Thomas Frank has declared he doesn't want players at the club who aren't fully committed to joining Tottenham, following Eberechi Eze's shock decision to switch to Arsenal. The England star seemed destined for a move to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs pursued the gifted midfielder to address their ongoing No. 10 problem.
But there was a dramatic late development as north London neighbours Arsenal swooped to hijack the transfer. The Gunners swiftly sprang into action after learning of Kai Havertz's injury setback, prompting Eze to choose his childhood club over Spurs. The 27-year-old's switch to Arsenal is expected to be completed imminently after he passed a medical examination on Friday morning.
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football.london believe that Eze will join for approximately £60million plus £7.5m in additional payments.
The transfer setback has left Tottenham exasperated in the transfer window yet again, with uncertainty surrounding their next step as they seek to recruit a fresh No. 10.
Ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Manchester City, Frank shared his thoughts on the failed deal and insisted "we don't want them here" regarding players who lack dedication to joining the club. He said that the priority is to bring players in who want to play for Spurs.
"In general, of course, you know I don't speak about specific players unless they are at our fantastic club, and I'm more than happy to speak about all our players," said the Dane.
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"So that's one thing. Secondly, and there's been a lot of rumours linking us with a lot of players. Also players where I think 'Oh, he's been linked with us? Interesting'. But a lot of times where it's definitely nothing in it, that's part of the business we talked about before.
"There must be someone out there that thinks it's good fun to put the rumours out there. But anyway, there'll be a lot of links. There has been a lot of links. There'll 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 come to the club and wear this fantastic badge -- we don't want them here.
"I think that's very clear, and also pretty sure that the fans will feel the same if they don't want to put the fantastic shirt over their head. Play for the badge, play for the club. Really enjoy it. No problem, then we don't them there. I think that's a key message."