Tottenham Hotspur

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Tottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi described Wednesday's 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Charlton as the "perfect day" for new signing Savio.

The winger - a £75m summer addition from Manchester City - scored and assisted after being introduced as a second-half substitute to a standing ovation from the Spurs crowd.

"His biggest step and biggest improvement is to increase the number of goals. I think he is one of the best wingers, but the best wingers score many goals," De Zerbi said of the Brazil international.

"I spoke with him and we put the goal on 10 or 12 goals [target] because we need 10 or 12 goals from the wingers.

"Last season, we suffered too much because also the number of goals were not enough to compete for anything more than that position [17th in the Premier League]."

Spurs had struggled to make an impact against a much-changed Charlton side before 19-year-old academy graduate Mikey Moore broke the deadlock in the 41st minute.

Moore spent last season on loan at Rangers and has been linked throughout the summer with another loan for the 2026-27 campaign, despite starting the Premier League defeat at Brentford.

"He is our player from the academy and we have to understand what the best solution is for him and for us," De Zerbi added.

"I would like to keep him because he is young, a good player, but we can't make the wrong decision because he needs to play and put games inside of him.

"With Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham, we have to find the best solution."

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The draw for the Carabao Cup third round has been made. Here is a list of all the ties involving Premier League teams in the order they were drawn.

The matches will be played in the weeks commencing September 7 and September 14.

• Crystal Palace v Middlesbrough

• Manchester United v Brighton

• Manchester City v Norwich City

• Sunderland v Hull City

• Ipswich Town v Arsenal

• Coventry City v Aston Villa

• Bournemouth vLincoln City

• Liverpool v Tottenham

• Chelsea or Luton Townv Leeds

• Millwall v Newcastle United

• Everton v Wolves

• Reading v Brentford

• West Ham v Fulham or AFC Wimbledon

Read more and see the full draw

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Get in touch with your views

Come back to this page on Thursday to find a selection of your replies

There are three Premier League teams in action on Wednesday in the second round of the EFL Cup, and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Newcastle United v West Bromwich Albion - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Tottenham Hotspur v Charlton Athletic

• Preston North End v Everton (20:00) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off 19:45 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction

You can also listen to today's 5 Live commentaries on your smart speaker. Just say "Alexa, ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v West Bromwich Albion" or "Alexa, ask BBC Sounds to play the Everton match", for example.

See the full Carabao Cup second-round fixture list

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We asked for your views after Tottenham Hotspur agreed a loan deal with Manchester City for Egypt forward Omar Marmoush, with an obligation to buy the player for £60m next summer.

Here are some of your comments:

Mark: Think he is better than Savio and would like to see him play as a striker. Now seems a good time to sell Richarlison.

Alistair: Feels like an expensive stop-gap measure. City have played the transfer game well and shifted on squad players with a £30m profit. Not sure Spurs will reap the rewards of either purchase.

Daniel: Trust our manager, we saw what he did at Brighton. We need a number nine and if De Zerbi gets the team he wants, we could be in for a good season.

Brian: Good signing - exactly the kind of nimble, fast and adaptable number nine that we need.

Tom: We all know how hard it is to get quality number nines at the moment and Marmoush is quality. Nothing can be read into being the second string behind Haaland. I think that Richarlison doesn't fit into De Zerbi's plans half as well as Marmoush will. Hopefully a really good signing.

Daniel: Marmoush is an excellent signing and I think he's the best of the window so far for Spurs. We need his goals desperately!

Phil: Marmoush should be a great signing as we need a proven goalscorer to play alongside Solanke. Was never going to get enough game time at Man City with Haaland there.

Image source, Getty Images

Tottenham are set to complete a double-raid of Manchester City this week with a loan deal to sign forward Omar Marmoush now agreed, which contains an obligation to make the deal permanent for £60m next summer.

The 27-year-old Egypt international follows Savio from City to Spurs after the north London club signed the Brazilian for an initial fee of £75m on Tuesday.

Marmoush joined City from Eintracht Frankfurt for £59m last January but had to play second fiddle to Erling Haaland for much of his time at Etihad Stadium. He has scored 16 goals in 62 appearances in all competitions for City.

Spurs fans, what do you make of the move? Where will Marmoush fit into De Zerbi's line-up?

Get in touch with your views here

Mohamed Moallim
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Omar Marmoush is primarily a number nine, but he has rarely been confined to one role across the front line.

