Premier League clubs will soon have to submit their 25-man squads for the remainder of the 2021/22 season following the closure of the January transfer window.
It was a busy month at Tottenham as Fabio Paratici brought in a couple of new faces for Antonio Conte and also moved on some big names.
Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski proved to be the only two incomings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs' managing director of football Paratici raided his former club for the duo.
In terms of players heading out of the door, Dele Alli brought the curtain down on his seven years at the club as he headed to Everton on a permanent deal on transfer deadline day.
The final day of the transfer window also saw Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil depart as they sealed loan moves to Lyon, Villarreal and Valencia respectively.
With the Tottenham squad getting a much-needed refresh for the final few months of the season, Conte and the club will soon have to submit a 25-man Premier League squad following their transfer business.
Rules state that no more than 17 overseas players can be named as part of the squad, with the remaining eight places available to homegrown players.
What has not helped Spurs in recent years is that UEFA and Premier League rules are slightly different, with players who learned their trade outside England seen as non-homegrown by UEFA even if it means they came through an academy at a Welsh or Irish club.
As a result, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies and Matt Doherty do not qualify as locally trained in European competition but they do when it comes to the Premier League, while Eric Dier is classed as non-homegrown in both after coming through Sporting CP's system as a youngster.
As Tottenham are no longer in European competition this season after their Europa Conference League exit, Spurs just need to focus on naming a 25-man squad for the Premier League.
Back in September, the Lilywhites only named 22 players (nine homegrown and 13 non-homegrown) out of a possible 25, as the likes of Gil, Oliver Skipp, Ryan Sessegnon and Dane Scarlett weren't required to be named in the 25-man list.
This is because, as per Premier League rules: "An Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences.
"Under-21 players are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad. For the 2021/22 campaign, Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 2000."
Well, Tottenham will be able to include new signing Kulusevski on their list of U21 players rather than in their 25-man squad if they so wish as he was born on April 25, 2000.
However, the Swedish international, as well as Skipp and Sessegnon, will only remain on the U21 list for this season as they will be too old to be included at the start of next campaign.
The departures of Ndombele and Lo Celso will free up two spaces on Tottenham's list of non-homegrown players, one of which will be taken up by Uruguay international Bentancur.
Tottenham's homegrown numbers will then be at eight following Alli's exit to Everton.
Naming 22 out of a possible 25 players in their squad back in September, Spurs could potentially only name 20 this time around following a handful of departures and if Kulusevski is included on the U21 list.
How Tottenham's 25-man Premier League squad could look after the January transfer window
Homegrown players
Brandon Austin, Matt Doherty, Tobi Omole, Joe Rodon, Japhet Tanganga, Ben Davies, Harry Winks, Harry Kane (8)
Non-homegrown players
Hugo Lloris, Pierluigi Gollini, Emerson Royal, Cristian Romero, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min (12)
U21
Oliver Skipp, Ryan Sessegnon, Dejan Kulusevski, Dane Scarlett
