Arsenal push to sign former Gunner’s son from Spurs

Arsenal are interested in signing Elijah Upson this summer, with the player set to leave Tottenham Hotspur when his contract expires this month.

James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that Arsenal are interested in signing Elijah Upson of Tottenham Hotspur, the son of former Gunner Matthew Upson.

McNicholas adds that the teenage defender is set to leave Spurs on the expiry of his contract at the end of June, and it seems Arsenal are poised to take advantage.

For Spurs’ part, they wanted the player to stay. The Premier League recently confirmed in their retained lists that Spurs had made Upson a new contract offer, and the club themselves announced that he rejected it and will leave.

Upson had been a regular starter for the Spurs academy for much of the 2025/26 campaign. The centre-back appeared in six of Spurs’ seven UEFA Youth League games, and he started 13 of their first 16 u18 Premier League fixtures of the season.

Of the three games he didn’t start, one was due to injury, one was because he was starting for the u21s, and he came off the bench as a substitute in the third (against Arsenal).

But speculation around Upson’s future seemingly hurt his gametime, as he suddenly dropped out of the squad in mid-February and didn’t return to it.

As well as playing for Spurs, Upson is an England youth international, making a couple of appearances for the England u18s in October, and receiving a call-up for the u17 World Cup in November. Unfortunately, he had to pull out with the same injury mentioned above.

For what it’s worth, Arsenal wouldn’t simply be able to pick Upson up as a free agent. Spurs would be due training compensation for the time the player spent with their academy.

But with Spurs already resigned to losing Upson, it seems Arsenal are in a good position to make the transfer happen.

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