Hotspur HQ

The devastating rash of injuries that has plagued Tottenham Hotspur continued in the aftermath of the loss to Bournemouth this week. Spurs already came into the season with Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison out for an extended period, and those guys are still not anywhere near a return. Meanwhile, Dominic Solanke is still out with a nagging foot injury, while Mohammed Kudus and Destiny Udogie are two more vital players who have been added to the injury report.

Those injuries are all bad enough, and now Tottenham have one more key piece of the depth puzzle to put on the injured list. Center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is no longer a starter at Tottenham and has honestly been a liabilty for much of the season.

But Bentancur is still a decent footballer and a veteran depth piece who can help the team against certain opponents. Now, though, the Uruguayan international is also out for the foreseeable future, cutting down Spurs depth even more.

Tottenham keep suffering blows

Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank confirmed the Bentancur injury to reporters after the 3-2 loss to Bournemouth. He said, via Lilywhite Rose, "Rodri has a hamstring injury - looks like a bigger one, unfortunately. We don’t know the time frame. That we will know later."

Yet another important player to Tottenham injured without a definitive time table for a return. Kulusevski, Maddison, Solanke, Kudus, and now Bentancur are all experienced players with defined roles in the squad who are injured for an indefinite period.

Now, there is no reason to believe Bentancur will be out as long as Maddison, Kulu, or Solanke, but this looks like another multi week injury with an uncertain prognosis that puts more on the plates of the other Tottenham midfielders, including the load of minutes on their bodies in this ever grueling Premier League fixture slate.

Tottenham will hope that Bentancur can return sooner rather than later, but there is a silver lining to his injury, in that, for the time he is out, it will mean more minutes and more responsiblity for the young players like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall who are truly the future bed rock players for this Spurs midifeld. And even someone who has been discarded by manager Thomas Frank as of late, Pape Matar Sarr, should benefit, in theory, from getting at least a portion of the minutes left behind by the injured Bentancur going forward.

Tottenham Hotspur captain and superstar center back Cristian Romero is the best player on the team and the most accomplished footballer in the squad, given his Copa America and World Cup title victories, as well as his status as the Europa League Player of the Tournament last season when Spurs won the prestigious European trophy for the first time in more than 40 years.

Best yet, Romero, who could have left the club in the dust this summer, is always willing to say the tough words that need to be said and wear his heart on his sleeve. And in a season filled with cowardice and figureheads at the club spending more time clashing with the supporters than with their opponents on the pitch, it was very nice to see Romero publicly call the club's horrid leadership out again on Wednesday night after the loss to Bournemouth.

Romero's words were directed at upper management, but given the poor performance of new manager Thomas Frank - and we all know how much Romero and the others loved playing for Ange Postecoglou - you could not help but read the timing of the dig as being partially and very subtly directed at Frank for being the complacent and incompetent manager appointed and galvanized by an even more complacent and incompetent board.

Cristian Romero was in the right

Well, it looks like Frank got the memo that Romero may have been speaking about him, and instead of taking the high road, the Danish coach, as he always does, decided to take a little dig at the captain in a passive aggressive way.

Frank told reporters after the 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur loss to Bournemouth, via The Spurs Watch, "When you're a young leader sometimes you make a mistake, of course it's good to keep it internally."

Why should Cristian Romero keep things internally? Frank has had no problems criticizing Xavi Simons, Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, and others all season long for his own mistakes, and he even threw young Archie Gray under the bus once for a mistake that was not even his, playing favorites with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Frank plays favorites and is not held accountable for his issues, and when Romero finally had enough and said what everyone who truly loves Tottenham Hotspur is thinking deep down, Frank basically pooh poohs Romero about keep things internal. But look, everything has been kept so internal at Tottenham these months that the club feels like a pressure cooker that is about to explode. Maybe Frank should have taken his own advice and kept things internal, because by opening his mouth, he proves Romero's point that there are a lot of cowards at the club who would rather take the easy way out. And Frank is one of them.

Tottenham Hotspur have been ravaged by injuries in the 2025/26 Premier League season, and they are in real need of a boost this winter as they sit 14th in the table, fresh off another humbling defeat by 3-2 to Bournemouth.