At Frankfurt, he was used predominantly through the middle but also appeared as a second striker and from the left. Manchester City have followed a similar pattern, using him mainly as a central attacker while also deploying him from the flank and just behind another forward.

That flexibility could suit Roberto de Zerbi. His teams have often relied on forwards changing positions, dropping towards the ball and then attacking the space created when opponents are drawn out. Marmoush is comfortable doing both.

Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha sees the Egyptian as most dangerous when he is able to threaten the space beyond the defence.

"As much as he is good dropping towards the ball, I think he is better when he plays on the shoulder," he said.

"He needs to be in a team that will constantly play balls in behind and force the opposition to run back towards their own goal. That's when you see a better version of Marmoush."

Opta's Premier League numbers from last season show he averaged 11.46 runs in behind per 90 minutes, almost identical to Dominic Solanke's 11.61 and ahead of Richarlison's 10.03. But he also offered considerably more with the ball.

Mohamed Moallim
BBC Sport Journalist

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Savinho's involvement for Manchester City fell sharply last season after the club signed winger Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth in January.

He played 821 Premier League minutes, scoring once and providing one assist, while featuring in only 31% of City's available minutes.

That was a significant drop from the previous campaign, when he played 54%.

Yet his 2024-25 numbers show why Tottenham are prepared to invest heavily in him. Savinho registered eight Premier League assists that season, all from open play, despite playing only 1,773 minutes. Only five players recorded more from open play.

On a per-90 basis, he ranked third for open-play assists with 0.41, while only Mohamed Salah created more chances per 90 than Savinho's 2.2.

His biggest threat, though, came from carrying the ball. Among Premier League players with at least 1,000 minutes in 2024-25, only Jeremy Doku averaged more progressive carries of at least 10 metres than Savinho's 6.8 per 90.

Savinho also led the division for carries followed by a chance created, averaging 1.3 per 90, while only Son Heung-min ended a carry with an assist more frequently.

He completed 2.6 dribbles per 90 with a 51% success rate and used those carries to draw defenders towards him before releasing team-mates.

That ability was even more evident during his breakout season at Girona. Savinho played 2,989 minutes in La Liga in 2023-24, with 65% of them coming on the left wing. He scored nine goals, supplied eight assists and established himself as one of the division's most dangerous one-against-one players.

At City, his role shifted. Across his two Premier League seasons, his most common position was on the right, accounting for 36% of his minutes, compared to 20% on the left. That versatility could matter at Spurs.

Tottenham could hijack Napoli'spursuit of Marseille and Algeria winger Amine Gouiri, 26. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

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Jonty Colman
BBC Sport journalist

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The third-round draw for the 2026-27 Carabao Cup will take place on Wednesday, 26 August following the conclusion of Preston North End vs Everton.

Nine Premier League clubs taking part in European football join the 23 first-round winners from across the English Football League.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Brighton and Crystal Palace will enter the competition at this stage, as the top eight Premier League clubs from the 2025-26 season plus Crystal Palace as Conference League winners.

It will be broadcast live on Sky Sports following the conclusion of the third round tie between Preston North End and Everton, kicking off at 20:00 BST.

Unlike the opening two rounds of the competition, the third round draw is not regionalised.

However, before the match at Deepdale there will be a pre-draw determining which of the Champions League and Europa League clubs will play at home or away in round three.

In order to avoid potential scheduling issues, the eight Champions League and Europa League clubs cannot be drawn against each other in round three.

When the draw takes place, the first eight fixtures decided are the ones involving clubs in the Champions League and Europa League. The remainder of the draw will be an open draw as usual.

Due to clashes with opening weeks of the Champions League and Europa League seasons, the third round will be played across two different weeks. They are the weeks commencing Monday, 7 and Monday, 14 September, 2026.

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

Tottenham have strengthened by spending heavily in the summer, but if Dominic Solanke is not going to be used regularly as a main striker, then this is where Roberto de Zerbi must look next.

Richarlison took the starting role in the opening weekend loss at Brentford, and while a deal for Manchester City's Omar Marmoush is progressing, is this actually his best role?

Kish Patel, Tottenham fan

Spurs desperately need forward players who can turn De Zerbi's quick attacks into decisive moments.

Currently, Tottenham have the players to play through pressure but don't have the players to maximise the situations this creates.

A winger and a striker who can improve us will be a drastic upgrade.

