How Lucas Bergvall ended up staying at Spurs despite Forest and Newcastle bids

Tottenham Hotspur changed their long-held attitude towards selling in the transfer market this summer.

In the past, they were guilty of holding onto unhappy players for too long and watching their value depreciate. Over the past six months, however, chief executive officer Vinai Venkatesham has spoken publicly on multiple occasions about the need for a different strategy.

Luka Vuskovic, Pape Matar Sarr and Kevin Danso all wanted to leave, and in each case their wish was granted. Guglielmo Vicario, Djed Spence and Cristian Romero have also moved to Juventus, Inter and Atletico Madrid respectively. Richarlison came close to rejoining his previous club Everton and was the subject of multiple offers from Turkish side Trabzonspor but remained at Spurs after the English deadline and was then left out of coach Roberto De Zerbi’s 25-man official Premier League squad. In total, Tottenham raised over £130million through sales this summer.

However, they did not sanction a departure for Lucas Bergvall.

The Sweden international expressed a preference to leave even before Spurs signed Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali in club-record deals, which greatly increased the competition for places in midfield. Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United both made bids for the 20-year-old.

Forest were confident of completing a deal, but Bergvall travels to their City Ground stadium today (Saturday) still a member of their opponents’ squad.

There have been lots of twists and turns over the past few months but, with the English game’s transfer window now closed, he will be staying at Tottenham until at least January.

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Bergvall joined Spurs from Swedish side Djurgarden for £8.5million in the summer of 2024. Bergvall’s father, Andreas, told The Athletic it was a “five-year contract but we talked about it as a two-year project.”

The then teenager was mainly limited to appearances in cup competitions until an injury crisis midway through that season prompted then head coach Ange Postecoglou to give him more opportunities. He never looked back after making his first Premier League start in a 5-0 win against Southampton in the December.

Bergvall’s influence grew, and he signed a new six-year contract in the April. He may have missed the Europa League final win against Manchester United the following month because of an ankle injury but still won Spurs’ player of the season award, as voted by the fans — an incredible achievement, given his age.

That two-year project appeared to be ahead of schedule, but it took a backwards step last season.

Bergvall started four of the first six league games, and scored what remains his only Premier League goal in a 3-0 victory over West Ham United. But Thomas Frank, Postecoglou’s successor appointed that summer, kept experimenting with him in different midfield roles, including playing wide on the left.

The Swede was in and out of the starting XI under Frank until, in January’s Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund of Germany, he suffered an ankle injury which required surgery. He missed 10 matches, which covered the February end of Frank’s brief reign. He made two appearances off the bench for even-shorter-lived replacement Igor Tudor, then started De Zerbi’s opening game in charge at Sunderland in April.

He played behind Richarlison in a 4-2-3-1 system ahead of a double pivot of Archie Gray and Conor Gallagher. Bergvall was substituted right after Nordi Mukiele scored the only goal for Sunderland in the 61st minute and did not start any of the remaining six league fixtures. He was an unused substitute in their final two matches, against Chelsea and Everton, when the club’s top-flight survival was on the line.

According to sources close to the dressing room, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, Bergvall grew frustrated towards the end of the season because he was being played out of position in training. He could accept he would not play every game but felt like his development was being overlooked.

De Zerbi informed Bergvall he would need to reinvent himself as a right-sided midfielder. There was a feeling that the manager had concerns about his ability to carry out specific tactical instructions.

Along with concerns about game time, this is what prompted Bergvall to tell De Zerbi that he wanted to leave after the season ended, with Forest emerging as a potential exit route.

They had identified three central midfielders who could replace Elliot Anderson for them following the England international’s £116million summer move to Manchester City. Bergvall was at the top of the list above Tijjani Reijnders, the Netherlands international who eventually joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah from City, and Everton teenager Harrison Armstrong.

Miltiadis Marinakis, the son of Forest’s owner Evangelos, watched Bergvall start for Sweden in a 3-0 loss to France in the round of 32 at the World Cup. Bergvall received positive feedback about the Midlands club from Spence, former Spurs team-mate Brennan Johnson and Sweden colleague Anthony Elanga, who had all played for them in the past.

The Athletic reported on July 16 that Tottenham had rejected an offer from Forest for Bergvall. The following day, it emerged Newcastle submitted a £46m bid which exceeded Forest’s approach. Eddie Howe supported Newcastle’s interest in Bergvall as they looked to replace the departing Tonali. They and Barcelona had previously been interested before he joined Spurs.

Tottenham rate Bergvall highly but, according to multiple sources, were prepared to sell if they received an offer of around £60million that included a significant sell-on clause. It would have represented a huge profit on the fee paid to Djurgarden.

