Tottenham are continuing in their pursuit to sign Savinho from Manchester City, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reporting that a deal will be done “quite soon”.

Spurs have already completed their first signing of the summer transfer window – despite it not being open yet – with Andy Robertson confirmed to be joining the club on July 1, following the expiration of his contract at Liverpool.

A second free transfer should follow in the coming days, with Marcos Senesi set to arrive from Bournemouth, having “given his word” to complete a move to Tottenham this summer.

Tottenham have been linked with other free transfers too, namely John Stones from Manchester City and Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus and canny free deals like that will allow Roberto De Zerbi to potentially splash out bigger cash on individual signings.

Spurs make contract offer to Savinho

One of those looks likely to be for Stones’ Man City teammate Savinho.

Spurs are likely to have to drop a fee of at least £50million to sign the Brazilian from City this summer and there have been talks over a deal, with an insider suggesting Tottenham had already made a £120,000-a-week contract offer to the 22-year-old.

Romano believes a deal will not be far off completion for Spurs to spend their first big money of the summer transfer window and bolster De Zerbi’s attacking options.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano said: “Tottenham are going for Savinho, Tottenham feel that the player wants the move, Totenham feel that Savinho one year ago was already ready to go to Tottenham.

“Savinoh was attracted to Tottenham one year ago and Savinho is attracted to Tottenham today, so on the player’s side I don’t see big issues. I think on the player’s side Savinho to Tottenham can get done quite soon.

“Now it’s on Manchester City and Tottenham, negotiating, discussing, talking about the transfer fee, but Tottenham are in it, they are working on the Savinho deal.”

Savinho did not have the best of 2025/26 seasons

City signed Savinho from French club Troyes in 2024 in a deal worth around £31million. Spurs did have a bid of more than £60million knocked back last summer, but could negotiate a fee less than that given the player’s disappointing 2025/26 season.

The forward only started 14 games in all competitions, with 36 appearances in total, scoring just four goals and providing three assists.

De Zerbi likes to play with conventional wingers in his 4-2-3-1 system and he will see Savinho as perfect for his system.

Soon after signing him, Pep Guardiola said: “His impact has been really, really good. He is a player who can play on both sides, can come inside, but what I like most is how devastating he is in the final third. He gets the ball, and his first thought is always to attack the opponent. He is aggressive, he is fast, and he has a unique quality to dribble past two or three players. For a manager, having a winger with that kind of personality is a gift.”

All 48 teams that will compete in the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, have now named their 26-man squads for this summer’s tournament.

Argentina go into the competition as the reigning champions and will no doubt do everything in their power to lift the trophy once again at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.

They aren’t the favourites to win the tournament, however, with Euro 2024 champions Spain, two-time winners France and Thomas Tuchel’s England all having better odds.

With the tournament now just a few days away, FIFA have published the height of all 1248 players that will be competing. Using this data, X user Out of Context Football Manager has worked out the average height of every squad. While height isn’t everything, their findings make for fascinating viewing.

48-41

If Argentina are to retain their World Cup title, they will do so with the fifth-shortest squad in the competition. The average height of their 26-man squad is just 179.7cm, with Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez their smallest players, standing at 170cm tall.

Only four World Cup nations have a shorter squad than Argentina: Mexico, Qatar, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. The latter are the smallest team competition with an average height of 178.4cm.

Colombia are also among the smallest nations at the World Cup when it comes to stature, despite goalkeeper Álvaro Montero standing 201cm, making him the joint-second tallest player in the competition.

40-31

Two of the favourites for the competition, Portugal and Spain, are also on the small side when it comes to stature. Roberto Martinez’s Portugal squad have an average height of 181.5cm, with Spain are two cms taller at 181.7cm.

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo is one of their bigger players, standing at 185cm, while Pedri is one of Spain’s shorter players at 174cm.

Panama have the smallest player in the competition among their ranks. Winger Cesar Yanis stands at just 160cm tall, while his teammate, Alberto Quintero, is the fourth-shortest player in the tournament (164cm). Despite those two players bringing their average down, 15 nations have a shorter squad than them.

One of those 15 are DR Congo, with Noah Sadiki and Parfait Guiagon both standing at 165cm.

30-21

Canada are also one of the shorter teams in the competition at 182cm. Their average height is brought down by Marcelo Flores, who is the second-shortest player in the tournament (164cm).

