DARE. Can Spurs’ daring transfers do it on the pitch?
Tottenham Hotspur’s motto is Audere est Facere. Literally, to dare is to do. And head coach Martin Ho and the Spurs hierarchy went in bold and early with their summer transfers.
But can this transfer to on-pitch success, and propel them further up the table? I spoke to five first team players – Kirsty Hanson, Signe Gaupset, Ella Morris, plus the unexpectedly fun double-act of Olivia Holdt and Lize Kop – to find out.
First off, Spurs definitely overachieved in their first season under Martin Ho. Under the previous regime, they’d bumped along the bottom of the table, bruised by endless injuries and naïve tactics. Ho arrived all smiles and ambition. But he also wasn’t going to suffer fools gladly.
The first coup was snatching young Japanese centre back Toko Koga from under the noses of London City, when she’d practically moved in at Bromley. Koga impressed from day one, and her consistency is utterly remarkable, which made her a shoo-in when pundits picked their WSL team of the season.
The other exciting addition was out-and-out striker Cathinka ‘Tinka’ Tandberg, who has a rocket of a right foot and will shoot from anywhere. She’s also young, brave and genuinely loves Spurs.
In the January ‘Scandi’ window they got their main target, Norwegian midfield ace Signe Gaupset, as well as the younger Nilden, Swedish right-winger Matilda, to join big sister Amanda. Add in Swedish full-back Hanna Wijk who can play on either flank, and Norwegian Julie Blakstad, who is more of a left-sided wingback, and the Spurs fans had a late Christmas present to savour.
NEW FACES
Summer Incomings: In this summer window, however, Spurs have further upped their game. Kirsty Hanson is one of the most potent and flexible Number 10s around and it was no surprise when the Scot chose to leave Villa to link up with Ho again, having worked with him when he was an assistant coach at Man United.
Young German international Shekiera Martinez made an instant impact at West Ham as a striker and winger, and her move from east to north London should be a smooth one. With Beth England leaving for Palace, the prospect of Tandberg, Hanson and Martinez up front, with the likes of Olivia Holdt and Gaupset just behind them could be thrilling to behold.
Elsewhere in midfield, Spurs took quick-footed Dutch star Victoria Pelova from Arsenal. With a high football IQ, she could operate seamlessly alongside new captain Drew Spence, comfortably the club’s most improved player, who knits everything together and has quarterback delivery around the pitch. Fellow Netherlands international, Caitlin Dijkstra has arrived from Wolfsburg, and even though she is a defender, she does love to go on a Dutch-style dribble. So watch out.
And just when you thought the Nordic invasion had finished at Tottenham, they added young Norwegian goalkeeper Selma Panengstuen from Ho’s old club, SK Brann, to give Lize Kop some competition now Eleanor Heeps has moved to Brighton.
Finally, when the chance to acquire French defender Alice Sombath from Lyon came up, Spurs couldn’t say no, and broke their transfer record to sign her. Maybe these are early Christmas presents for Tottenham fans.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
With emerging young stars like Lenna Gunning-Williams stepping up, as well as right back Ella Morris returning from her ACL injury and pacy winger Jess Naz hopefully not too far from her own comeback, this has got to be good news for both Spurs and the Lionesses.
When you also factor in a promising bunch of academy players, it doesn’t feel too outlandish to suggest that Spurs could even reach fourth spot in the WSL, or eventually challenge for the elusive third spot to get into the Champions League qualifiers. They certainly seem to be building for the present, and the future.
The other rather neat idea that Spurs have put into action is introducing ‘Legacy Numbers’ for the women’s team, exactly the same as the men. And this links to the idea of One Club, Two Teams – after all, both the men and women play with the same daring motto.
This goes back to the very first players who wore the Lillywhite colours, so while current players like Morris, Naz and Gunning-Williams (see photos) will wear their number on the back collar of their match shirts, the former players will be given commemorative Legacy certificates. This means that Joanne Ayre, from back in 2011, gets the No.1 legacy number, and this goes right up to the most recent, No.183, Hanna Wijk, with those making their full-team debuts each awarded a new number.
Rather aptly, that first 2011 match for Spurs Women was against West Ham, and their first game of this WSL season is against… West Ham.
Spurs Women are WSL trailblazers with this legacy numbers initiative, so maybe other teams will follow their lead…
I spoke to five of Spurs players on one long, hot afternoon at the training ground, and my conversations with them are below, in full…
KIRSTY HANSON
For Scottish international and serial goalscorer, Kirsty Hanson (below, left), the summer move from Villa to Spurs was a no-brainer. She says she simply wants to start winning things, and believes that this will be one of the toughest, most exciting seasons in the WSL.
Hanson was immediately excited by the Spurs project and having worked with Martin Ho before, she knew he sets standards high, and believes he will be one of the best managers. She added that more clubs need to back their women’s teams.
As for her leadership, being 28 years old, so a more senior player in a very young team, she says she tends to take younger players under her wing.
I wanted to know more about this and about Hanson’s adaptability…
Which position you prefer to play in. Would you prefer to be a 10 or a winger or what?
Kirsty Hanson: Last season I really enjoyed striker; being more central and obviously running off the back end for more center backs.
But most of my career I have been a winger, so yeah I’m happy to do anything really.
I’m a player who will honestly play anywhere around the front line.
I’ve got two feet that are as good as each other.
Also, I think, a big thing about me.
I might not be the most talented in the group or the team, but it’s my work ethic that helps me get to where I am.
How do you feel about playing behind young forwards like Cathinka Tandberg and Shekiera Martinez?
Yeah, they’re unreal players.
Obviously, I played against them and they’re just so hard to play against.
But now I’ve got them on the team, it’s going to be amazing.
We get to feed each other assists, help each other.
One of my first days I spoke to Tinka and I was like: even though I’m maybe the same position, I said I look up to her because her ability to hold up play and also how powerful she is.
It’s something that’s so special and I was just telling her that I look up to her and can’t wait to play with her.
SIGNE GAUPSET
Still only 21 years old, Signe Gaupset (above, centre and right) is one of those rare, get-you-up-off-your-seat attacking midfielders who can also drop deep. She impressed alongside the likes of Frida Maanum and Ada Hegerberg for Norway at the Euros in 2025 – her career ‘turning point’ – and decided to join Spurs from Brann at the end of that year. She signed, she says, because of the project and ambition at the club, declaring that this is where she wants to be.
For Gaupset, the main difference from Brann to the WSL is the speed and tempo, and Spurs were the right choice for her, as they are “not too big” and the timing was right. When asked about the amount of games, she smiled and said as a younger footballer, you always want to train and you always want to play.
I wanted to know, now Gaupset is established in the team, if she has certain goals, in every sense. And how she might add to her game…
Have you got some personal targets for this season in goals, assists and all that sort of stuff?
Signe Gaupset: I haven’t set some numbers, but of course I want to help the team as much as possible and I want to score and I want to assist the other teammates and help winning games, so yeah that’s my goal.
Is there anything you can add to your game this season, because lots of new players have joined and they’ve all got different qualities. Are there things you can maybe pick up from them?
Yeah of course, and I think we’ve got a lot of good players coming in and especially those attacking players which I can play a lot with and hopefully I can assist them and they can assist me as well.
With Kirsty, particularly maybe?
Yeah, she’s a really good player and likes to do the hard work and go in behind.
So yeah, I think she’s a really good addition to the group.
ELLA MORRIS
23-year-old right-back Ella Morris (above) has been cursed with bad luck. She missed a massive chunk of last season with a second ACL injury and admits that she was in a bad place mentally.
She is now back and raring to go though, declaring that she’s itching to play more games and have more time for development. But that looked a long way away last year.
Crucially, says Morris, the therapists at Spurs helped her reframe my mindset. As an emerging young Lionesses defender, she still had FOMO [during the Euros]. But she says she is stronger and fitter than before, having rebuilt her body. In brief, she’s in a much better place now.
I wanted to know about her fresh start for club, and maybe even next year’s World Cup for country…
You missed most of last season obviously, so it must feel like this is almost a fresh start for you.
Ella Morris: Yeah, no definitely it was, I remember doing the media day last season and feeling that sense of, will I get any minutes this season, will I not?
So it definitely feels like a new season coming in now, being excited knowing that I should be fit and ready to hopefully get as minutes as I can, so it’s a nice feeling.
Do you think you could maybe make that full back position for England your own?
It’s definitely an ambition.
Right now I just need to focus on starting at Spurs and getting as many minutes as I can to showcase myself to Sarina, but obviously I know there’s a World Cup on the horizon, so I think any player would jump at the opportunity to go to that.
So definitely in the back of my head that I know what I need to achieve first to be able to get the merit to go.
OLIVIA HOLDT AND LIZE KOP
It shouldn’t work on paper, but putting Danish midfielder Olivia Holdt (25) and Dutch keeper Lize Kop (28) together in front of the media (below, centre) was genius. When Kop was about to answer questions, Holdt would swing round in her chair and lean forward expectantly, saying: “I’m excited to hear what you have to say, Lize!”
Their dry exchanges and answers were a tonic, but they also had some key insights into their own and their team’s progress – especially as both played under the previous Spurs leadership.
Holdt says that there’s way more respect for them as a WSL team now. And as a midfielder she’s a vital cog in Spurs’ playing style, keeping the ball more, and she is also quick to credit the rest of the team with helping her get more chances herself.
For Kop, she now perceives that Spurs have a bigger, clearer framework and standard. And for her country, there is only one ambition: to be number one for the Netherlands.
I asked both about what they’d like to improve individually – and their respective predictions for Tottenham’s final league position…
Which parts of your game do you think you could improve?
Lize Kop: I think there are a lot of things to improve.
I think you can look at technical details.
For example, I would love to develop more my side volley, and stuff like that.
But also getting connections with the team and new players and how everyone works and see if you can improve that as well… to have a lot of communication with the team.
What about you, Olivia?
Olivia Holdt: I mean, if you ask me personally, I would like to score more goals, create more chances, more assists.
If you ask Martin and the staff, I should probably get stronger, run more, be more physical, get better defensively.
So, you have two questions, two answers.
Where do each of you think Spurs could end up this season?
LK: I think we can do really well.
Like you’ve seen us last season and I think we’ve been building from there.
We’ve got some new players and the level has been higher already than last season.
I think they’re great addition to the team.
So I think it will only get better from there.
Obviously you still have to develop.
You don’t know how the season goes, but yeah, we’re aiming for the top, obviously.
What about you, Olivia?
OH: Top five.
Any higher?
OH: We’ll see!
Photos: Helen M Jerome, Spurs Women