Spurs are still waiting for all of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, and Dominic Solanke to return from injuries. None of these three players have been involved in meaningful minutes this season. Kulu and Maddison have played literally zero seconds for Spurs this season due to injuries carried over from the 2024/25 campaign, while Solanke has appeared in just three games due to a slow to heal foot injury that required surgery this Fall.

Meanwhile, the other injuries are ever compounding at the N17. Mohammed Kudus recently picked up a multi week ailment against Sunderland, while star left back Destiny Udogie, who is the only viable player at the position right now, has been out for multiple games with an injury of his own.

Tottenham finally get some positives

Finally, though, Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank dropped some very positive injury news on two Spurs stars amidst the sea of negative injury energy at the club. Per Frank, Udogie and Solanke are both progressing well and may actually be close to returns.

Frank said ahead of the FA Cup battle between Tottenham and Aston Villa, via The Spurs Web, "Yeah, both of them are trained. Both of them are getting closer, definitely. Destiny is a bit closer than Dom, obviously, because he's only been out for five weeks-ish. So that's, of course, less than six months. But both of them are positive and improving."

Udogie being close to a return is not a surprise and jibes with what Frank was saying earlier, and his injury was never expected to be catastrophic; it's just more of the same of the Italian international being in and out of the Spurs lineup with constant, nagging issues. And him being closer to return than Solanke, who has been out for a whlie, is not a surprise either.

So the Solanke update is the even bigger boon. Now, Udogie is actually even more important since the left back position is so barren at Tottenham, which is why they want to sign Brazilian phenom Souza from Santos.

But as a team, Spurs biggest issues are at striker. Richarlison has been horrid all around, while Randal Kolo Muani is probably going to be one and done as a loanee. Solanke is not a superstar, but he was crucial to the Europa League title and will be an important option whenever he gets back in.

It is shaping up to be another disappointing transfer window for Tottenham Hotspur supporters based on how things are going in the early portion of the market - and even before the proceedings officially opened when Antoine Semenyo soundly rejected them.

Aside from a few better loan deals negotiated and the productive sale of backup right winger Brennan Johnson, Tottenham have very little to be happy about this window. And loans and sales are far from the priorities for a team stuck in 14th in the Premier League, one season after finishing 17th under a different - and less problematic - manager.

The Thomas Frank era at Tottenham is off to a woeful start and seemingly only getting worse. Tottenham need to sign an impact goal scorer, preferably on the wings but maybe even additionally at striker, in an effort to salvage their failing season.

Tottenham are empty handed thus far

But so far, they are coming up empty on all of their targets. Semenyo rejected them swiftly for Manchester City, and now their top target from Man City, Savinho, has gone down with an injury that will last him through the January transfer window.

On top of that, an even better potential fit from Manchester City, left winger Omar Marmoush, still appears to be off the table. Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg stated that Marmoush currently has "no plans to leave" the Citizens this month in the transfer window. The Egyptian star reportedly has numerous offers on the table from elite clubs around Europe, per Plettenberg, but his current intention is to stay at the Etihad Stadium and fight for his place under Pep Guardiola.

Plettenberg did not name Tottenham as a suitor, but if several elite clubs are after him, then, going back to the Antoine Semenyo rejection, it is fair to wonder if Spurs would even have a realistic shot at Marmoush anyway.

But Marmoush does not want to leave Man City after only joining last year. Even though he has been discarded by Guardiola this season, that could all change with Savinho injured, though the addition of Semenyo is an even bigger road block to playing time than the Brazilian, who plays a different role and was not utilized much anyway.

Dreams of Marmoush make sense for Tottenham fans, but if Semenyo did not want to join Spurs over Man City, then it is hard to envision the former Eintracht Frankfurt star wanting to leave the Etihad now that he is already there for a woefully struggling Spurs side.

Thomas Frank and anyone else associated with Tottenham Hotspur has to know as well as the fans and media do that Spurs cannot go into the second half of the 2025/26 Premier League season with the personnel they currently have in the attack.