Brazil are looking to end their 22-year World Cup drought and emerge victorious in North America. They have the 23rd-largest squad in the competition, with Alisson Becker (193cm), Gabriel Magalhaes (190cm) and Igor Thiago (190cm) their tallest players.

20-11

Thomas Tuchel has been entrusted as the man to lead England to World Cup glory and end 60 years of hurt. He likes to play physical football and thus has named a big squad, with Dan Burn (201cm) the second-tallest player in the competition.

England’s average squad height of 184.2cm makes them the 14th tallest squad in the competition, just shorter than fierce rivals Scotland (184.5cm).

Austria’s Florian Wiegele, standing at a mammoth 205cm, has become the tallest player to ever make a World Cup squad. Sasa Kalajdzic also stands at 200cm tall. Despite their height, Austria aren’t among the 10 largest teams in the competition.

10-1

The 10 tallest teams in the competition, interestingly, are all European. Croatia, led by the diminutive Luka Modric, have an average height of 184.8cm, just shy of two of the favourites to win it all, Netherlands and France (both 184.9cm).

Switzerland (185.2cm), Germany (184.4cm), Czechia (185.7cm) and Belgium (185.8cm) are the seventh, sixth, fifth and fourth-tallest teams in the competition respectively.

In third are Sweden (186.2cm). Graham Potter has called up a number of physically dominant players, including Gustaf Nilsson and Jacob Widell Zetterström (both 197cm).

While Norway and Bosnia are the tallest teams in this summer’s tournament, with each having an average height of 187.2cm.

Erling Haaland, one of the best strikers in world football, stands at 195cm. He is Norway’s third-tallest player, behind strike-partner Alexander Sørloth (196cm) and Brentford’s Kristoffer Ajer (198cm).

Bosnia, meanwhile, have called up the joint-second tallest player in the competition: HNK Rijeka centre-back Stjepan Radeljic (201cm).

A World Cup nation has been dealt a huge blow just days before this summer’s tournament, with many of their staff members denied entry into the United States.

The 2026 World Cup, which is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will kick-off on June 11 when the latter take on South Africa.

There will be a total of 104 matches over the next month-and-a-half, with 48 teams vying to be crowned champions of the world on July 19.

Each World Cup team competing in the tournament have named their 26-man squad and will be finalising their preparations ahead of their opening match.

However, some nations have had difficulty getting into the United States. Switzerland star Breel Embolo was barred from travelling with his side after being denied entry into the United States. He has since had his Esta approved, and he has now linked up with his teammates.

Another nation has faced even more difficulty with ‘more than a dozen’ of their staff banned from travelling to the United States.

Many Iran Staff Members Denied Entry Into the United States

Iran’s participation in the 2026 World Cup has been in doubt following their conflict with the United States.

Donald Trump has previously advised Iran to withdraw, but said that they are welcome to play should they want to. Iran later confirmed their intention to compete in a statement in May.

All of their players, including star man Mehdi Taremi, have now been issued visas by the United States that will allow them to play at the World Cup.

However, The New York Times have now revealed that more than a dozen members of the team’s support staff, which could include coaches, analysts and medical staff, will be unable to travel to the US as they have had their applications rejected.

Mehdi Taj, the president of the Iranian federation and a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is among the individuals who have had their visa applications rejected.

Iran will play each of their group matches in the United States. They will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, before heading to Seattle to face Egypt.

Should Iran and the US both finish second in their respective groups, they will go head-to-head in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas.

Scotland and Morocco Fans Denied Entry Into the United States

Many Scotland fans that intended to travel to the United States to follow their team have also been denied entry.

One fan told BBC Scotland: “Out of the blue on Tuesday, I got an email that said there’s been an update on your ESTA status. Since I’ve done that ESTA there’s been absolutely no changes to my circumstances. That’s the frustrating thing, not knowing why this has happened.”

While another affected fan, who admitted he was heartbroken, said: “It’s not given us very much time to do anything about it. I don’t think it’s fair, they shouldn’t authorise somebody to go then take it back. We didn’t book anything until we were authorised.”

40 members of a Moroccan supporters association have also been denied United States visas, leaving fans who spent thousands on match tickets and hotel bookings unable to travel to the tournament.