Chelsea dodged a €50m Lucas Bergvall bullet: He's found his level at Spurs!

Updated: 4 Sept 2026 16:19 BST | 4 min read

Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham, 2026/27 — © IMAGO

Tom Weber | Writer

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Tottenham youngster Lucas Bergvall has been told that not joining Chelsea was the correct decision.

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The Sweden international was the subject of plenty of speculation during the summer transfer window. While he was at the World Cup, Spurs were busy revamping their midfield, signing Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali.

The prospect of reduced game time left Bergvall disillusioned, and reports emerged that he had requested to leave the club. There was no shortage of interest, with Nottingham Forest actively bidding for him and Chelsea also reportedly lurking.

Current ETV

Lucas Bergvall

M (C)

Tottenham

Lucas Bergvall

M (C)

Tottenham

ETV Range

€37.4M - €45.7M

Ultimately, however, no transfer materialised. Towards the end of last month, Tottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi confirmed that Bergvall would "100%" be staying, and so it turned out. It is not clear how serious Chelsea's interest in the 20-year-old really was.

Signing him would have cost north of €50 million, so he wouldn't have come cheap, although given that the Blues have now ended up with no replacement for Enzo Fernandez at all, perhaps it would have been a risk worth taking.

Chelsea move would have been a mistake

For Bergvall, though, not joining Chelsea was the right decision, according to former Sweden international Magnus Eriksson. He does not believe that the youngster is ready to link up with a "better" team than Spurs yet.

"Where he is today, it is about continuity and playing time," Eriksson, who described the prospect of a Chelsea move as a "longshot," told SVT. "Going to a better team than Tottenham would not benefit him."

"I think it boils down to playing time. Where does Lucas Bergvall have the best chance to play football?" Eriksson doesn't know the answer to that question, but De Zerbi seemingly does.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, he insisted that he was delighted that the 20-year-old had a change of heart during pre-season and decided to stay.

"After 10 days in the pre-season, he and his agent as well went to Johan Lange to say Lucas is happy to stay," the Italian explained. "Lucas showed me he wants to stay. I would like to play him, to put the focus on him. In terms of the potential of the player, he's another big player."

Indeed, FootballTransfers previously explained that keeping Bergvall could end up being Spurs' best transfer decision of the summer. Although he has ye to show it consistently, the young Swede has best-in-the-world potential.