Lucas Bergvall Wanted Out After a £38m Bid, Now He Has Signed a New Contract

• Lucas Bergvall has signed a new Tottenham contract, three months after telling the club he wanted to leave over a lack of playing time.
• Nottingham Forest had a £38m bid for the 20-year-old rejected in the summer, with Aston Villa and Chelsea also showing interest.
• Bergvall has played just 45 minutes of Premier League football this season under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi.

Three Months Ago He Wanted Out. Now He Has Signed Up for More.

In June, Lucas Bergvall told Tottenham he wanted to leave. Nottingham Forest had a £38m bid rejected for him. Aston Villa and Chelsea circled. Three months later, the 20-year-old has put his name on a new contract at the club he was trying to exit.

“I think we’re building something great here. It’s an exciting time for the club and that’s why I’m happy to extend my contract,” Bergvall said. “I’m always trying to achieve as much as possible, to be the best version of myself both on and off the pitch and I know this is the right place to do that.”

A Frozen-Out Midfielder Who Wanted a Way Out

Bergvall’s request to leave grew out of a chaotic end to last season, one in which Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation and Roberto De Zerbi arrived as head coach in the closing weeks. Bergvall found himself with limited playing time under the new regime, and by the summer he had told the club he wanted a move.

Forest submitted a £38m bid that Spurs turned down. Villa and Chelsea also registered interest in the Sweden international. So far this season, under De Zerbi, Bergvall has played just 45 minutes of Premier League football, a fraction of the game time he was accustomed to before the managerial change.

De Zerbi Admits He Made Mistakes

De Zerbi did not fight to keep Bergvall quiet about his frustration. In July, he called the midfielder “a top, top, top player” but said he would not try to “convince anyone to stay” against their wishes. The Italian has acknowledged making mistakes in how he handled Bergvall’s situation, coming into a turbulent run-in last season when Tottenham’s survival battle left little room for developing younger players.

Announcing the new contract, De Zerbi struck a different tone. “I believe his best football is still ahead of him and we want to give Lucas the platform to reach his full potential,” he said.

From Djurgarden to a World Cup Debut

Tottenham agreed the deal to sign Bergvall from Djurgarden for £8.5m in February 2024, the same day he turned 18, and he joined the first-team squad that July. It looked like a bargain almost immediately. Bergvall arrived in England as one of Swedish football’s most highly regarded young midfielders, and he wasted little time proving it. Across two seasons at Tottenham he has made 50 appearances in the Premier League, scoring once and setting up four goals. Last season alone he played 33 times in all competitions, 23 of them in the league, before his minutes fell away this year under De Zerbi.

His rise carried into the international game this year. Sweden reached the 2026 World Cup through a play-off win over Poland in March, and Bergvall became the youngest Swedish player to appear at a World Cup finals when he came off the bench against Tunisia. He featured as a substitute against Japan and the Netherlands before earning his first start of the tournament against France in the round of 32, a match Sweden lost 3-0.

That form made his sudden drop in playing time at club level this season all the more pointed, and explained why three separate clubs moved to test Tottenham’s resolve over the summer.

A player who had just started at a World Cup for his country returning to 45 minutes of Premier League football across an entire opening month is the kind of gap that fuels a transfer request. It is little surprise that Forest, now managed by Oliver Glasner, moved for him with a concrete bid rather than a passing enquiry.

A Rebuild That Cost More Than £300m

Bergvall’s renewal lands in the middle of the most expensive summer in Tottenham’s history. De Zerbi has spent more than £300m rebuilding the squad after back-to-back 17th-place finishes dragged the club to the brink of relegation. Sandro Tonali arrived from Newcastle for a club-record £100m, Mateus Fernandes joined for £85m once West Ham’s relegation forced a sale, and Savio completed a British-record £75m move from Manchester City, with a further £10m available in add-ons.

Against that backdrop, keeping Bergvall rather than banking a fee close to Forest’s rejected £38m offer says something about where De Zerbi ranks him. A manager spending nine figures on a single midfielder in Tonali still chose to fight for a 20-year-old who had already told the club he wanted out.

The Bergvall renewal also removes one item from a list of contract questions hanging over the Tottenham squad this season. The club is separately locked in a dispute with Richarlison over his own deal, a reminder that this summer’s spending has not settled every relationship inside the dressing room.

What Comes Next

Signing a new contract does not guarantee Bergvall the minutes he was denied last season, and De Zerbi’s team selection over the coming weeks will show whether the midfielder’s renewed commitment is matched by a genuine route back into the side. For now, a player who was ready to leave in June has instead placed a longer bet on the project changing around him.

Forest’s business over the summer moved on without him, and the club will not get another run at Bergvall unless Tottenham’s stance shifts again in a future window. Three months after their opening bid was turned down and their target asked to leave anyway, Spurs end this saga with the player they rejected an offer for still in the building, and now tied to a new contract instead of a plane ticket out.

“Personally, my goal is to produce more for the team, performances, goals and assists, to help as much as I can. I’m getting better every day in training and I’m looking forward to what will be a really good season ahead,” Bergvall said.

A Crowded Midfield to Break Back Into

The competition for places that pushed Bergvall toward the exit door in the first place has not gone away. Tonali’s £100m arrival alone reshapes the pecking order in central midfield, and De Zerbi has spent the early weeks of the season working through his own questions about who leads the team, with a captaincy decision still unresolved after the summer’s spending overhauled so much of the squad.

Tottenham head into this weekend’s Premier League fixture against Everton still searching for their first win and first goal of the season after three games, with De Zerbi facing questions in Friday’s news conference about the availability of Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison for the trip. Bergvall’s new contract gives him security, not a starting place, and De Zerbi will decide over the coming weeks whether the midfielder gets the games needed to justify the club’s decision to fight for him rather than sell.

A Bet on Both Sides

What makes the Bergvall renewal notable is that it required both sides to move from where they stood in June. Bergvall had to accept that leaving would mean walking away from a platform he had only just started to build at international level. Tottenham had to accept that a promising 20-year-old was unhappy enough to ask out, and respond with something more convincing than simply refusing to sell.

Three months on, both sides have got something out of the compromise. Bergvall keeps his place at a club spending like a title challenger. Tottenham keep a Sweden international who was ready to leave for a fee well below what they believe he is worth. Whether either side made the right call depends on what happens the next time De Zerbi picks his midfield three.