Forest were prepared to break their transfer record for Bergvall but felt Spurs’ valuation was too high. They did not find a direct replacement for Anderson but Xaver Schlager, who had played for their new manager Oliver Glasner at Wolfsburg in Germany, arrived on a free transfer after leaving RB Leipzig to bolster the midfield options.

The plan at Forest now is to convert James McAtee into a central midfielder — he has previously played on the wing — and the 23-year-old was placed on a special fitness programme over the summer to bulk him up. Glasner has been working extensively with the former England Under-21 international to improve his game out of possession and find more ways to get him on the ball. Forest are confident he can become a big influence for them after an underwhelming debut season.

Newcastle signed 20-year-old defensive midfielder Aladji Bamba from Monaco of France’s Ligue 1, while Howe’s abrupt departure after almost five years as head coach was another complicating factor in their pursuit of Bergvall. They eventually purchased Spain international Nico Gonzalez from City for Howe’s successor Matthias Jaissle to complete their midfield rebuild.

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Bergvall’s future was unclear when he travelled with Spurs on their pre-season tour to New Zealand and Australia at the end of July. De Zerbi revealed they had not spoken and said that anyone “who is not happy, is not proud to stay here, has to leave”.

Yet the pair had a productive conversation in person during that tour, and Bergvall came away feeling much more positive about his future with Tottenham. De Zerbi performed a U-turn in public but did add he could not guarantee anybody game time.

“His position is very clear for me now; also because I needed time to understand the characteristics of the players, but I would like him to stay with us,” De Zerbi said. “He’s a very young, very good player. Good guy. It’s not so easy and so fast to find a young player of that level.”

But although there were positive discussions between Bergvall and Spurs over a development plan, he was still open to leaving. He remained professional throughout, and De Zerbi was impressed by his attitude. He played a lot in pre-season while newcomer Fernandes was struggling with a calf injury and Rodrigo Bentancur had an extended summer break after playing for Uruguay at the World Cup (Sweden actually went a round further than the South Americans). He was arguably Spurs’ most impressive performer and showed signs of a promising partnership with Tonali.

Before the opening game of the season against Brentford, De Zerbi said, “I think now (Bergvall) wants to stay and we have no problem.” The Swede was named to start that day in west London but struggled and was substituted at half-time in a 3-0 defeat. De Zerbi later admitted he knew Bergvall “in this type of game could suffer more than Bentancur”.

“He already knows he didn’t play a great game,” De Zerbi told reporters before the Carabao Cup tie against Charlton Athletic a few days later. “But this game for Bergvall, Gray, Mathys Tel, also Mikey Moore, is the right step to become better and better. Because you want the young players on the pitch, yes, but the young players, they have not experience. What is their experience? To explain the experience, you have to pass through this day and these types of games. You have to lose or be stronger the next time you play one game like Brentford. It’s a normal step.”

De Zerbi’s comments were viewed as an attempt to protect Bergvall and Spurs’ other young talents, but he does have experience. He has played over 50 times in the Premier League and made seven appearances, including five starts, in the Champions League last season. Sweden head coach Graham Potter trusted him to play in all four of their games at the World Cup, starting the round of 32 loss to France.

Bergvall’s task now is to convince De Zerbi he deserves more opportunities in a Tottenham shirt, but it is going to be difficult with the presence of new £185million duo Tonali and Fernandes in midfield, especially with no European football this season after a 17th-place finish in May. Bentancur, Gallagher, Gray and James Maddison are fighting for minutes there, too.

He performed well in the 5-1 cup win against Championship visitors Charlton but was an unused substitute against Newcastle in the league three days later, along with Gallagher. De Zerbi preferred to pair Bentancur and Tonali together at the base of midfield in that one, with Fernandes as the No 10. When Newcastle took the lead midway through the second half, De Zerbi switched formation to pair substitute Dominic Solanke up front with new forward Omar Marmoush.

In his press conference before this weekend’s trip to Forest, De Zerbi spoke openly about what happened with Bergvall over the summer.

“After 10 days in the pre-season, Lucas came, and his agent as well went to (sporting director) Johan Lange to say, ‘Lucas is happy to stay’, and Lucas showed me he wanted to stay,” De Zerbi said. “I would like to play with him; I would like to put the focus on him, because he is another big, big in terms of the potential of the player. He is another big player.”

Hopefully for Bergvall, with a bit of patience, De Zerbi can help unlock his full potential. But if he does not feature again today, perhaps he might wonder how things might have turned out had he joined Forest or Newcastle this summer.

Additional reporting: Paul Taylor, Chris Waugh, Elias Burke