It has been an eventful 24 hours for Tottenham Hotspur, whose fans went from thinking that they were on the cusp of signing Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze to realizing in shocked horror that the England international would be joining bitter rivals Arsenal instead, following in the footsteps of former Brentford captain Christian Norgaard as the latest Spurs midfield transfer target to spurn Thomas Frank for the other North London powerhouse.
Tottenham were already snubbed by a top Premier League playmaker earlier this transfer window in Mrogan Gibbs-White, who had agreed to join Tottenham but then ended up re-signing with Forest anyway.
According to a report from Gary Jacob in The Times, Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank had actually earmarked a need for the club to sign two No. 10's in the aftermath of the ACL tear to star playmaker James Maddison. One of those players Frank wanted Tottenham to sign at the 10 was, of course, Eberechi Eze, but he also wanted them to grab another player,
Already, Tottenham have missed out on three other playmakers besides Eze. There was Gibbs-White, but there was also Manchester City signing Rayan Cherki and then youngster James McAtee, who recently left Man City for a move to Nottingham Forest to play alongside Gibbs-White.
Tottenham have missed out on more than just Eberechi Eze
That's quite the collection of affordable and easily achievable attacking midfield transfer targets, and yet Tottenham have none of them in their squad. In fact, they don't have a single healthy, proven Premier League playmaker with Maddison done for a while and even Dejan Kulusevski out for another month as he recovers from an injury late in the 2024/25 season.
Frank says that Tottenham need two No. 10's, and he said that before Spurs knew they missed out on Eze. So it isn't just another 10 they have to sign in order to "replace" missing out on Eze. No, they need two playmakers just to help their manager push to compete with the big boys, and as he showed for 60 minutes against defending Champions League winners PSG, he, as a coach, certainly has what it takes tactiaclly to get Spurs to that level.
He doesn't have right personnel, though, and if Tottenham are in any way serious - which, so far, it doesn't look like they are - then they have to listen to him and sign those two playmakers. Surely, the incensed Tottenham fanbase will put additional pressure on Daniel Levy and his goons to make things right.