Tottenham's January transfer priority, Paratici's role and what confused Archie Gray

Here are our Tottenham talking points following their Premier League victory at Crystal Palace to finish off 2025 on a high note

This was an ugly victory to end an ugly 2025 - that trophy in Bilbao aside - and the match ball likely struggled with altitude sickness at times, but Thomas Frank only cared about the perfect late Christmas present of three points.

The relief on the Dane's face was clear to see on the pitch at the final whistle and also inside Selhurst Park after the game in his post-match press conference.

These were three points that he and Spurs needed. In a bruising first half, a victory looked the least likely thing to emerge from this latest London derby as Crystal Palace kept pushing in waves of attacks, having eight shots at the visitors' goal before a Tottenham teenager turned the game on its head.

The problem for Oliver Glasner's men was that for all of their efforts at goal - 15 in total - none of them actually caused Guglielmo Vicario any trouble, with only two soft efforts on target. In contrast, Spurs had eight efforts at goal, four on target, hit the woodwork late on, had two Richarlison strikes ruled out for offside and crucially put the ball in the net off the head of 19-year-old Archie Gray.

If you want a snapshot of just how contrasting Tottenham's season has been, simply take a look at their home and away records.

The north London side have the 17th best home record in the Premier League this season but their victory at Selhurst Park left them top of the away table as the year came to a close, with 17 points from their nine matches, from five wins, two draws and two defeats.

They must improve that home form for while Glasner was able to enjoy a 2025 that brought a historic FA Cup win and what would be a sixth place finish in the calendar year, Spurs' record is very different.

They have played 37 Premier League games and won just 11, drawing six and losing a whopping 20 matches, meaning a total of just 39 points. That would place them 15th in a 2025 Premier League table.

This result and the manner of the fight shown in a derby at least sent Spurs into 2026 on a high.

"I think it was an even game in many ways. We had three key actions in the game where it's like this [does a hand signal to show small margin] between being onside, two of them, and being inside of the post, and a goal," said Frank.

"So if you're that close three times to scoring a goal, it's not bad, and then we would have scored four. That's a way to look at it. I really liked the desire, details, mentality in the team, and the character and resilience is something I spoke about a lot.

"That is so important that we have that resilience in the team, because in a long Premier League season, you need to go to a very difficult away ground here, and fight and show character. Get a clean sheet, win 1-0, that was a massive win in many ways."

He added: "Was it a top performance? No. Are there things we can improve? Yes. But to go here, with the season having been a little bit up and down, I think it's a huge mentality effort from the players.

"We were extremely disciplined throughout the game. For example, one of Palace's main strengths is transitions, and we really closed them down, something we worked very, very hard on, big discipline in the team and we need to do that."

A Gray future

In Archie Gray, Tottenham got another glimpse into their future for the teenager has the potential to be a key man for the club for years to come.

Frank has already noted the traits in him that make for a future leader. One of those is the ability to bounce back from adversity.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Gray made a mistake in possession that was ruthlessly punished at Nottingham Forest and even at Selhurst Park, an early first half yellow card would have hampered many a younger - and older - player.

Instead the former Leeds youngster covered the pitch with tenacity and desire and when pushed forward into a more attacking role, he provided two driving runs which led to a Wilson Odobert effort and Richarlison's second ruled out strike.

"It was a difficult game for me at Forest. The mistake was obviously my fault but that game I just tried to get on the ball as much as I could and tried to be positive and forget about the mistake," Gray said in his club interview.

"Obviously this still wasn't the best game, it was a scrappy game but to get a goal is something every child dreams of.

"My dad has always said to me 'after you make a mistake, just go get on the ball and don't be scared'. That is something that stuck with me and I will never go hiding from the ball or anything like that. It is not something I have ever done or will do.

"If I make a mistake, that is football sometimes and I have just got to learn from that. I have and I've been working on training every day to put it right."

It was Gray's goal though that will live with him forever. Pedro Porro's high, deep cross was headed back by Randal Kolo Muani and flicked on by Richarlison and there was the teenager in the right place at the right time to nod the ball beyond Dean Henderson and into the net.

