Tottenham will reportedly give Thomas Frank more time to turn things around despite their latest poor result against Burnley on Saturday.
Spurs beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night with the win buying Frank some time after rumours he could soon face the sack in north London.
But Frank could not do himself any favours on Saturday as Tottenham drew 2-2 against Burnley in the Premier League with Cristian Romero scoring a last-minute equaliser to salvage a point for Spurs.
Tottenham have now won just two of their last ten matches in all competitions with Frank’s side currently 14th in the Premier League table.
And now Football Insider claim that Spurs are ‘prepared to allow Thomas Frank more time to turn their form around amid talk of Xavi being in line to succeed him as manager’.
Journalist Pete O’Rourke adds: “For Tottenham, let’s wait and see what they decide to do with Thomas Frank.
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“Maybe he could turn things around there and keep his job, if not, I’m sure there’ll be a number of managers that they will look at, obviously Premier League based and elsewhere as well.
“Xavi being a free agent makes him an interesting option for both (Man United and Spurs), but I don’t think he’s probably top of the list for either club if they do look to bring in new managers.”
Football finance expert Dr Dan Plumley has revealed that sacking Frank, who only joined from Brentford in the summer, would likely cost Tottenham in the region of £8m.
Plumley told Football Insider: “You’ve seen figures reported that his salary is around £8million a year, something like that.
“There are a couple of years on it left to run. Also what you don’t often see is that the manager would get paid off the full amount of that contract. There’s likely a clause in the contract that says it can terminate at any point in time depending on performance, and that’ll be a set fee that they’ll agree on.
“Now, again, with a little bit of professional judgment, you know, that might be something at around a year’s salary or something like that, but it’ll already be agreed. So, you know, if those figures are reported that he is on around £8m, and we have to take that with a pinch of salt, then you might suggest that, you know, a sacking would cost in the region of £8m, something like that.
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“I think he’s obviously still under pressure. Of course, they had a good result in the Champions League in midweek. But, yeah, I think it’s not often that you would get paid the full length of the contract. There’s going to be some predetermined deals in there, and that’s standard for a lot of these contracts nowadays.”
After rumours that former Barcelona head coach Xavi could take over from Frank or be appointed the Manchester United manager, O’Rourke revealed earlier this week: “Yeah, look, he would be an interesting option for both Manchester United and Tottenham, obviously he has got a glittering CV from his time at Barcelona.
“He obviously had a spell in charge at Barcelona where he did win the league, but he’s been out of work since the summer of 2024.
“I’m sure Xavi himself would be interested in the chance to maybe move to the Premier League and either join Manchester United or Tottenham.
“I’m not sure he’s probably so high up the list of both clubs. Obviously we know United are looking for a permanent manager in the summer with Michael Carrick in interim charge at the minute.
“Thomas Frank, for now, is still in charge at Tottenham, and no decision has been made on what they’re going to do long-term.”