Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank says the club “did everything” to sign Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth, and are continuing to work on additions before Monday’s transfer window deadline, backed by “very committed” ownership.
Tottenham are in the market for a starting attacking player, and Frank confirmed in Friday’s pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Manchester City that Spurs attempted to sign the Ghana international before he joined this weekend’s opponents earlier this month.
“It’s clear the club wanted to sign Semenyo,” Frank said. “They did everything. I think that’s a clear signal that the Lewis family is very committed. That’s a big signing with the finances and all that. That’s the quality of players we are looking for to improve the squad.”
Spurs are in the midst of an injury crisis, with Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall, Richarlison, Pedro Porro, Ben Davies, and Rodrigo Bentancur all sustaining injuries in January which will keep them out for at least a month. The squad has been reinforced with the signings of Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid and 19-year-old left-back Souza from Santos, but Frank admitted the unit is now weaker than it was ahead of the window with so many key players sidelined through injury.
“Yeah, I think that’s fair. I think we lost what, I can’t remember, six or seven players inside three weeks in January, so that’s crazy,” he said. “And you know, some of them extremely unlucky, with definitely, Lucas and Ben, was clear contact injuries. I can’t remember all of them, but definitely too many. So, yeah, of course, it’s weaker than we started January 1st.”
Still, despite the club sitting 14th in the Premier League, they will not rush into a deal if it does not align with their short- and long-term ambitions.
“The club work relentlessly to try to do the best they can to improve the squad, especially Johan (Lange), Fabio (Paratici) and Vinai (Venkatesham) and of course, all the people behind them. I mean it, we can’t be too obsessed with short-term fixes that not helping on the long term,” the Dane continued.
“Because if we do that, all the hard work we put in now can be limited for the future, and that’s not that we want badly short term success as well.
“I also think it’s fair to say that the transfer window is not Football Manager. Unfortunately, it is not. It would be a lot easier, but also a little bit more boring. Will not have as many good stories to talk about.
“So it is very difficult the transfer market. It’s an art, it’s a craftsmanship. You need to be very good at it, and then there needs to be a selling club who want to sell, and there needs to be a club that wants to buy, and a player in the middle who wants to come. So that’s always the challenge. I’m happy that I think we’ve already done great business in getting Conor in. I think that’s a great deal, and a great player who fits everything we want for this club.”
Tottenham confirmed their qualification directly through to the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-0 away win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday. After scoring in the 2-2 draw against Burnley last weekend, Micky van de Ven missed the trip to Germany through injury, and is “touch and go” to return to action against City on Sunday.
“Micky is a minor one,” said Frank. “It would be touch and go for Sunday. We’re hoping. He was on the pitch yesterday, on the pitch today. So hopeful for that. But it’s touch and go.”