At first he was confused when he looked around for the celebrations and nobody was around him, perhaps wary after the earlier disallowed effort for Richarlison.

"When I turned around, I didn't see my teammates celebrate with me. I was a bit confused," Gray told Sky Sports. "I was like 'Have I just scored, or?'. But, no, it's a good feeling. It's definitely one that took too long.

"It's incredible, I don't know how to sum it up. It's a feeling I have been waiting for a very long time. After 112 appearances, I will give myself leeway because of the positions [I have played] but it's an incredible feeling. I think my family will be bantering me about how I have only scored now."

He added on the goal: "I just found myself in the right place at the right time and it was probably Richy's flick which did all the work. I was stood two yards out from goal so I didn't really have much to do, but it's an incredible feeling."

The surprise in the Spurs dressing room was that Gray scored with his head.

"Everyone was just saying they weren't expecting it to be a header. I wasn't expecting it to be a header as well. But I think that one came off my dad's instinct, so thankful for my dad for that," he said.

Frank has big plans for Gray and it's no coincidence that the youngster has now started five matches in a row.

"Archie is growing. He showed why he has a very good potential in many ways. I think it's another fine performance overall today," the Tottenham boss told football.london. "Talking about resilience, he made a mistake in the Nottingham game, played another good game against Liverpool, growing as a young man.

"I loved that goal, because he was alert, he was seeing where the ball will land and he was ready for it."

Gray's latest performance was another peek into a future where the likes of he and Lucas Bergvall could run the midfield at Tottenham and Frank agreed with football.london that it was a glimpse into what this team can become with the teenager in the centre of the park.

"Yes I think so. I think he shows a lot of quality, he covers ground so well, he's excellent in the pressing game, the defensive transition, brilliant at closing down," said the Dane. "Then I think he's good on the ball, but there are parts of the game where we are not top in that area, and didn't show enough of his qualities there."

Gray is a work in progress but he has all of the building blocks to construct the perfect box-to-box midfielder with his technique, energy, desire, mentality and anticipation. Top drawer football is in his blood, it's in the Gray DNA.

Taking their time

Elsewhere around Gray on the pitch, it took most of his Tottenham team-mates a while to find their feet and most looked much better in the second half.

Kevin Danso started his latest stand-in session for the suspended Cristian Romero shakily but hit his stride after the break and had the Spurs fans singing his name before the game was done with a player of the match display.

The Austria international topped the defensive stats of both teams with a huge 18 contributions, with three tackles, one block and 14 clearances.

While captain for the day Micky van de Ven and Rodrigo Bentancur racked up 13 defensive contributions, the next in Spurs' list was Richarlison with 11, thanks to two tackles, one interception, four ball recoveries and four clearances.

On any other day, the Brazilian would have ended the day with two goals and a handful of assists as well. His first effort, slid home from Pedro Porro's low cross, was ruled out due to Bergvall being well offside.

However, his second similar finish was offside by his own kneecap as VAR once against ruined his celebrations as well as Mohammed Kudus' after the Ghanaian's perfect ball into his run.

Richarlison popped up everywhere, flicking on a header for substitute Wilson Odobert to run on to and send a shot against the base of the left-hand post and the Brazilian nodded on the ball for the returning Radu Dragusin to head just over.

The scrappiness of the game suited Richarlison's tendencies and he fought for everything without the reward of a goal.

In the end, the Brazil international had to settle for the assist for Gray's landmark goal, which made it six goal contributions in his past 10 matches for the forward.

Richarlison is also playing plenty of minutes. Like Van de Ven and Romero, Spurs are getting the trio who missed much of last season out on the pitch regularly during this campaign and much of that has come through improved communication and regular, daily meetings between the coaching staff, medical department and performance team.

After the game Richarlison kept up his usual habit of grabbing the player of the match award and taking a photo with it, and he also nabbed Van de Ven's captain's armband to post on social media: "Captain, MVP, two goals disallowed, one assist, three points. What a day."

