There are so many young players who have suffered under the management of Thomas Frank, who has kept Tottenham Hotspur in the bottom half of the Premier League and has shown no real growth in his understanding or his tactical plan through his first months as Spurs manager.
Tottenham are now about to make matters worse for the young players, even as the recent signing of 25 year old center midfielder Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid is an overall positive for a squad that lost more depth with the injury to demoted backup Rodrigo Bentancur.
Gallagher figures to start immediately for Frank, who does favor his veterans. Tottenham did not spend 40 million euros this winter transfer window from a player out of an elite European club to keep him on the bench.
Thomas Frank could hurt two stars in one
But Spurs fans will worry that Gallagher will have a ripple effect on the team. If Frank starts playing Gallagher as an attacking midfielder, which was his role earlier in his Premier League career (prominently so at Crystal Palace), then obviously Xavi SImons is going to get hurt by moving out of the playmaking role he has started to really grow into.
Simons would then most likely move to the left wing, which is a transfer need for Spurs this winter, too. We have seen Frank utilize Simons on the left wing this season, and that has predictably not gone too well for either the player or the team as a whole.
If Frank does this, then the next player to suffer will be Mathys Tel, and, goodness, has he suffered enough this season. See, Tel's problem is not his own quality or performances, as he is a supremely talented young forward who has honestly been brilliant this season when actually given the chance to shine by his manager.
Those chances, however, have been frustratingly few and far between, and even when Tel scores like against Leeds United or Manchester United or then has a great game off the bench as an all around attacking threat, he is not rewarded with starts but rather has the rug pulled out from under him.
Amidst a transfer request for a loan out of Tottenham this winter in order to get the minutes he so richly deserves, Tel could now be harmed by the Conor Gallagher transfer if Thomas Frank is not careful. Mathys Tel is the best option Spurs have on the left wing, but if Frank starts moving Gallagher to the 10 and Simons out left, he will hurt the team and Tel's standing even more, potentially driving out an excellent young footballer - better than Gallagher - out of the club.