Tottenham Hotspur kick off their Champions League campaign later this evening as they prepare to welcome Spanish side Villarreal to North London.
The Lilywhites beat West Ham United 3-0 in the Premier League at the London Stadium on Saturday, thanks to goals from Micky van de Ven, Pape Matar Sarr, and Lucas Bergval.
Thomas Frank will have to make at least one change to his starting line-up for this clash with Villarreal, though, because Mathys Tel was not included in the squad for the Champions League.
The former Bayern Munich forward started in the number nine role for Spurs against the Hammers at the weekend, but failed to register a shot on target or a chance created for his side, per Sofascore.
This means that he may well have been dropped from the starting XI even if he had been included in the Champions League squad. Either way, he will not be involved this evening.
Interestingly, the player selected by Frank to replace Tel in the team may have to face off against former Tottenham central defender Juan Foyth tonight.
How Juan Foyth has fared since leaving Spurs
The Argentina international joined Spurs from Estudiantes LP in 2017 and only played 32 times in all competitions before his permanent move to Villarreal in the summer of 2021, after spending time on loan with the Spanish side the season before that, per Transfermarkt.
Foyth did not have much of an impact on the pitch for the club, playing just 16 matches in the Premier League in total, but Villarreal did pay £13m to sign him permanently from them.
At the time of writing (16/09/2025), Transfermarkt value the central defender at roughly £12.9m. This suggests that Spurs and Villarreal got good value out of that deal, as he has not significantly improved or declined in the last few seasons.
Foyth, who scored against Real Madrid back in March, has found a home in Spain, playing 139 appearances in all competitions for Villarreal to date, per Transfermarkt, and appears to be settled since moving on from England.
The Argentine central defender started 17 of his 19 appearances in LaLiga for Villarreal during the 2024/25 campaign, but he was not shy of making the odd mistake.
As you can see in the table above, Foyth made three errors that led to shots or goals for the opposition, and his team only kept five clean sheets in his 19 outings.
This shows that Spurs can get joy out of their former defender if they put pressure on him and put a team out that can consistently test him with balls into the box and in behind the Villarreal backline.
With this in mind, Frank could totally embarrass the former Tottenham centre-back by unleashing Richarlison in Mathys Tel's place in the number nine position this evening.
The Brazil international played 19 minutes off the bench in the 3-0 win over the Hammers on Saturday. Now, he should be named in the starting line-up for the first Champions League match of the season.
Why Richarlison should start for Spurs
Richarlison should come into the team because he is a striker who has the physical and technical attributes to totally embarrass Foyth if the Argentine defender is not at his best.
In terms of being able to test the centre-back physically, the Brazilian forward is a willing runner who can stretch play by running the channels and making darts in behind to cause problems for the entire backline.
The centre-forward has also won 2.3 aerial duels per game, at a success rate of 45%, per Sofascore, which shows that he can hold his own in the air against physical Premier League defenders.
Richarlison is far from just a physical lump who will cause Foyth problems with his running and pure power, though, because he can also be very effective with the ball at his feet when at his best.
The former Everton and Watford attacker won the club's Goal of the Month award for August, for example, with his stunning strike against Burnley on the opening day.
Richarlison has scored two goals and provided one assist in three starts for Spurs so far this season in the Premier League, per Sofascore, which shows that he has had a strong start to the campaign in front of goal.
In fact, his form over the last 365 days suggests that he has all the tools and form to cause real issues for Foyth in this Champions League clash this evening.
As you can see in the table above, the 28-year-old number nine ranks highly among his positional peers across the best leagues in Europe when it comes to both scoring and creating goals.
Richarlison was once described as a "goalmouth monster" by Ange Postecoglou. These statistics back that claim from the former Spurs manager up, as the striker has outperformed his xG over the last year.
The Brazilian forward is efficient in front of goal and can punish opposition defenders when they make mistakes, which is why he could embarrass Foyth if the former Tottenham man makes any 'errors' this evening.
Richarlison is a striker with the finishing quality to turn 'errors that led to shots' into 'errors that led to goals'. It is now down to Frank, though, to select the forward and to set the team up in a way that can get the best out of him, and to put him in positions to press Foyth into making mistakes.