Tottenham Hotspur were actually more active than usual in the past summer transfer window, but even their most recent moves have proven insufficient at truly cementing Spurs as a top four side in England again. And that's largely because Thomas Frank inherited a putrid team that finished a historically bad 17th in the Premier League last season, and the charismatic Ange Postecoglou was able to mitigate just how terrible he and the team were by rallying the troops for a pretty easy march to the Europa League title.
Now, Tottenham are stuck behind the eight ball, and they will hope that Sunday's North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium doesn't end up being another day of reckoning for a team that, statistically speaking, is pretty fortunate to be in the top five and not in the bottom five of the Premier League.
As Tottenham prepare to do battle with their most bitter of rivals on the pitch, Spurs also have to think about another grueling transfer battle with Arsenal off the pitch. Frank already missed out on two key transfer targets to Arsenal directly, as the Gunners played the transfer game on steal mode and stole both his veteran Brentford defensive midfielder Christian Norgaard, as well as top Premier League playmaker Eberechi Eze from right under the noses of Spurs.
Tottenham could have another Eberechi Eze situation
The Eze blow, in hindsight, was one Tottenham should have seen coming, because even though the Spurs faithful wanted the London native, Eze had actually grown up an Arsenal fan and had unfinished business with the Gunners after they rejected him at the academy level.
Well, Tottenham's next dream transfer target, breakout superstar winger Antoine Semenyo, also grew up an Arsenal fan. And although Spurs are still holding out hope that they can be the ones to bag the Bournemouth left winger to fill the shoes of Son Heung-min that they never replaced in the summer transfer window, all Semenyo has done. give is Tottenham fans reason to doubt him ever coming.
Earlier this year, Semenyo gave an interview with Bleacher Report Football and basically admitted that he is an Arsenal fan. When asked about his favorite stadium, Semenyo responded that it is the Emirates Stadium, heavily implying that he is an Arsenal fan but does not want to admit it as a current Bournemouth player (and with rival clubs interested in his signature as a transfer, too).
Semenyo said, âMy favorite stadium? The Emirates stadium, not because Arsenal is a strong team, but for other reasons that I don't want to talk about."
After missing out on Eze to Arsenal for that same reason, Tottenham have to think long and hard about Semenyo as a fit for them and how much they want to invest in going after him. Because if Semenyo has no intention of betraying his boyhood Arsenal fandom for Spurs, then spending all that time on him could cost Spurs a player like, say, Ademola Lookman, who would actually want to join them.