Ange Postecoglou has revealed how he wanted Tottenham to chase Pedro Neto, Bryan Mbeumo, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi after finishing fifth in the Premier League but had to settle for Dominic Solanke and three teenagers.
Postecoglou was talking on the Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast after Spurs sacked his successor Thomas Frank on Wednesday, and his words rang like a warning to the next man settling into the hot seat in N17.
The 60-year-old Australian said: ‘At the end of my first year, when we finished fifth – for me, OK, how do you go from fifth to really challenging? Well, we had to sign Premier League-ready players.
‘But finishing fifth that year didn’t get us Champions League, we didn’t have the money. So we ended up signing Dom Solanke – I was absolutely keen on him, I really liked him – then three teenagers.
‘I was looking at Pedro, Mbeumo and Semenyo at the time, Marc Guehi, because I said if we’re going to go from fifth to there, that’s what the other big clubs would do in that moment.’
Solanke was effectively a replacement for Harry Kane, who had left Spurs for Bayern Munich a year earlier in the summer Postecoglou was appointed.
The teenagers in question are Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert, who all arrived in the summer of 2024 for a combined total of nearly £80million.
‘Those three teenagers are outstanding young players,’ added Postecoglou. ‘Brilliant young players. They’ll be great players for Tottenham, but they’re not going to get you from fifth to fourth or third but what’s coming out from the club is, “We’re a club that can compete on all fronts”.’
Ange Postecoglou wanted to sign Antoine Semenyo, who joined Manchester City last month
Pedro Neto was another in Postecoglou’s sights before he joined Chelsea from Wolves
Chelsea signed Neto for £54m from Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2024. Manchester United signed Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford for £71m last summer.
Guehi, with only six months remaining on his Crystal Palace contract, joined Manchester City last month for £20m. City also signed Semenyo for £65m from Bournemouth last month. Frank, before his sacking, claimed Spurs had been ready to match the fee and compete financially for Semenyo but his choice was City.
‘It’s not so much what they tell you, it’s what goes out publicly,’ said Postecoglou. ‘I still felt Tottenham as a club were saying, “We’re one of the big boys” and the reality is I don’t think they are in terms of my experience.
‘When Arsenal need players they’ll spend £100m on Declan Rice, I don’t see Tottenham doing that. Not just my history, even predating me. A lot of that was, “OK we’re building a stadium” so obviously finances were a challenge.’
Ange Postecoglou appeared on Stick to Football with Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright
Dominic Solanke joined Tottenham from Bournemouth in a £65m deal in 2024
Postecoglou admits there might have been more to spend on transfers if Spurs had finished fourth in 2024 and boosted the coffers by qualifying for the Champions League, rather than fifth and going into the Europa League, which they won.
‘When was the last time Tottenham really signed somebody who you go, wow?’ he asked.
‘People underestimate the role Harry played over the last 10 years. He’s unbelievable. I only worked with him for a couple of months but he’s the best player I’ve worked with close up in my career.
‘We played the last friendly game and I was still hoping against hope he would stay and he scored four goals.
‘We played Shakhtar, the next week were playing Brentford and I know he’s not going to be there. And it’s not like he leaves and we go and sign Erling Haaland.’
