Premier League
Daniel Levy leaves Tottenham after 25 years: commerce, compromise and a conflicted legacy
Levy leaves Spurs after 25 years: built commercial power, won two trophies, left divided fans still.
Chick King. Beavertown. “We want Levy Out!” Those refrains and the rush for the train home were fixtures of matchday life in N17 as Daniel Levy’s near-25-year stewardship came to an end.
Levy arrived alongside the ENIC Group in 2001 when the club was valued at around £80 million. The chairman’s commercial acumen transformed that position. In May 2025 Spurs were rated the ninth most valuable club in the world at £2.6 billion by Forbes and were generating over £500 million in annual revenue. At 63, Levy departs having overseen a financial and infrastructural rebuild that altered the club’s scale.
Yet the record on the pitch divided opinion. During his tenure Tottenham lifted just two pieces of silverware, including last season’s Europa League, won in Bilbao with a 1–0 victory over Manchester United. There is a clear contrast between Levy the businessman and Levy the football operator.
Transfermarkt records that only six clubs have posted a greater net spend in European football since ENIC took over, but the chairman’s strict wage framework often steered recruitment toward emerging talent rather than established stars. That pattern showed in key moments. Midway through 2011–12, Harry Redknapp’s side were in title contention but transfer targets such as Álvaro Negredo, Fernando Llorente and Giuseppe Rossi did not materialise; instead Louis Saha arrived and Ryan Nelsen was signed to cover William Gallas’s injury. Spurs finished fourth but missed Champions League qualification after Chelsea’s triumph in Munich.
The Gareth Bale era yielded funds that produced Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela among seven arrivals. Mauricio Pochettino later galvanised the squad, which finished the final season at White Hart Lane unbeaten and then endured almost two full campaigns at Wembley. The debt from the stadium project contributed to a summer of 2018 with no incoming players.
Post-Pochettino, José Mourinho and Antonio Conte brought brief highs but no trophies. Ange Postecoglou, the 13th manager under Levy, delivered the Europa League yet was dismissed two weeks after the 1–0 win over Manchester United. Levy’s exit came amid a wider ENIC restructure and questions about the club’s poorest league campaign in almost 50 years. Supporters largely celebrated his departure, even as the structures he put in place leave Spurs a supergiant waiting to explode, for better or worse.
Analytics & Stats
Slot: Why Salah’s 2025/26 Slump May Trace Back to Alexander-Arnold’s Exit
Slot links Alexander-Arnold exit to Salah’s dip in form, urging new connections and goals. this year
Arne Slot has suggested a clear link between Liverpool’s summer changes and Mohamed Salah’s sharp reduction in attacking output this season. Salah arrives at Saturday’s trip to Brentford without a non-penalty goal in any of his previous seven Premier League appearances, the worst run of his Liverpool career, per Opta.
Opponents have openly targeted the winger, sensing he is less likely to track back and that Liverpool are less dangerous in transition. When asked whether the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who left Liverpool for Real Madrid in June, had affected Salah, Slot offered a cautious acknowledgement. “Maybe his whole Liverpool [career] he played with Trent, so it could [be that],” he said. “But he’s been in promising positions often enough to score goals, maybe with Trent even more. But in general, if you have quite a few changes in the summer you have to find new connections. Mo is no exception to this.”
Every key attacking metric for Salah has declined from 2024–25 to 2025–26: goals (0.77 to 0.25), xG (0.68 to 0.30), shots (3.46 to 1.89), shots on target (1.64 to 0.76), touches in the opposition box (10.5 to 6.2), assists (0.48 to 0.25) and chances created (2.37 to 2.02). Stats provided by Opta. Correct as of Oct. 24, 2025.
Last season Alexander-Arnold delivered 147 line-breaking passes to Salah in the Premier League, a total that outstripped any other pairing in the division. Without that supply, Salah has struggled to forge a consistent rapport with a rotating line of right-backs this term.
Slot remains confident in Salah’s quality. “The way he trains, and when we do finishing drills, you cannot lose that,” he insisted. “The only thing is we have to keep bringing him into those positions and he has to bring himself into those positions.