Spurs have been pretty putrid from an attacking perspective, which is reflected by the fact that they are a mere 14th in the Premier League table and losing to some of the weaker squads in the division. And it is only going to get tougher for Spurs offensively, as key players remain out injured, compounding that is the recent multi week injury to their best attacker in right winger Mohammed Kudus.

Plus, Spurs just sold Brennan Johnson to local rivals Crystal Palace, and while that was the wise move, all told, Johnson was still an asset who helped win the Europa League last season. At a minimum, Spurs need to replace his spot in the squad.

Tottenham need wingers

Tottenham are trying to add to their wish list after Antoine Semenyo's rejection and Savinho's injury, and it looks like another Brentford player is on the radar for Frank after he did not really push hard for either of his best forwards, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, last summer.

Per a report from Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Germany, Brentford star winger Kevin Schade is "one to watch" for a possible summer transfer move, and Tottenham Hotspur are "closely monitoring" the 24 year old left winger. Brentford, however, do not want to sell and are trying to extend Schade beyond the 2027/28 Premier League season. On top of that, Plettenberg says that there are many clubs interested in Schade, not just Tottenham, with the Bees valuing the player between 50 and 60 million euros.

The real big problem, then, with Schade is not the age, quality, or fit of the player. Frank knows him, his nine goal contributions from the wing equal even Tottenham's best goal producer at striker, and he has huge potential even at 24. Schade, though, is quite expensive at 50-60 million euros, costing nearly as much as Mbeumo despite being about half as productive as the current Manchester United star right winger.

And then the biggest problem is Brentford. Now, it is not impossible for Tottenham to convince Schade and Brentford to do a deal sooner. The issue is that convincing costs money,and Schade is already quite expensive. If Brentford do not want to do a deal this winter, then, simply put, it is not worth it for Tottenham to get into a bidding war when they need a reasonable transfer now. And Frank, with how poorly he has done, is not the kind of person with the wiggle room to beg for a transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are hoping that the club makes some real improvements to the attacking lineup, especially with their best forward, Mohammed Kudus, out for what could be months with a recent injury he suffered against Sunderland.

Spurs, though, have other needs besides wingers and even strikers to address this January transfer window, including a deep lying playmaking midfielder and a left footed left back to replace the anemic Djed Spence.

It looks like the first transfer Tottenham could make in the January 2026 window will be a non forward option, specifically a left back. Spurs submitted a minimal bid for top teenage left back prospect Souza from Brazilian club Santos, who proceeded to come close to laughing Tottenham out of the building for offering just eight million pounds.

Tottenham are in negotiations now

But reports have indicated that Spurs are preparing a substantially better offer to sign the biggest defensive gem in Brazilian football, and before that bid has come through to Santos, Tottenham have already secured half the deal.

That's because, according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur have just "agreed personal terms" with Souza. Now, there are "negotiations underway" between Spurs and Santos on the transfer fee, with Fab reporting that a "new bid" from Tottenham is about to come through the wire "soon".

Tottenham need a new winger above all else, but they also very much need a new left back. Destiny Udogie has been in and out of the lineup this season due to injury, which is nothing new for the talented Italian international, unfortunately.

Souza is a totally unknown quantity, and there is no way of knowing that he will translate to the Premier League. Spurs will not even know that in the first six months of his transfer, barring a crazy hot start to life at the club.

But we have seen players like Estevao Willian and Endrick perform well at more successful clubs immediately after playing Brazil. It is literally all down to the quality of the player. Pending the price, this is a case of trusting Tottenham's scouting process, and while there is little to trust about this club, signings like Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray have shown that this club can get things right when it comes to identifying young talent. Left backs are not cheap and are rare to find, so a bit of a gamble on Souza is not an unwarranted winter deal.

Never before has the idiom 'when it rains, it pours' been more true than in relation to Tottenham Hotspur this season. On Wednesday night, despite taking the lead through Mathys Tel and then João Palhinha scoring a spectacular overhead kick, Spurs were beaten 3-2 by Bournemouth, conceding in the 95th minute at Dean Court.

That, though, only tells a tiny percentage of the story. Under-fire manager Thomas Frank was pictured drinking his hot beverage out of a paper cup with an Arsenal crest on it. Meantime, Micky van de Ven thought he had earned a penalty, only to be booked for diving. Then, after full time, he seemingly wanted to have it out with a furious supporter.

