It might not feel like it at the moment, but the future is bright for Tottenham Hotspur.
Ange Postecoglou may be overseeing a dreadful domestic campaign this season, which has seen them lose more games than they’ve won in the Premier League, but his squad is bursting with young talent.
For example, the sensational Mikey Moore and Wilson Odobert look primed to battle it out to be Son Heung-min’s successor; Dominic Solanke and Mathys Tel could be fighting to lead the line next season, and Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence and the tremendously exciting Luka Vušković could become defensive stalwarts in the coming years.
Finally, the North Londoners’ midfield could become truly special, with one of its future stars already having won comparisons to Jude Bellingham.
Spurs' future midfield
So, before getting to the player in question, it’s worth examining the two other Spurs players we reckon will be starting alongside him in midfield in the coming years.
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Now, assuming the team will still be playing a three-man midfield, the most defensive of them will undoubtedly be Archie Gray.
The former Leeds United gem joined the North Londoners for around £30m last summer and, despite just turning 19, has played a surprisingly significant role this season, primarily in defence.
In all, he’s made 19 appearances at centre-back, seven at right-back, five at left-back, three in defensive midfield and another five so short as not to make it entirely clear where he was playing.
However, while most of his game time has come in a back four, he is a midfielder by trade and with how incredibly well he’s adapted to what has been needed of him this year, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him become the “future £100m cm” analyst Ben Mattinson has claimed he’ll be.
Just ahead of the Durham-born gem should be Dejan Kulusevski, as while he initially joined the club as a winger, he’s since spent much of this season as an attacking midfielder and thrived.
For example, eight of his 20 goal involvements have come from just 16 appearances across attacking and central midfield.
Moreover, as he’s still just 24 years old, the Stockholm-born monster has time to get even better before reaching the age that most attacking midfielders peak, which, according to The Athletic, is 26.
That leaves one more starting spot in the middle of the park, a place for someone who’s been touted for a lofty valuation and has been compared to Bellingham.
The Spurs star compared to Bellingham
There are a few other talented midfielders we have yet to mention, like James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr, but in this instance, we are talking about Lucas Bergvall.
The young Swede has been seriously impressive since moving to Spurs in the summer, making 40 first-team appearances, and it’s he whom Mattinson described as “similar to Bellingham” in November 2023.
At the time, he claimed their similarity stemmed from the fact that the teenager “has the raw & technical ability to adapt to any role” in the middle of the park, something we have seen this season.
Central Midfield
24
1
3
Defensive Midfield
5
0
0
Attacking Midfield
4
0
0
Left Midfield
1
0
0
For example, of his 40 appearances, 24 have come in central areas, five in defensive midfield, four in attacking midfield and even one in left midfield, helping to prove he’s the “uber-complete” talent Mattinson claimed he was over a year ago.
Moreover, on top of his five-goal involvements, the Stockholm-born gem has some brilliant underlying numbers from the last year, demonstrating his ability to do it all, akin to the Real Madrid star.
According to FBref, he sits in the top 1% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for successful take-ons, the top 2% for penalties won, the top 4% for tackles in the attacking third, the top 7% for tackles plus interceptions, the top 11% for carries into the final third and more, all per 90.
Ultimately, the Swedish phenomenon looks destined to develop into a world-class central midfielder and someone who could even blow past the future “£80m” price tag Mattinson predicted for him back in 2023.
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