Tottenham Hotspur were keeping tabs on the Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke during the summer transfer window, but they did not pursue the Netherlands International back then.
Spurs could now make their move for the 25-year-old central defender when the window reopened in January. According to GMS, he is on the radar of the North London club as they look to add more quality and depth to the defensive unit.
Spurs handed Jan Paul van Hecke boost
The Netherlands International is a quality player, and he has shown that with Brighton. He has done quite well for his country as well. There is no doubt that he is good enough to play for bigger clubs.
Brighton are hoping to keep him at the club for the long term, and they are ready to offer him a new contract. However, the player is stalling on the new deal, and he is weighing up his future at the club. The opportunity to move to Tottenham will be quite exciting for him, and he’s likely to be tempted if they come with a concrete proposal.
The defender is entering the peak years of his career, and this is the right time for Tottenham to him. He could be a key player for them in the years to come.
Van Hecke would be a quality signing
The player is highly rated across Europe, and Roberto De Zerbi has previously labelled him as a “serious player”. The 25-year-old knows the Premier League well, and he will be able to settle in quickly and make an instant impact at Tottenham if he joins the club.
It will be interesting to see if they come forward with an offer to sign him in January. Convincing Brighton will not be easy. However, if the player continues to delay contract talks, the Seagulls might be more open to selling him.
Leeds hit the jackpot with “dangerous” star who’s worth more than Solomon
Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke had to make some difficult decisions during the summer transfer window after the club achieved promotion to the Premier League.
The Whites won the Championship title with a club-record 100-point haul in the 2024/25 campaign, earning them a place in the top-flight after a two-year absence.
Farke had a team that he trusted to deliver week-in-week-out, because they produced 100 points in 46 league games, but the step up to the Premier League is a big one, which meant that some players had to be replaced.
Leeds moved quickly in the summer transfer window to snap up Lucas Perri, Jaka Bijol, Gabriel Gudmundsson, and Anton Stach to improve the defence and physicality of the side.
As part of the restructure of the squad to deal with the demands of the Premier League, the Whites did not heavily pursue a reunion with former loanee Manor Solomon early on in the window.
However, Football Insider reports that he reemerged as a target for the club in the final days of the window, only for the attacker to turn them down in favour of a move to Villarreal.
Why missing out on Manor Solomon was a blow for Leeds
The Tottenham Hotspur winger signed for Villarreal on loan and the report claims that he turned down a return to Leeds at that stage of the window because of the prospect of playing European football in Spain, rather than fighting relegation.
Manor-Solomon-Leeds
Who knows how it could have played out if the Whites had gone in hard on a deal to bring him back to West Yorkshire early on in the window, though, after he enjoyed such a successful time on loan.
It was, ultimately, a blow to miss out on a deal for Solomon because the club were unable to sign any other winger on deadline day, and he could have been a fantastic addition to the squad
Wilfried Gnonto has failed to deliver a shot on target or a ‘big chance’ created in three starts in the Premier League this season, after he mainly played second-fiddle to Solomon last term in the Championship.
The Italy U21 international scored nine goals and provided six assists in the second tier, per Sofascore, which was not a horrendous return but it was not as impressive as Solomon’s contributions.
24/25 Championship
Solomon
Percentile rank vs wingers
xG
8.14
Top 8%
Goals
10
Top 6%
Shots on target
25
Top 12%
xA
10.30
Top 1%
Chances created
67
Top 5%
Assists
12
Top 3%
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, the Israel international made a huge impact in front of goal as both a scorer and a creator for Leeds on the left wing.
Those performances helped his Transfermarkt value to soar from £11m at the start of last season to £12m at the time of writing (06/09/2025), which further illustrates how much of a success he was at Elland Road.
