Tottenham Hotspur will have been pretty pleased with the business they managed to complete during the summer transfer window.
The Lilywhites added five new players to Thomas Frank’s squad, with Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus, Joao Palhinha, Randal Kolo Muani and Kota Takai all being signed.
Tottenham Hotspur added much-needed firepower and creativity in attack with Kudus, Simons and Kolo Muani, whilst adding steel to their midfield with Palhinha.
But the North London club have actually been warned that one of their summer additions is lacking in one key area and Frank will need to help fix it.
RB Leipzig were keen to sell Xavi Simons due to his ‘lack of consistency’
RB Leipzig were actually quite keen to sell Simons over the summer due to his lack of consistency for them, according to Raphael Honigstein.
Tottenham signed Simons for £52m from the Bundesliga club, making him their headline addition over the summer.
Frank convinced Simons to join Tottenham after talks in which the Danish head coach identified areas where he needed to improve.
The German journalist claims that Tottenham are getting an ‘absolute talent’, but also a player who still has much room for improvement.
Honigstein told Echo of Glory: “He solves a lot of problems for any team looking for creativity, he can go past players and open space, he’s a great passer as well. Absolute talent and quality.
“What is lacking is a little bit of consistency, that is why Leipzig were ok with the idea of selling, they are a selling club at this level, but I think in this particular case, they quite wanted him to be gone.
“But he’s 22, there’s a lot of progress still to be made, a lot of development both on and off the pitch for him.”
Simons was underwhelming for the Netherlands in their recent 1-1 draw with Poland, showing the development he still has to do.
But regardless of his performances, his numbers for Leipzig show that he is, without doubt, a major talent, with the attacker managing 22 goals and 24 assists in 78 appearances.
Tottenham were keen on signing a player like Xavi Simons before James Maddison’s injury
Honigstein believes that Tottenham wanted to sign a player like Simons even before James Maddison’s ACL injury.
Spurs were keen to sign a player who could either replace or complement the England international, given his struggles to stay fit.
“I think this has been looked into independently. I think Spurs were in the market for a player who would either complement or take Maddison’s place in that role,” added Honigstein.
“I think you could see Maddison last year, huge impact when he was on the pitch, but probably not quite able to deliver physically every three days.
“So I think Spurs, independently of his injuries, were looking for someone who could at least share some of the burden, if not take over from him in a year.”