Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer activity this summer has taken just about everybody by surprise.

We are not talking only about spending nearly £250million on six new signings, breaking their transfer record twice in the process with the arrivals of Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali from West Ham United and Newcastle United respectively, but also making strategic sales.

Chief executive officer Vinai Venkatesham has spoken publicly on multiple occasions about how Spurs need to improve at selling. Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City are the best examples of top clubs who are unafraid to cash in on their young talent and reinvest the fees received into the first-team squad.

Luka Vuskovic was 16 years old when Tottenham agreed to sign him from Hajduk Split in his native Croatia. Vuskovic officially moved to north London only last summer after turning 18, then spent the season on loan with German side Hamburg.

The centre-back’s £46million transfer to Brighton & Hove Albion in July feels bittersweet, as he never made an official first-team appearance for Spurs, but that money represents a significant profit on the £12m they paid for him. The 19-year-old has no Premier League experience, and would have been stuck behind new signing Jan Paul van Hecke and Kevin Danso for playing time in the right-sided centre-back spot.

Vuskovic is this summer’s headline sale, and the third biggest in the club’s history behind Gareth Bale and Harry Kane, but Tottenham have extracted value from other players on the fringes of their first team.

Will Lankshear joined Middlesbrough of the Championship last month in a deal worth £10million, with another £10m to possibly follow in add-ons. Ashley Phillips, who has spent the past two seasons on loan to Stoke City in that same division, is following Lankshear to the Riverside Stadium for an initial £7m, which could rise to £20m.

Alejo Veliz and Alfie Devine have moved permanently to Brazilian side Bahia and the Championship’s Preston North End respectively, while 18-year-old winger Tynan Thompson joined Manchester United for up to £8m.

Spurs have inserted sell-on clauses into most of these deals, and have matching rights for Vuskovic, Lankshear and Thompson.

Those six players had a combined total of less than 20 senior appearances for Tottenham, but if you add all of their fees together, they cover a significant chunk of the club-record £100million they are paying Newcastle United for Tonali.

Vuskovic’s value skyrocketed during his loan at Hamburg (Selim Sudheimer/Getty Images)

In an ideal world, these players would become first-team stars at Tottenham, but it is not always possible. Sometimes, letting young talent leave is right for all parties.

Spurs have not always sold well when it comes to academy players who don’t become senior squad regulars.

Over the past five years, their best deals of that kind were Cameron Carter-Vickers’ move to Scottish giants Celtic and Troy Parrott’s €8million (£6.9m/$9.2m at the current rates) sale to AZ of the Netherlands. Last summer, the only significant departure was Josh Keeley’s £1m switch to Luton Town of third-tier League One.

It is no coincidence that they have raised a lot of money offloading youngsters this summer. Considered and sometimes bold decisions have been made about their development by head of loans and pathways Andy Scoulding and academy director Simon Davies, which have finally come to fruition.

Vuskovic spent time on loan with Polish side Radomiak Radom and Westerlo of Belgium as well as Hamburg. Westerlo were viewed as a good opportunity because they play top-flight football but do not attract a lot of attention. Vuskovic could make mistakes and grow without intense pressure. There was a huge emotional draw for Vuskovic to join Hamburg — his older brother Mario is contracted to them but is serving a doping ban until this November — and it was seen as a natural next step in a more competitive environment.

Mikey Moore initially struggled after joining Rangers in Scotland’s Premiership last summer. In September, the winger was substituted at half-time twice in less than two weeks during home defeats to Hearts and Belgium’s Genk. The now 18-year-old did not score his first goal for Rangers until November and then missed the next four games with a muscle injury.

By the end of the campaign, though, Moore was an integral part of a team which experienced a revival following Danny Rohl’s appointment as manager in the October. He made 47 appearances and scored seven goals.

“I wanted to go somewhere there was a lot riding on it every week,” Moore told The Athletic in April. “I didn’t want to go somewhere we were mid-table and you’re not bothered if you lose. If you lose at Rangers, it’s a disaster.”

Moore is one of the most highly-rated players to emerge from Tottenham’s academy in the past decade and needs to be prepared for intense scrutiny. Scoulding, who previously worked for Rangers as their chief scout, helped to facilitate his loan move to Glasgow.

Having impressed for Spurs on this summer’s pre-season tour to Australia and New Zealand, Moore is close to joining Koln of the Bundesliga on loan.

