In Focus: Where Spurs still need to strengthen this summer

The mood surrounding Tottenham has changed drastically after a stunning opening-day victory over Manchester City.

Spurs headed into the new season under a cloud with Harry Kane’s future dominating the headlines. 

But Heung-Min Son’s winner against City has breathed new life into the club and provided Nuno Espirito Santo with the perfect start.

Now Spurs need to use the final two weeks of the transfer window wisely and improve their squad — but where do they need to strengthen?

Room for improvement

After a somewhat botched recruitment process saw Nuno eventually appointed as their new boss, Totteham's transfer business has been slow.

Exciting Spanish winger Bryan Gil, 20, joined from Sevilla with Erik Lamela going the other way, while both centre-back Cristian Romero and goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini have swapped Atalanta for North London.

The future of Kane continues to dominate and is casting a dark shadow over the club, with more reports and rumours emerging this morning.

But new director of football Fabio Paratici has a fine reputation and it would not be a surprise if Spurs bring in a gem or two yet.

Stuck in the middle

Tottenham have plenty of pacey wingers — the sort Nuno loved to see cause havoc for his Wolves outfit.

If Kane stays, they also have the incredible understanding between Son and the prolific striker to lean on.

But Spurs still look to have a lack of creativity coming from their midfield.

Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg is a demon in the middle while acaedmy graduate Oliver Skipp impressed on Sunday — but neither are the type to unlock defences.

The fact Hojbjerg's 0.11 assists per 90 minutes in 2020-21 was the most from any of of the club's central midfielders is a concern. In fact, none of their players in the middle of the park were in the league’s top 25 for that metric.

Tanguy Ndombele was joint second alongside Giovani Lo Celso with a figure of 0.09 per game. But only two years after his arrival from Lyon, the future looks bleak for the £55million signing.

After failing to feature in any pre-season outings, Nuno declared it is "not the right moment for him to be in games".

Lo Celso, 25, might be the answer but constant injuries mean the jury is out as to whether he can cope with a full season of Premier League football.

Heaven and Del 

Nuno will not be able to set his side up to play on the counter-attack in every game, as he often did at Wolves.

Teams will simply not want to attack Spurs and play into the Portuguese coach's hands.

Therefore, he will need to have options to break teams down — and as last season proved, relying on just Kane and Son will not always work.

But Spurs do have one of the most exciting English youngsters in recent history lurking within their squad.

If Nuno can bring the best back out of Dele Alli, the 25-year-old has the ability to make things happen.

In pre-season and against City he has played as part of the midfield three, leading the press and taking more of a box-to-box role than previously seen.

After the victory over the champions, Nuno said: "Our job as managers is always to try to find the best solutions for the players, trying to create societies, tasks that the players can do to their full potential.

"Dele, besides all the talent he has, is a runner. He has this ability to go from box to box and I think we as a team should take advantage of it."

But Spurs also have their eyes on other options.

Cagliari’s Nahitan Nandez, James Ward-Prowse at Southampton and Lyon’s Houssem Aouar, a long-term Arsenal target, have all been linked.

It is an area Spurs need to address in the next fortnight.

Case for the defence

Despite the arrival of Romero, Spurs are still after another centre-back to improve their depth in what is a key area of the pitch.

Following Toby Alderweireld’s departure, Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier started there against City.

Although they impressed, inconsistent displays over the past couple of seasons from both mean an upgrade is needed.

Villarreal’s Pau Torres reportedly turned down a move, while Spurs are said to have joined the race for Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma.

If they are unable to bring someone in, the pressure will be on Romero, Dier, Sanchez and young Joe Rodon to step up.

Thin up top

With or without Kane, Spurs desperately need to bring in another striker.

The constant quest to find a suitable back-up — or partner — for the England captain over the past few summers has unquestionably held the club back.

Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Vinicius have all tried and failed to provide support in recent campaigns.

The potential departure of their main man has only increased the pressure on chairman Daniel Levy to get a deal done.

And Tottenham's two main targets appear to be Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic and Inter Milan star Lautaro Martinez.

The former is just 21 but netted 21 goals in 37 Serie A games last season, while Martinez, 23, scored 17 times as Inter won Serie A.

Both would represent a step up on previous signings and are more than capable of carrying the main goal threat should Kane head for the exit door before the window slams shut.