Thomas Frank has made it clear that he only wants players at Tottenham who are committed to the club’s “fantastic badge” as the dust begins to settle on the Eberechi Eze saga.
Spurs reached an agreement with Crystal Palace for the transfer of the England forward on Wednesday and believed they had one with the player as well. Yet hours later, Arsenal swept in to gazump them and are primed to confirm his arrival in a £67.5m deal. If it is a coup for Arsenal and a dream move for Eze, who supported the club as a boy, it has been an episode Spurs would rather forget. They failed in a bid for Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in July and are without their two main central attacking midfielders, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison. Both have long-term injuries.
Frank did not want to talk specifically about Eze at his press conference on Friday, which was ostensibly to preview Saturday’s Premier League visit to Manchester City. But he had a message for the club’s supporters and it was hard to think he did not have Eze in mind as he delivered it.
“There has been a lot of links,” Frank said. “There’ll be a lot of links in the future. And just to generalise that … to make it very, very clear … I don’t want any players that don’t want to come to the club. Who don’t want to wear this fantastic badge. We don’t want them here.
“That’s very clear and I’m also pretty sure that the fans will feel the same. If they [the signings] don’t want to put the fantastic shirt over their head, play for the badge, play for the club, really enjoy it, no problem. We don’t want them. I think that’s a key message.”
Mikel Arteta refused to comment on the Eze deal as he prepared for the visit of Leeds on Saturday evening because the player was not yet a part of his squad. But the Arsenal manager did echo Frank in talking up the importance of signing players who identify with the club. “The number one thing is that they want to be with us, that they feel something special to come to us,” Arteta said. “We’ve done very well in the last few years to create a group of players and to build this spirit in the team and if they are supporting Arsenal, so much the better. The stronger the feeling, the better because it brings a different edge, a different will and an emotion to what you do. That always brings something extra.”
Frank said he was confident of adding to his squad before the closure of the window and it sounded as though he knew it was essential to do so. He name-checked six options for his front line – the new signing Mohammed Kudus, Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke, Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel. He did not include Manor Solomon, Kulusevski or Maddison. Frank was asked whether the group would suffice without reinforcements for a season that will include a Champions League return.
“It’s a good question,” he said. “Of course we need to do everything we can to make sure we are as competitive as possible. I think we’ve got six good front players and then Kulusevski – he will come back in this season. That’s a big thing. It’s probably longer term with Maddison, unfortunately. But I am also pretty confident that we will sign a player before the end of the window.”
Spurs have added João Palinha along with Kudus for the starting XI but they have lost Son Heung-min to Los Angeles Galaxy plus Maddison, who has ruptured his ACL, for the majority of the season. Is the squad stronger at present than it was last season? “You can say that’s two players in, two players out, so it’s probably pretty similar,” Frank said. “It’s up to me, together with the players and the staff, to make sure we can compete and then do what we can to strengthen.”
Frank said Richarlison wanted to stay and that he wanted to keep him, in the face of rumours about the striker’s future. “There’s been no talks about anything else,” he said.
Arteta, meanwhile, believes Arsenal will be better equipped across the attacking third this season. “More creativity, more weapons, having the ability to bring different profiles on the pitch at different stages in the game,” he said. “This is something that for sure we’re going to have more of this season.”