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The face of football can certainly change a lot in a year - Tottenham Hotspur fans know that more than most as does the world right now - but what will Spurs' team look like in half a decade's time?

Tottenham are very much a team in transition right now, with a manager in Jose Mourinho who has only been in charge for around three months, and a team that has been getting a youthful overhaul in the past two transfer windows.

It's hard to predict what the team will look like next season let alone in five years' time but we at football.london enjoy a challenge, especially when it's a bit of fun and the current break in the football season means we've got time to be a little move creative.

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So we're going to break it down to each department of the squad to work out who will still be around in 2025, who will have emerged from the club's academy and which players may have been signed in the ensuing years.

Please do bear with us as we have used a little creative licence at times to fill in the gaps to work out how Tottenham's starting line-up and bench could look as they begin the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Goalkeeper

At 38, we reckon Hugo Lloris will have returned home to see out the twilight of his career back in France, while Paulo Gazzaniga had grown frustrated at being back-up and left the club in his early 30s.

Tottenham finally followed up on their strong interest in Ajax keeper Andre Onana, who became their first choice goalkeeper the season before Lloris left, with Brandon Austin battling with the Cameroon international for the spot after returning from a successful loan spell with Aston Villa.

Academy product Josh Oluwayemi is the third choice keeper.

Full-backs

At left-back, Ryan Sessegnon finally developed into the full-back Jose Mourinho believed he would, 'the new Ashley Cole' as the Spurs boss predicted.

Dennis Cirkin is the very competitive back-up in the role with 31-year-old club stalwart Ben Davies providing cover to both and in the centre.

On the right, Serge Aurier, now 32, plays his football at AC Milan, and Max Aarons, signed from Norwich City in the summer of 2020, became the club's first choice right-back from 2021.

Youcef Atal competes with Aarons for the right-back spot, Kyle Walker-Peters having made his move to Southampton permanent after spending another season on loan at the south coast club.

Centre-back

At the end of his contract, Spurs having taken up a further year's option, Toby Alderweireld eventually returned to Ajax to play for the Dutch club who ahead of the 2025/26 season had appointed another former player as their manager in Jan Vertonghen.

Back at Spurs Japhet Tanganga has developed into a top Premier League star, forming a powerful and rock-tight central pairing with the experienced Davinson Sanchez.

Young England international Malachi Walcott provides the main competition to the two centre-backs along with Welshman Davies.

Central midfield

Tottenham signed Boubakary Soumare from Lille in the summer of 2020 and after struggling to get a regular spot in the team the following season, particularly with the emergence of Harvey White from the academy and Gedson Fernandes' deal being made permanent, the club accepted a £55million bid from Harry Winks from Manchester City in the January window of 2022.

Soumare provides the anchor to a midfield trio which includes Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele and is considered one of Europe's best engine rooms. Ndombele is linked most years with Real Madrid but as of yet Spurs have not relented.

Oliver Skipp is currently six months into an 18-month loan at Wolves with Tottenham while Eric Dier is now playing at Atletico Madrid, alongside his veteran former team-mate Kieran Trippier.

Moussa Sissoko continued to be a big squad player for Spurs but eventually his knee problem returned to haunt him and he is now doing his coaching badges with the academy.

(Image: Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Attacking midfield

With the width created by their flying full-backs, Spurs have less need for wingers and following the £140m departure of Dele Alli to Barcelona in 2024 after plenty of success with Spurs, Steven Bergwign has found the role behind the strikers very much to his liking.

J'Neil Bennett has become the latest attacking homegrown product at the club and the Spurs fans are constantly calling for the 23-year-old to be given more chances in the team.

Jack Grealish finally made his long-awaited move to Spurs in 2023, after three years at Leicester City, who had sold James Maddison to Manchester United.

Gareth Bale continues to be linked with a return to Tottenham despite being 36 and earning £820,000 a week in the Chinese Super League.

Jack Clarke spent a couple of seasons on loan before trying his luck at Tottenham, but it never quite happened for him. He went on to impress with Bournemouth though after signing permanently for them.

Now 33, Son Heung-min is still an important member of the squad and provides back-up both in attacking midfield and up front. Erik Lamela returned to Italy in 2021 to play at AC Milan under a former manager.

(Image: IAN KINGTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Strikers

Harry Kane ignored overtures from Europe's top sides to remain at Spurs and formed one of the continent's best strike partnerships with Troy Parrott.

Now 23, the young Irishman has been breaking many of Kane's own early goalscoring records and provides the legs up front while Kane sits in a slightly deeper role, half playmaker and half goalscorer, allowing Bergwijn to buzz around and pop up anywhere across the attacking third.

Lucas Moura spent another couple of years at Tottenham before returning home to Brazil to play for his first club Sao Paulo.

The versatile Son and Bennett provide back-up to the striker slots.

The starting line-up and bench for the opening match of the season

(4-3-1-2) Onana; Aarons, Sanchez, Tanganga, Sessegnon; Lo Celso, Soumare, Ndombele; Bergwijn; Kane, Parrott. Subs: Austin, Cirkin, Walcott, Gedson, White, Grealish, Son.

The manager

We knew you'd ask. Mourinho did not depart after just three years. He remained for five-and-a-half years and brought the silverware expected of him.

Tottenham won a string of FA Cups and League Cups before finally winning back-to-back Premier League titles in 2024 and 2025. The Champions League title remained frustratingly out of reach though despite a couple more semi-final appearances.

At 62, Mourinho finally took on the job he promised himself he would, leaving Spurs to take the helm of Portugal and leaving the north London club to make a new appointment at the helm.

Following his own trophy-laden success with AC Milan in Italy and with some unfinished business to attend to at Spurs, the club announced Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager.