Ndombele setback, Son and how the 17 players who left Tottenham in the past 18 months are doing

Son Heung-min is enjoying life in Major League Soccer with LAFC after his summer move from Tottenham Hotspur

It's a very different Tottenham Hotspur squad under Thomas Frank nowadays to the one that has been seen in N17 over recent years.

In all 17 first team players have departed the north London club in the past 18 months alone as a huge overhaul has taken place and Ben Davies is the longest serving player at Spurs with those 11 years under his belt. The Welshman is also the last remaining member of the squad from the Champions League final in 2019 still remaining at Tottenham.

It's been a huge turnover of players, but what of those who left N17 in the past 18 months? With Thomas Frank now in charge there were a string of further departures in the summer to add to those who left the previous year.

It's time to take a look at how those 17 players who left the club in the past 18 months have got on after heading out of the Hotspur Way exit doors. Many were big name stars with one a legend of the club, some were among the most expensive players Tottenham have ever bought, while others were long-serving servants of the club.

Let's start with the captain and legend who departed for a new adventure in the USA.

Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min left as a legend following 10 years of service to the north London club, having scored 173 goals and registered 101 assists in 454 appearances. He became the first Asian player to score 100 goals in the Premier League and in May the South Korean star managed to do what so few before him had managed at Spurs in lifting a European trophy as captain of the club.

The 33-year-old told his new head coach that he wanted a new challenge in the summer and duly joined LAFC in an MLS record fee of more than £20million.

There was no doubt Son would star in the USA and he has quickly brought his superstar quality to the MLS stage with eight goals and three assists in his first nine matches.

He also made history on the international stage on Friday by becoming South Korea's most-capped player. Captaining his nation in a home friendly against Richarlison's Brazil, the South Korean star picked up his 137th appearance to surpass the record he had jointly-held with Cha Bum-kun and his current head coach Hong Myung-bo.

Bryan Gil

Bryan Gil left Spurs in the summer after four years at the club but with only 43 appearances and two assists to his name. The Spaniard just never found a place in north London and was loaned out three times over those years.

He enjoyed his final loan spell at Girona and joined the La Liga club permanently for 10million Euros (£8.7million) at the very last moments of deadline day last month.

The 24-year-old had suffered a knee injury towards the end of last season but after a summer of rehabilitation, Gil is back on the pitch and has played in the past five matches for Girona, grabbing an assist last month in the 1-1 draw at Athletic Club in his first and only start of the season so far as he restores his fitness.

Sergio Reguilon

Another Spaniard who exited the club in the summer, Reguilon left at the end of his contract, having made 73 appearances for Spurs, scoring twice and contributing nine assists over his five years at the club since joining from Real Madrid.

That half a decade included an ill-fated loan to Atletico Madrid and then more successful half-season spells at both Manchester United and Brentford with Thomas Frank.

Last season Spurs could not find a move for Reguilon and he ended up playing six times for the club under Ange Postecoglou when needed.

Reguilon is currently without a club after leaving north London but looks set to join Son in the USA with a move to MLS and Lionel Messi's Inter Miami.

Fraser Forster

The 37-year-old played 34 times for Tottenham over his three seasons at the club and managed eight clean sheets but conceded 54 goals during those games. He made four appearances in the Europa League last season meaning he was sure of a winners' medal after the final in Bilbao.

Forster, an England international with six caps and plenty of experience, is also without a club, which has surprised many, but you wouldn't bet against a club snapping him up soon after to provide experienced back-up to their goalkeepers, especially with the rules on bringing in keepers far more relaxed amid injuries.

Timo Werner

Timo Werner left Spurs after two loan spells and plenty of criticism from the supporters as it just didn't go right for the former Chelsea man.

The 29-year-old played 41 times for the north London club, scoring three goals and providing seven assists which isn't horrendous on paper, but his struggles in front of goal were clear and he played very little part in the second half of his last season at Tottenham, with a hamstring injury and then just being left out by Ange Postecoglou.

Werner has returned to RB Leipzig and despite links with plenty of clubs including the MLS, he remained there through the summer and amid more injury woes has played just one minute of football so far this season in the Bundesliga.

Alfie Whiteman

The long-serving Tottenham academy product departed the club this summer after a decade in the Spurs colours. He made his competitive first team debut in a Europa League win over Ludogorets at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November 2020. Whiteman also had two separate loan spells at Swedish top-flight side Degerfors IF in 2021 and 2022, helping them avoid relegation from the Allsvenskan on both occasions.

The 27-year-old, who has plenty of interests outside football, is without a club currently but has been linked with sides in both England and across the continent so could also pick up a new job as this season goes on.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

It feels like Hojbjerg left Spurs a long time ago, although technically he was only on loan at Marseille and his contract only ended at the north London club in the summer because he joined the Ligue 1 outfit with an obligation to buy that could rise to £17million.

The Dane, who turned 30 this summer, joined Tottenham back in 2020 and played 184 times, scoring 10 goals and providing 17 assists during his four seasons before that loan to France.

He played 32 times for Marseille last season, scoring three times and laying on four assists in a campaign in which the Ligue 1 side finished second behind PSG, albeit 19 points behind PSG. This term the Dane is playing Champions League football and has nine appearances and one goal for his new club.

Some might just wonder what might have happened if he did not have a permanent move lined up because the new Spurs boss Frank worked with Hojbjerg at youth level in the Danish international set-up and might just have had a place for him in his squad.

Tanguy Ndombele

Tanguy Ndombele probably went down as the club's biggest ever flop after arriving from Lyon for a club record fee worth more than £60million in all back in 2019.

The Frenchman played just 91 times over half a decade at the north London outfit before having his contract mutually terminated last summer. Nice signed him on a two-year contract and it was all going reasonably well in the first half of his season back in France with 25 appearances, scoring twice and laying on two assists across 1,407 minutes of football.

Then in March came a sports hernia issue that ended his season prematurely. It looked like good news eventually when the midfielder was pictured in July back in pre-season training with Nice but all was not well and he had to go under the knife in a bid to fix a groin injury. Now 28, Ndombele is yet to return to action after that surgery.

Giovani Lo Celso

Giovani Lo Celso is back on track after some injury issues interrupted his return to Real Betis. At first the 29-year-old Argentine, another high profile expensive signing for Spurs back in 2019, after an initial loan, flew with goals in four consecutive La Liga games - five scored in total across those games.

Injured fragmented the rest of his season, but unlike Ndombele, Lo Celso did contribute in the final months of the season and helped Betis reach the final of the Europa Conference League but another muscle injury suffered the previous week restricted him to just the final five minutes of the 4-1 defeat, having missed the final La Liga game of the season.

In all, Lo Celso started just 15 La Liga games this season, playing 34 times across all competitions with nine goals and three assists.

This campaign has started well though for the Argentine with two goals and two assists in nine matches and he scored the winner for his country in their World Cup qualifier against Venezuela this week.

Emerson Royal

Emerson Royal is back in Brazil with Flamengo after a tough time in Italy with AC Milan. The 26-year-old right-back has mostly been a regular starter and even scored against Juventude last month in a 2-0 win.

A calf problem had kept him out at Milan from the end of January until May after making the move from N17 last summer in a deal worth £12.6million plus add-ons but Emerson had already struggled to impress either the supporters or the media and that injury reportedly scuppered attempts to sell him immediately in the January window after Milan signed Kyle Walker.

Emerson had returned for the final three games of last season, remaining on the bench for them all as Milan lost in the Italian Cup final to Bologna. He had won the Italian Super Cup midway through the campaign though so it was not a fruitless season despite that injury which restricted him to 26 appearances before his move back to Brazil.

Troy Parrott

Troy Parrott is one of the biggest successes among the Tottenham departures in this list. He joined AZ Alkmaar in a £6.7million deal in 2024 with a 20% sell-on clause for the north London side.

The 23-year-old Republic of Ireland international hit 20 goals for the Dutch side last season across 47 matches and came up against his old team Spurs three times in the Europa League, causing them plenty of problems. In that European competition Parrott racked up six goal involvements in 12 games and in the Eredivisie managed 16 goal involvements in 28 games. Parrott ended up as the joint third top scorer in the Dutch flight across the season.

He then stepped up another level at the start of this campaign with 10 goals and two assists in his opening eight matches before a knee injury kept him out for six weeks until he returned last week for Alkmaar from the bench. He will be looking to continue on the goal trail and Tottenham could yet make some money off the Irishman with that sell-on clause.

Oliver Skipp

Oliver Skipp is currently playing in the Championship with Leicester. The now 25-year-old only just managed to surpass the 24 matches he played for Spurs last season with 28 across all competitions for Leicester in his first year there, with just 10 Premier League starts as they got relegated.

Skipp had left Spurs last summer after 18 years at the north London club and more than 100 first team appearances to join up with fellow academy product Harry Winks in a transfer that could eventually bring Tottenham more than £20million plus a sell-on clause.

The problem for Skipp was that while the manager who signed him, Steve Cooper, was keen on the midfielder, Ruud van Nistelrooy seemed less so across the campaign, preferring more physical midfielders as Leicester struggled for wins and were relegated from the Premier League.

Now back in the Championship after his title-winning loan spell at Norwich in the league, new Foxes boss Marti Cifuentes had been using Skipp heavily in the early games of the season but the midfielder has enjoyed fewer minutes in recent weeks.

Ryan Sessegnon

Everyone just wanted to see Ryan Sessegnon playing football again after his years of hamstring injury hell and he's managing that again back at Fulham.

This season he's been a near ever-present for Marco Silva's side at left-back and scored in the Premier League match at Bournemouth before the international break.

Sessegnon made 22 appearances last season, netting four times and providing two assists in his 16 Premier League games for Fulham. One of those goals came against Tottenham in the defeat at Craven Cottage with a well-taken right-footed curling effort that brought no celebration.

"I spent five years at Spurs and I'm grateful for my time there. So that's why I didn't celebrate," the 24-year-old said after that game. "I'm feeling good, sharp and strong. I just want to play a little bit more. When I get the chances I want to prove I can play at this level."

When Tottenham decided not to take up the option of the additional year on his contract last summer, Sessegnon's return to Fulham meant that all of the club's arrivals in that now infamous 2019 window, including Ndombele, Lo Celso and even Jack Clarke went back to their previous side at some point after joining Spurs.

Joe Rodon

Joe Rodon came up against Spurs as a Leeds United player just before the international to complete his journey of sorts away from the club, having helped the Elland Road side to the Championship title and missing only four minutes of football in the entire season in that competition.

After joining permanently as part of the deal that brought Archie Gray in the opposite direction to north London last summer, the Wales international played all 46 matches for the Elland Road outfit in the league and now in he Premier League the 27-year-old has played every single minute in the top flight.

He also scored against Bournemouth like Sessegnon but did so at the end of last month for Leeds.

Japhet Tanganga

For Japhet Tanganga, as it was with Sessegnon, there was a need to continue to show that he was free of the injuries that dogged his years at Tottenham.

Thankfully that was pretty much the case as Tanganga, now 26, played 43 times for Millwall last season, scoring twice, and helped them rise up the table as the season wore on to an eight-place finish.

As with Sessegnon, Spurs did not take up the option last summer to extend Japhet Tanganga's contract by its final year. Instead he signed on a free transfer for Millwall after impressing for the Championship side on loan last season.

This summer though Tanganga made the move to Sheffield United and he has played every minute barring one match he has missed in the Championship so far.

Ivan Perisic

It feels like the Croatian left a long, long time ago, but Ivan Perisic technically stopped being a Tottenham employee last summer, even if he had already joined Hajduk Split the previous January on loan until the end of his contract.

His time at Spurs ended with that torn cruciate ligament and then his return to Croatia with Hajduk went in the wrong direction with the arrival of Gennaro Gattuso as the now 36-year-old's contract was mutually terminated.

That brought a move to another new league in his remarkable career with a switch to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and Perisic bagged 16 goals and 11 assists in 35 matches, including three goals in four Champions League knockout matches, including a goal at the Emirates Stadium.

From the mid-March until the end of the season there were only three games the experienced attacker didn't score in in the Eredivisie.

He's been as useful for the Dutch side this season with six assists and a goal in his first 10 matches of the campaign.

Eric Dier

Similar to Perisic, Eric Dier has been gone from Spurs for longer than 18 months but only officially left last summer after the option in his loan move to Bayern Munich was triggered in the second half of that season.

He wasn't always the first choice at the Bavarian giants in the first half of the season, but still played 28 times, with 21 of those in the Bundesliga as Bayern won the title and him a winner's medal, as he scored two twice and provided one assist.

The 31-year-old played all but four minutes of Bayern's Bundesliga matches from mid-February onwards and started in both legs of the Champions League quarter-final against Inter, scoring in the game in the San Siro.

In all Dier played 48 matches at Bayern and left as a title winner for a new chapter at Monaco, where he signed a three-year contract.

He has already scored twice for the Ligue 1 side, including against Manchester City in the Champions League, and he will welcome Tottenham this month in the competition.