Thomas Frank's debut season at Tottenham has not gone according to plan so far, but his side could be boosted with a new defender come the January transfer window
Thomas Frank has been slow out of the gates as Tottenham manager. The Danish head coach left Brentford for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.
On the back of their Europa League success, Spurs sent manager Ange Postecoglou packing and brought in Frank, who had done wonders in west London with the Bees.
He was handed some new tools to work with, including Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, but so far he has yet to get his squad firing on all cylinders as they dwell in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have proven to be quite the impressive centre-back pairing, but with a handful of injuries at the position, it is only really Kevin Danso and Ben Davies who can cover. football.london takes a look at what could be Tottenham's first January move: the recalling of a promising young defender.
A proposal was agreed for young Luka Vuskovic when he was just 16. In 2023, Spurs struck a deal with Hajduk Split that would see the defender join the club in 2025.
Before he arrived at Tottenham this year, Vuskovic had impressed on loan in Poland and Belgium. He was handed an unofficial debut in pre-season, assisting a goal and scoring, and fans quickly realised Spurs have a special talent on their hands.
However, Vuskovic wanted to head out on loan in order to get game time and Hamburg came calling. Since he arrived in Germany the Croatian has been nothing short of a phenomenon.
The 18-year-old was voted the Bundesliga's Rookie of the Month for both September and October, dazzling with goal-scoring and defensively superb performances.
He made headlines in his side's last game, rushing to the aid of Frankfurt star Rasmus Kristensen who was left in serious danger of swallowing his tongue after a clash. For his exploits in Germany, Vuskovic has been valued at £35million by Transfermarkt, which makes him the second-most valuable Croatian in world football.
The possibility of recalling Vuskovic from his loan, to help him integrate into a first team that he is expected one day to lead if nothing else, has been suggested by pundits and fans alike.
In October, recalling Vuskovic was discussed by Hamburg chief Claus Costa, who said: "They're closely monitoring the player, which shows how they assess Luka. Tottenham isn't interested in weakening us or ruining the loan.
"I believe Tottenham also knows how good the situation here is for Luka. That's why I hope we never get into a situation where we have to think about anything else."
But with FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League matches to contend with and Frank's squad looking thin at centre-half, calling back the prodigious Vuskovic and seeing what he can do for Spurs seems like a wise choice.