More importantly, Tottenham have now won only two of 12 Premier League matches since the start of November, losing six of them, so they are down in 14th place. The pressure is already intensifying on Frank, and defeat to Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday could crank this up to 11. If Frank is going to turn things around in North London, he is going to have to do so without a key attacker.

Mohammed Kudus injury latest

In his pre-Aston Villa press conference on Thursday, Frank revealed the severity of Mohammed Kudus' injury. The Ghanian hobbled off just 19 minutes into Sunday's 1-1 draw with Sunderland, replaced by Randal Kolo Muani. Following a scan, the extent of Kudus' thigh injury is worse than first feared, thereby set to be sidelined until after the March international break.

During this period, Kudus could miss as many as 19 matches, including the start of the Champions League knockout stages, as well as Premier League clashes with both Manchester clubs, Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Since arriving from rivals West Ham for £55 million in the summer, Kudus has scored just three goals for Spurs, netting against Leeds, Fulham and Slavia Prague. Nevertheless, he has been a regular starter and, following the departure of Brennan Johnson, Frank is now very short of attacking options. So, which Tottenham player need to fulfill their full potential during this crucial period?

Spurs require their star creator to step up

Neither James Maddison nor Dejan Kuluševski have played a single minute this season so far, after both suffered serious injuries during pre-season.

Thus, it was clear that creativity was required. After failing in their attempts to sign both Morgan Gibbs-White and then Eberechi Eze, Xavi Simons arrived from RB Leipzig for a reported fee of €60 million, to much fanfare. However, the Dutchman has certainly not lived up to this hype to date, as the number make clear.

Xavi Simons' Tottenham statistics

As the table documents, Simons' statistics this season are generally pretty middling at best. The Dutchman's lack of end product is encapsulated by the fact that only 15% of his shots have found the target, while he has also been successful with only 33% of his take-ons.

Across his previous three campaigns, with PSV and then RB Leipzig, Simons accumulated 33, 25 and 19 combined goals and assists respectively, but is nowhere near replicating those numbers in North London.

Now though, with Kudus sidelined for months, if Tottenham harbour any hopes of making a success out of this season, they need Simons to start producing. As has been well documented, other midfield options such as Rodrigo Bentancur and João Palhinha are incapable of passing the ball forward, even if the latter is capable of a jaw-dropping bicycle kick.

Thus, the whole team should revolve around Simons in an attacking sense, so being made the central figure could be exactly what he needs to belatedly flourish.

Tottenham Hotspur were remarkably poor again on Wednesday night against Bournemouth, as they did their best Oprah impression to hand the Cherries three points for the first time in 11 games, sinking in the final moments in another unclutch performance as Antoine Semenyo buried them after already burying them with a transfer rejection just a couple of weeks ago.

It has been that kind of a season for Spurs, whose 3-2 scoreline really only flattered them. The goals were the result of a bicycle kick from Joao Palhinha and another bit of individual brilliance from left winger Mathys Tel.

At least the young Tel can hold his head high, because in addition to the goal, he quietly delivered another standout performance for Tottenham and was by far the best player on the pitch for Spurs. Honestly, he was the only truly impressive player on the team and a clear star for an attack that was otherwise woeful, reeling from a potentially serious injury to star right winger Mohammed Kudus.

Mathys Tel did it again

Tel led Tottenham with five dribbles completed and four fouls drawn in the defeat to Bournemouth, and he also tied center back and captain Cristian Romero for the team lead with three key passes to the good. Altough Semenyo played the hero in the end for Bournemouth, Tel actually outplayed the Cherries star left winger and coveted Man City transfer, showing that he does indeed have the potential to become one of the best left wingers in the Premier League one day.

His standout performance honestly highlighted Thomas Frank's incompetence further. It has been patently obvious to Tottenham Hotspur fans that Mathys Tel should be starting every week on the left wing and gives Spurs their best chance of winning. Every Spurs fan can see that Tel has that something special and is worth developing into a star.

Every time Tel gets a chance, he shines, including last weekend against Sunderland. Frank had no choice but to start him against Bournemouth, especially with Kudus injured on the other wing, and Tel totally delivered again.

