad reduced down to drastically, which would inevitably create situations akin to Tel's, where senior players would have to be left out.

Tottenham holding fresh Sandro Tonali talks

Tottenham look set to lose a hugely promising midfielder in Bergvall, but they could be about to replace him with a proven one in Sandro Tonali.

Football Insider revealed on Sunday that Spurs are set to enter fresh talks with Newcastle in the coming days to try and negotiate a reduction on their £100million asking price.

The North Londoners have already seen a bid of £80m rejected for the Italian, with De Zerbi desperate to add proven quality to his group.

Tonali is also a firm target for Manchester City, but they currently have their full focus on securing Elliot Anderson.