What business do you think still needs to get done before 23:00 BST on 1 September?

Get in touch with your views here

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Spurs boss Roberto de Zerbi has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Carabao Cup second-round tie against Championship side Charlton Athletic at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (kick-off 19:45 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Striker Dominic Solanke is available to play and Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro will be named on the bench.

• Mohammed Kudus remains sidelined and James Maddison will miss the match because of "a small injury" in his shoulder.

• De Zerbi is unsure whether new signing Savio will "be ready" to start the game, but he is expected to be in the matchday squad.

• On Savio: "In terms of one-on-one, he's one of the best players and can play on either side.

• He said his side had enough quality to "do much better" in the opening 3-0 defeat at Brentford, but changing the mentality is "a big challenge".

• More from De Zerbi on Sunday's loss: "We need to get used to winning the matches. We have to change the mood. I think the environment has to change - the players inside and the people inside have to change this mentality."

• The Italian said Solanke is an "important player but he has to play much better than [he did] against Brentford", adding: "We need the striker to hold the ball when the opposition go man-to-man."

• De Zerbi said Spurs have been "working very well" in this summer's transfer market, but he couldn't say whether there will be any more incomings or outgoings.

Got a question about Spurs? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts

"I don't buy the excuses from Roberto de Zerbi," says former Premier League winger Andros Townsend.

Following Tottenham's opening-weekend defeat by Brentford, the Italian head coach said summer signings Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali were "not in the best physical condition".

"It is the first time in my lifetime - that I can remember - when Tottenham have actually been smart, done their business early and paid over the odds to get players through the door to get a full pre-season under their belts.

"I can only imagine that was so on matchday one they would be ready to hit the ground running, so the situation is baffling to me.

"Before the game, I was really excited because I thought Tottenham could have a really good season. I do think they still could, but I don't buy the excuses from Roberto de Zerbi."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

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Nottingham Forest are determined to keep full-back Neco Williams this summer amid late interest from Tottenham.

Spurs' interest in the 25-year-old is at an exploratory stage, but sources close to Forest insist the City Ground club will not consider selling the Wales international this summer.

Williams proved a crucial player last season and is expected to play a key role for new manager Oliver Glasner this time around. Forest remain in talks with the former Liverpool defender over a new contract and it is their intention to extend his current deal - which expires in summer 2029 - to reflect his importance to the squad.

Reds boss Glasner has an interest in Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall, which poses a potential discussion point between the two clubs, but Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi has insisted the 20-year-old Sweden international will stay in north London.

Tottenham have sold defender Djed Spence to Inter Milan and are open to signing a replacement - and it is understood De Zerbi would prefer one with Premier League experience.

Like Spence, Williams - who has made over 150 Premier League appearances - can play on both flanks, but is predominantly a left-back.

Spurs have options on the left in Destiny Udogie, Any Robertson and Ben Davies. Udogie is understood to have interest from Italy, while Robertson and Davies are in the latter stages of their careers.

At right-back, Pedro Porro is first choice but there is no direct competition - though Archie Gray can fill in.

As a result, there is a will at Spurs to sign a younger, versatile full-back before the window closes at 23:00 BST on 1 September.

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Winger Savinho says "it's taken a while" but he is "very happy" to have signed for Tottenham.

The 22-year-old's move to north London has been more than 12 months in the making, with Spurs failing in a bid to sign him last summer.

"It's a wonderful opportunity at a brilliant club with one of the best managers in the world," said Savinho.

"As soon as I spoke to the head coach, I knew I had to come. He told me he wants to help me reach the highest level, and I believe we can do that together, as a team."

De Zerbi added: "Savio is a player who brings energy, imagination and quality in wide positions. He has the courage to attack defenders and the ability to change a game with his creativity.

"We're very pleased to have him with us, and I'm looking forward to working with him, helping him continue to grow and seeing him bring his personality to the team."

Savinho joined Manchester City from French side Troyes in 2024, but his game time was limited under Pep Guardiola last term when he made just seven Premier League starts.

Spurs sporting director Johan Lange said the Brazilian "will excite our supporters every time he gets on the ball", adding: "He has already shown his quality at the highest level and we believe his ability, style and mentality will be a great fit for the squad we are building here.

"I'm looking forward to watching his development under Roberto's coaching."

Manchester City have entered the race to sign Liverpool and Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo, 27, with Tottenham also still working on a deal. (Soccer News NL - in Dutch), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

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