But it really shows you just how poor Frank's mentality and team selection are that he has left Tel out of the starting lineup for so many months. That Tel came out and played this well in a game in which most of his teammates flat out stunk really underscores how little of a clue Frank has when it comes to his own players. It is honestly yet another reason to be mistrustful of Frank and wonder if he really has got a clue what he is doing in charge of Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur did it again on Wednesday night, losing yet another game they should have won, as the man who rejected them for Manchester City, Antoine Semenyo, sunk their hearts in the waning moments of the match to hand Bournemouth their first win in 11 games with a 3-2 victory at the expense of the away side Spurs.

The loss keeps Tottenham in the bottom half of the Premier League and is the latest poor performance for Spurs after a 1-1 draw with Sunderland and then a 0-0 draw before that as Thomas Frank embarrassed himself against former employers Brentford.

But what is even more humiliating for Frank than the goose egg draw with the low budget Brentford is the fact that Tottenham are markedly worse off in the Premier League table than Brentford since Frank made the switch. Worse than that, Brentford are better than they were in the table now this season than they were last season under Frank.

Thomas Frank is embarrassing himself

Brentford are an incredible fifth in the Premier League table, just one point behind one of the most expensive squads in the league in Liverpool, the defending champions of England. The Bees are fresh off a 3-0 blowout victory over Sunderland, you know, the same team that Frank could not beat just days ago.

So Brentford are nine place higher than Tottenham in the Premier League table, as Spurs are 14th and just literally lost to the 15th placed team in Bournemouth. Brentford are blowing Spurs out of the water right now, and that needs to be a fact that lights a fire under Frank.

The problem is that there is nothing fiery about Frank. He seems all too happy to be losing week in and week out, mustering no sort of a counter to every single dreadful performance in which his club drops points.

Tottenham have to be fed up with what they are seeing every week from Frank, and it is remarkable that he is not under more pressure from above, given how little improvement this team has shown. The tactics are cowardly, the accountability is lacking, there is no urgency, and the players come off as entitled every time they bicker with fans for rightfully booing their putrid displays.

But out of all these transgressions, none are more indicting than the fact that Brentford are both better off without Frank and better than a Tottenham with Frank.

Tottenham Hotspur should be in a state of crisis right now, and anyone pretending as if everything happening at the club is acceptable right now is really just an enemy of the organization, rather than someone simply trying to keep the peace.

With the money and status Spurs have, as well as their diehard fan base, they should be one of the biggest and most successful teams in all of European football. Instead, Tottenham, already in the new year, are sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table and look nowhere near coming back up - let alone competing for the top four, which is where they should be every year.

And it feels like cowardice has permeated every level of the football club. Johan Lange goes after random kids instead of trying to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe for true difference makers on the transfer market. Thomas Frank sets up his team like he is still at Brentford and can't even outplay the Bees head to head. And then the players are too busy yeling at their own fans instead of trying to win some dang footballgames.

Cristian Romero is the voice of bravery

Yet amidst the sea of cowardice and a culture lacking basic accountability, Tottenham Hotspur supporters have come to realize that they can rely upon new club captain and superstar center back Cristian Romero to call out the club's hierarchy for their myriad of issues.

Romero took the club's brass to task publicly in a statement posted on Instagram, dropping this golden nugget on their heads:

"Apologies to all fans of you who follow us everywhere, who are always there and will continue to be. We are responsible, there's no doubt about that. But we will keep facing up to it and trying to turn the situation around, for ourselves and for the club. At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't - as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies."

Every Tottenham fan has been calling out Johan Lange and the others for their woeful mismanagement of the club, and with Daniel Levy gone, they are not seeing any progress, perhaps even regression since many Spurs supporters feel that Levy would have at least fired Thomas Frank by now.

Romero is not calling out anyone directly, but after another horrible loss and knowing that Romero always favored Ange Postecoglou, this feels like a shot at Frank, too, because it is a shot at the board for not running the club right. And it was the board who fired Ange after winning the Europa League, brought in Frank, and then have sat idly by watching Frank lose game after game with tactics that are so antithetical to what Spurs are about.