Benchings in Europe have been a recent development. After a limp defeat to Galatasaray at the end of September, Liverpool produced a new-look frontline and romped to a 5–1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt with Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz flanking an Ekitiké-Alexander Isak double act. Slot said Salah was unhappy at being left out but viewed that reaction positively. “I hope he is not ever going to take it well, because the moment you are going to take it well then you miss the fire,” he argued.
Manchester United
Fernandes halts transfer talk until after World Cup as reported €65m clause emerges
Fernandes says he will not discuss his future until after the World Cup; reported €65m clause looms.
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has made clear he will not engage in any discussions about his future until after this summer’s World Cup, even as reports of a previously undisclosed release clause have intensified speculation.
Sources claim a clause could allow a move to a team outside England’s top flight for as little as €65 million (£56.8 million, $75.6 million) in 2026. Fernandes remains under contract until the summer of 2027, with United holding the option to extend that deal to 2028.
The 31-year-old was targeted by the Saudi Pro League last summer. After hinting at a willingness to leave Old Trafford in the wake of the Europa League final, Fernandes received a substantial approach from Al Hilal. A bid thought to be worth around €115 million was reportedly rejected by United, while the package on the table for the player would have included a trebling of his wages and a contract reportedly worth £200 million over three years.
Despite the financial allure, Fernandes says negotiations will not start until after the World Cup. “As I’ve always said, I feel good here. I want to achieve my dreams still,” United ’s No. 8 told the BBC.
“I can’t talk for the club. I’ve seen a lot of people talking that I had an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn’t made with me. I haven’t spoken with anyone.
“My agent also knows how I work. If he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Until then, I won’t speak to anyone.”
Family factors and conversations played a part in his decision to remain. “Have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?” was the message Fernandes received from the mother of his children, Ana, rather than Ruben Amorim.
“My family feels very well here,” Fernandes explained. “My kids love to go to school. They love the way they live here, even with the weather. Everyone is settled. We say sometimes the house we have here, it feels more like home than the one we have in Portugal.”
And on unfinished objectives at Old Trafford he added: “When I talk about not fulfilling my dreams at the club, it comes a lot from what she said to me,” he smiled.
For now, Fernandes has placed a nine-month pause on transfer discussion, while the reported clause and his contract situation will continue to draw attention.
Arsenal
Eberechi Eze reveals decision behind Arsenal move
Eberechi Eze says he was ready to join Spurs before Arsenal’s late bid sealed his move in detail…
Eberechi Eze has outlined how a late approach from Arsenal changed the course of his summer. Spurs appeared to be leading negotiations in mid-August after James Maddison suffered a serious knee injury and the accepted departure of Son Heung-min led Tottenham to seek a new creative outlet. Talks were held, personal terms had been accepted and Crystal Palace were reportedly content with a £55 million ($73.2 million) fee on the table.
Speaking during a return to his former secondary school, Eze acknowledged the strength of Tottenham’s position. “I was prepared to go to Tottenham,” Eze admitted, as quoted by The Athletic, “but from the moment Arsenal came, it was always going to be them.”
Those Arsenal discussions were not brand new. Eze had a meeting with Mikel Arteta and sporting director Andrea Berta several weeks before Tottenham formalised their interest, informing his boyhood club he was eager to return to the Emirates. The Gunners had been weighing options that included Morgan Gibbs-White and Morgan Rogers before Eze intervened.
On the day he was due to sign for Spurs, the 27-year-old rang Arteta to check whether a move to Arsenal remained possible. When a £67.5 million deal was later completed, the Spanish manager reflected, “That shows you how much he wanted to come,” underlining the forward momentum behind the transfer.
Adjustment to Arsenal has presented challenges. Eze arrived from a Crystal Palace side built to sweep forward on the break and has yet to replicate his previous creative output. Across seven Premier League appearances for Arsenal this season, he has created just two chances from open play, fewer than seven of his teammates.
Crystal Palace travel to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon with a compact shape that is likely to limit the space Eze enjoyed at Selhurst Park, but Arteta remains confident the midfielder can make an impact on what promises to be a “special” occasion.
