Fabrizio Romano has shared an intriguing Tottenham transfer update, which adds further weight to recent claims that new manager Thomas Frank is set to have a real influence on the club's summer recruitment drive.
Spurs officially appointed the Dane this time last week, putting an end to the search for Ange Postecoglou's replacement in swift fashion, and reports suggest that Frank is already making his transfer wishes clear to chairman Daniel Levy.
In a recent interview with the club's media channels, Levy explained what made Frank the standout candidate, and they've already backed him with the permanent signing of Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich for around £30 million.
"Whenever you have a new coach it's always a fresh start. You always have different ideas. But we want to build on the success of winning a trophy last season," said Levy.
"One of the things that stood out to me with Thomas is that he's clearly highly intelligent. Great communicator. Super human being. Plus all the other technical aspects that are obviously important."
The now-former Brentford boss has also broken his silence about becoming Tottenham's fifth new manager since 2019, expressing his serious excitement to get started with a "massive" club.
"It's a good squad. It's an exciting, massive club with massive potential. So, it's just super, super exciting," said Frank in his first interview as Spurs head coach.
"I had very good conversations and meetings with [Daniel Levy, Vinai Venkatesham, and Johan Lange] where we discussed everything in depth - details about the club structure, processes - and of course I came with my views on things, how I saw it, my ideas, and the way I want to do things and how I try to build a team and a club.
"There'll be ups and downs - right now, it's a fairytale. Everyone's happy, the sun is shining, it's fantastic."
One thing Frank didn't speak about in his sit-down was the club's pursuit of his ex-star at Brentford - winger Bryan Mbeumo.
Spurs opened initial talks over signing Mbeumo recently (Sky Sports), but face stiff competition from Premier League rivals Man United, who are thought to be in pole position as things stand due to the Cameroonian's desire to join Ruben Amorim.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, Romano has now revealed that Tottenham began internal talks over a deal for Mbeumo right after Frank signed his contract to become their new manager.
"For sure, there is appreciation from Thomas Frank," said Romano.
"And so it's quite obvious to discuss a target like Mbeumo for Tottenham, because he's one of the names they discussed internally as soon as he [Frank] signed his contract as new Tottenham manager."
However, the respected journalist reiterates that United are indeed the frontrunners after already reaching an agreement with Mbeumo.
"We know with these clubs like Brentford, Brighton is always difficult to negotiate for their top players, so it's not easy to reach an agreement, but United are on that," he continued.
"They are talking to the club, always in contact with player agents, and with an agreement with Bryan Mbeumo, because the player wants to go to United. And so at the moment, United remain frontrunners on this story. Let's see if they can be able to reach an agreement on the fee with Brentford."