It was also a game in which Frank's substitutions worked. Joao Palhinha contributed some big sliding tackles and brought energy to prompt further questions about why he's suddenly fallen out of the Dane's first choice starting line-up.

The Portuguese replaced Lucas Bergvall, who went down with an injury that looked to be causing him plenty of pain before the young Swede went straight down the tunnel when he came off.

When football.london asked Frank if he was ok, the Spurs boss would only say: "I hope so, of course we'll assess him tomorrow."

Odobert was a lively presence against tired Palace legs and played a part in keeping the hosts occupied in their own half rather than attacking in the final moments. Brennan Johnson did similar on the right with a couple of trademark low balls into the box immediately after coming on.

Then there was the return of Radu Dragusin, almost 11 months after his ACL injury against Elfsborg. The Romanian has worked tirelessly to get himself back into a position to play Premier League football again and he almost scored with his first touch, sending a header just over the crossbar.

"I didn’t even know where to start," he wrote on Instagram. "11 months ago, I went from doing what I love most to not being able to do it anymore. But I never gave up. I knew it was going to be a long, tough road with lots of ups and downs.

"I had the right people next to me, my teammates and staff, who helped me on and off the pitch. My family was always there for me, especially during the difficult moments. It’s been 11 months of learning, suffering, good days and some bad ones. But that’s life. 11 months of becoming better than yesterday, even if only by 1%.

"It’s great to be back on the pitch again, next to my teammates, in front of our fans. Thank you to everyone who supported me during this period. It meant so much. COYS."

Paratici spotted

Up in the stands during the game at Selhurst Park, Fabio Paratici sat alongside Tottenham's CEO Vinai Venkatesham.

While Johan Lange is abroad following his Christmas family time, Paratici was back from his time in Italy amid the headlines surrounding his future and a certain Head of Football job that awaits at Fiorentina if he can extricate himself from the contract he only signed two months ago in north London.

The Fiorentina job reportedly comes with a huge amount of power to change the fortunes of Serie A's bottom side and would require him to get out next month in order to be able to get things in motion in the transfer window.

Unfortunately for Paratici and the Florence-based club, that's exactly what Spurs wanted him to do for them.

As of Sunday night, Tottenham were still yet to receive any approach from Fiorentina for their under-contract joint sporting director.

At least for Spurs this year they have learned to make themselves less reliant and beholden to one person at any level in the organisation.

An independent review instigated by the Lewis family uncovered an old-fashioned management structure within the club that needed overhauling, with some people in positions of power for lengthy periods without enough delegation.

For those who have departed, such as Daniel Levy after 24 years, it has taken time for those coming in to pick up the pieces and figure out where they go as departments used to running in a certain way for so long now have more autonomy. One of the key words of the new Tottenham is 'empowering'.

Venkatesham himself is said to have discovered a bigger job on his hands to kick on Tottenham than he expected when he first arrived. He will at least have the blueprint of what he helped put in place down the road at Arsenal in that regard.

Even having two sporting directors, with their shared loads, would make Paratici's departure, if Fiorentina can prise him away, less impactful than it would have been in previous years, but it's still a damaging time ahead of a window in which Frank needs help.

One of Paratici's strengths is his ease at manoeuvring between the worlds of agents and boardrooms and Tottenham need as much charm as possible in this upcoming window.

Spurs are expected to push up the ceiling on their wage structure in order to compete after years of having to rule out targets who wanted more than they could offer, but they are also not the most attractive proposition right now for big players.

They sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table, with a disgruntled fanbase and the prospect of a next season without Champions League football a distinct possibility if Sunday's win is not built upon.

It is the first transfer window at Tottenham in a quarter of a century without Levy involved and what that means will be found out in the weeks ahead.

Frank's transfer needs

football.london understands Spurs are looking to fix the entire left-hand side of their team across the next two windows, with a left winger a priority next month.