There is a track record of young English players, including Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho, flourishing in Germany’s top flight. The transitional and chaotic nature of Bundesliga football allows forwards to thrive in open spaces and its 18 clubs gave the second-most minutes to under-21 players across the top five European leagues last season.

Mikey Moore eventually thrived in Scotland with Rangers (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Learning a new culture and language will present Moore with a different challenge but he should earn enough playing time to thrive in Cologne, especially as he would be linking up with fellow England youth internationals Reigan Heskey, 18-year-old son of ex-Liverpool and Wigan Athletic forward Emile, and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, 20, who both joined Koln permanently from Manchester City earlier this summer.

A successful season in Germany will either give Moore a springboard to break into Roberto De Zerbi’s squad back at Tottenham or hugely increase his value and options for the next step in his career.

While Moore was competing in the Europa League with Rangers, Lankshear suffered relegation from the Championship on loan at Oxford United. Despite the difficult circumstances, he scored 12 goals in 47 appearances and was named Oxford’s Young Player of the Year, drawing the attention of many other sides in that division.

Not every loan goes according to plan. Lankshear worked under two different head coaches in a short spell with West Bromwich Albion in the second half of the 2024-25 season. On paper, it looked like a disappointment because he failed to score or provide an assist in 11 appearances, but that experience enabled the now 21-year-old to shine when farmed out again to Oxford a few months later.

“I had a taste of the Premier League, where everything is really intense and everyone is so good,” he told The Athletic shortly before signing for Oxford. “In the Championship, there are more aerial duels, and it’s more physical. That was my biggest lesson. Being able to adapt. Learning, putting it all together, and trying to get better at everything.

“West Brom was massive for my development. Even though the goals didn’t come, I had some really good games. I learned loads: the managers, what they would like, different systems. I loved it. They treated me really well, and I enjoyed it.”

Jamie Donley was superb for Leyton Orient of League One in the 2024-25 season, including famously scoring from near the halfway line in an FA Cup tie against Manchester City, but then only played four times when he stepped up to the second-tier with Stoke for what was supposed to be a year’s loan and ended that campaign as a team-mate of Lankshear’s at Oxford.

Going further back, Parrott’s career was stalling after a series of loans across the Championship and League One. Spurs encouraged him to try something different by joining Excelsior of the Netherlands for 2023-24. Parrott finished the season with 10 goals in 25 league appearances, earning that permanent move to fellow Dutch side AZ. Barely a year after struggling for game time at Preston in England’s second tier, the Irishman was scoring for fun in the Eredivisie and Europa League.

Capping two successful seasons with AZ, Parrott helped them win the Dutch Cup in April. Tottenham will benefit from the sell-on clause they inserted into the original deal that took him to Alkmaar if he leaves this summer.

Parrott’s loan at Preston (above) did not work out – but his one to Excelsior did (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

The knock-on effect of the successes of Moore, Phillips and Lankshear is that the reputation of other young players at Tottenham will improve.

There was a huge amount of interest in Mason Melia before the 18-year-old striker decided to join newly-promoted Lincoln City in the second tier on a season-long loan. Spurs’ staff believe Melia’s style of play fits with Lincoln, in and out of possession, which should help him to make a strong impression.

This all also makes life easier for head of academy recruitment Jack Chapman when he pitches a move to Tottenham to potential new signings, as he can detail a proven development pathway. It should help with contract renewals, too.

Luca Williams-Barnett and Jun’ai Byfield both made their Spurs first-team debuts last season and turn 18 later this year. When they do, De Zerbi, sporting director Johan Lange, Scoulding and Davies need to decide if it is better for them to remain with the senior squad or gain experience by going out on their first loans.

Tottenham do need to ensure a genuine pathway into their first team exists and that academy players do not just become assets who get developed elsewhere and sold long-term.

If selling young talent has been easy for Spurs this summer, then they have a challenge over the remainder of the window with more senior players.

There is a strong chance that current captain Cristian Romero will leave. The Argentina international centre-back is attracting interest from Atletico Madrid, Inter and, surprisingly, north London rivals Arsenal. Inter have verbally agreed in principle a fee of around €40million for the 28-year-old, but personal terms are yet to be nailed down.

Guglielmo Vicario could depart after being replaced as first-choice goalkeeper by Antonin Kinsky, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest have seen offers for midfielder Lucas Bergvall rejected and De Zerbi admitted during the pre-season tour that the club’s 2025-26 top goalscorer Richarlison “sometimes wants to leave”.

There will be some tough negotiations, but Spurs should be pleased with the sales they have already made.