Europa League winners Tottenham Hotspur are set to compete in the Super Cup tomorrow against Champions League winners Paris St. Germain, a match that is either a fantastic opportunity for more continental silverware (if Spurs win) or a glorified preseason friendly (if Spurs lose).
But one player who will not feature in this match is Spurs midfielder Yves Bissouma. Thomas Frank, speaking in a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, said Yves was left in London for disciplinary reasons after showing up late to training on multiple occasions this summer.
Frank said that while Dominick Solanke has now returned from injury and is available to play tomorrow, Destiny Udogie is still recovering, and Bissouma was left out of the squad.
‘Dom [Solanke] is the positive one and available for selection. Destiny [Udogie] is close. Bissouma has not travelled due to disciplinary reasons.
“He’s been late several times and now this time the latest time was one too many. With everything you need to give your players a lot of love. There need to be demands and consequences and this time there was a consequence.”
This will do very little to quash the rumors that Bissouma is likely to be sold this summer as Frank continues to put his own stamp on the playing squad. It’s also not the first time Bissouma has been disciplined while at Tottenham — he missed the first match of last season under Ange Postecoglou after a photo of him inhaling nitrous oxide appeared on social media. Postecoglou at the time made plain his disappointment to the media, saying the player needed to do more work to regain his trust.
It’s not a good look. If you’re a professional footballer, one of the easiest bars to clear is “be on time” and apparently Bissouma isn’t capable of doing that. As a consequence he could miss one of Spurs’ biggest matches of the season and an opportunity to win the club’s second European trophy in three months.
Frank also refused to be drawn into speculation over who might be joining the club in the near future. as of this morning Spurs are strongly linked with both Manchester City’s Savinho and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze as they look to strengthen with less than a week before Spurs’ first Premier League match against Burnley and 19 days to the close of the transfer window.
He did, however, say that Spurs fans can expect a new club captain to be named tomorrow.
“The captain will be named tomorrow in the team and the leadership group will be known by the end of the month.”
Frank has been notoriously tight-lipped about who might be in the running to be club captain with Son Heung-Min now at LAFC. Cuti Romero or James Maddison, the two vice captains from last year, would be natural choices, but Frank will make his own decision. One person I think I can safely say it will NOT be, however, is Yves Bissouma.