Manchester City star Savinho was chased in the previous window and Tottenham will be hoping Antoine Semenyo's potential arrival in Pep Guardiola's squad could allow the Brazilian to finally make what would be an expensive move. If not, others will be sought but only if Frank believes they improve his options for the long-term.

While currently raw, Odobert is viewed as a strong future candidate for the left wing role by the head coach. There is also the hope that Mikey Moore will return from his loan at Rangers ready to push on down that flank, with the ability to come inside as a number 10 as well.

Mathys Tel is currently seen as being something between a number nine and winger in his development.

Either now or in the summer, a natural left-back will be sought to balance the squad and provide competition for the injury-prone Destiny Udogie while allowing Djed Spence to compete with Porro, a player Frank rates highly, on the right.

Elsewhere it's all about upgrades and if Tottenham can secure any next month then they will look to do so in various positions, while ensuring they do not put themselves into future PSR problems after years of losses and an absence of strong sales.

Frank has now had almost six months to analyse his squad and believes it needs plenty of improvement around a small core of important players, both young and old, with additional new leaders required if the club are to become top four regulars again.

The Dane has made it clear that he wants better players - top four level quality - not simply more bodies next month and he vocalised that publicly in his interview with Sky Sports after Sunday's win.

"Of course the window will open and we will be in the market and see if there's anything we can do," he said. "But it needs to be something where we think it can clearly improve the team, if not I'd rather want to wait. But we will be out there."

If Tottenham move for a striker, with the club one of the many sides across Europe eyeing up Porto's pricey Samu Aghehowa, it says more about the lengthy wait for Dominic Solanke, who Frank sees as one of his core stars, as well as the long-term future for Richarlison and the on-loan Kolo Muani.

Players will be allowed to depart for the right price if upgrades are available, with Johnson and Dragusin looking for game time and having price tags that have not fallen.

Frank was asked about the former on Sunday and repeated his comments from last week: "Yeah, I think Brennan is very important for us. Maybe he didn't get many minutes, but unfortunately we can only play 11 players. We spoke about it before with Mo, he's coming in and put his stamp on that right winger position. Then the left, we tried different solutions. He's still started quite a few games. I think Brennan is an important player for us."

The Spurs boss is unlikely to say the Wales international can go but last season's top scorer is available for the right price.

While Dragusin got his first minutes in almost a year, there was also a rare sighting of summer signing Kota Takai on the bench. The Japan international has had an injury nightmare since arriving with foot and muscle issues.

The 21-year-old's appearance among the substitutes may well have been as much about letting potential loan suitors know he is fit and ready good enough for a Premier League bench than anything else. For Spurs had three players who could have come on as centre-backs ahead of him on that bench.

While upgrades are being sought, there will also be an awareness of those to come back into the fold. Frank is a big admirer of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison was set to play a big part for him this season.

As well as their goals and creativity, Kulusevski and Solanke in particular have been missed in terms of their personalities in looking to drive up the standards of those around them both on and off the pitch.

Frank appears to yet be convinced about his older midfield heads doing similar with consistent displays around the teenagers Gray and Bergvall, and that could also be a key upgrade area.

There are also the on loan potential stars of the future in Luka Vuskovic and Moore, while all eyes are on when 17-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett will be brought more regularly into the first team set-up.

There is also a new signing set to kick off his Spurs career in the coming days with 18-year-old Irish starlet Mason Melia having completed his time at St Pat's after 13 goals and four assists in 35 League of Ireland Premier Division matches this season.

This is no academy youngster coming in on January 1 hoping for U21s minutes. Melia has played 98 senior matches despite his age, including 12 European appearances in the UEFA Conference League qualifying rounds.

Frank will want to take a look at the strong, technically gifted teenager and decide whether it's more beneficial for him to learn around the Spurs first team players or send him out on loan to a good level to continue his rapid education.

There are plenty of decisions for Frank, Paratici, Lange and Venkatesham to make in the weeks ahead. Spurs go into 2026 with the taste of victory back in their mouths, but they need to do so much more if it is to become a more permanent sensation.