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Tottenham Hotspur have shaken things up this winter transfer window, spending more than many expected in order to sign center midfielder Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid. But in order to make sure they beat Aston Villa to the punch after the injury to Rodrigo Bentancur, Spurs felt like they had to pay 40 million euros to seal this deal.

Gallagher was a star in the Premier League for Crystal Palace and, despite his technical flaws, was actually a decent player for London rivals Chelsea. His time at Atleti did not go swimmingly well, but Spurs supporters largely seem optimistic about this signing, owing to the intensity and leadership that Gallagher displays in the middle of the park.

Though Gallagher mostly played as an 8 at Chelsea, he was utilized quite frequently as a No. 10, too, especially at Palace. And since he was a better 10 than an 8 at Palace, Spurs fans should actually be worried about how Thomas Frank utilizes Gallagher.

Conor Gallagher is not worth it

Because even if Gallagher is better as a 10 than an 8, getting the most out of Gallagher may mean sacrificing the quality of a better and younger player who should be the future building block of Tottenham Hotspur.

Xavi Simons has come on strong in recent games, and blip on the radar after a red card against Liverpool aside, he is producing his finest work as a 10 right now. Even in the FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa, Simons distinguished himself positively to the Spurs faithful.

But we have seen Thomas Frank repeatedly misuse Simons in his first season at the N17, including playing him on the left wing. And with Mathsy Tel asking for a transfer out and now no healthy right wingers, Simons may be headed for more minutes on the wing, rather than as a 10.

The Gallagher signing raises a worrisome question, specifically because Frank cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Even dual No. 10's would be preferable to playing Simons out wide in favor of Gallagher, and, of course, once James Maddison comes back from his injury - if that happens at all this season - the field will get more crowded for Simons.

Hopefully, Frank speaks to the sensible side of things and continues to play Simons in the main playmaker role, only occasionally rotating in Gallagher while mostly using the new 25 year old acquistion as a bulldog No. 8 behind him. But, well, sensible and Frank have not often gone together this season.

As we move into the second half of the season, media outlets always have to take the temperature of the seat that coaches are in. Whatever you might think of Thomas Frank, you must admit that his seat is more than a little bit warm at Tottenham Hotspur right now.

Where December started with a creditable draw at Newcastle and wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague, Spurs’ run since then has not been encouraging. The win over Crystal Palace four days before the new year has been the one bright spot, with draws against Brentford and Sunderland and losses to Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, and Bournemouth, plus an FA Cup exit at the hands of Aston Villa.Â

The rest of January could offer some respite, with winnable Premier League clashes against West Ham and Burnley. Spurs’ remaining Champions League matches are against Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt, with the latter flailing in European competition. Win those games, and finishing in the top eight of the Champions League standings (and the bye that comes with it) is a real possibility.

Thomas Frank enters February on an awfully thin tightrope

Unfortunately, February's slate looks brutal for the North London outfit. The home match against Manchester United might conceivably offer three points, but that comes sandwiched between games against Manchester City, Newcastle, and Arsenal. As much as Spurs fans would love to dent the hated Gunners’ title hopes, would anyone bet on Tottenham taking more than four points from that month, the way they’re playing now?

The temptation to jettison Frank before that run might be too much to ignore, especially in light of the coaches who are currently on the market. It’s likely too much for Spurs fans to hope that Xabi Alonso or Jürgen Klopp might hop aboard, but Enzo Maresca has just left Chelsea and might well jump at the chance to direct another Champions League squad.

Erik ten Hag has complained (with some justification) that he wasn’t given a fair shake at Bayer Leverkusen, and the Spurs job would put him back out in the public eye. Xavi has expressed his desire to coach in the Premier League, and his record as a player would command instant respect in any dressing room.

If Daniel Levy still in charge here, we know what he would do. He’d throw large amounts of money at the hottest name in the hopes that that would change the team’s fortunes. With the new people in charge, it remains to be seen whether they stick with Frank and stability or plump for another coach. The decision they make and the results that come from it will tell us what to expect from Spurs.

With each passing match, Tottenham Hotspur supporters grow increasingly disgruntled with Thomas Frank, whose slow starts and constant snubbing of top young talents has worn thin, along with his cowardly tactics and the results that continue to drop Spurs further and further down the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Despite making big splashes in the summer between Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, Spurs are materially no better than they were in the Premier League last season under Ange Postecoglou, and with the FA Cup and League Cup both off the table and the Champions League an obvious no go, they won't even have a trophy to offset their lack of success in the league.

Frank has disappointed Spurs supporters profoundly, because they came into the season thinking he would be an upgrade on Postecoglou, based on what he was achieving at Brentford. Instead, he has been a disaster, and Spurs fans are already done with him, dreaming of a replacement who will actually win games and not try to throw fans under the bus for his own failures.

Tottenham fans might as well dream on

Well, the ultimate dream managerial target has suddenly become available for Spurs and the other clubs with vacancies, as Real Madrid swiftly fired Xabi Alonso after a devastating Supercup Final loss to rivals Barcelona. Many of Real's stars were difficult to work with and wanted Alonso fired from the jump, so the architect of Bayer Leverkusen's undefeated 2023/24 season was pretty much doomed to begin with.

According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, despite his firing and all the events and drama that transpired in Madrid, Alonso's reputation in world football has not taken a hit. Per Fab, he has not "lost his appeal" among clubs in need of a manager, and he is "highly rated in the industry" as a whole. He is prepared to "return soon" to the dugout, as Romano states that top clubs are monitoring his interest and availability.

It sounds like, based on what Romano is reporting, that Xabi Alonso does not want to waste much time away from the game and is ready to immediately bounce back to a new challenge. Given what happened at Real Madrid with all the egos at a big club, Alonso may want a challenge of bringing a club with status that has fallen where he will have less pressure and more young talents willing to work hard for him.

Tottenham really do sound like a good fit for that. The club has a high profile, great young players, a lot to prove, nowhere to go but up, and people who will love his positive ideas and ambitious tactics more than some of the lazier ego driven players in Madrid who were set in their ways. Alonso is a very real possibility on the table for Tottenham, and while Spurs fans know better than to get their hopes up, if you want a pipe dream, this is the stuff worth taking a hit of.

Tottenham Hotspur are suddenly giving their already worried fan base a lot more to be concerned about this January transfer window. After selling right winger Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace, Spurs have been slow to sign any new wingers to replace what is now a dangerously thin depth pool on both the left and right wings - and they could get even thinner if Spurs are not able to convince Mathys Tel to stop his abrupt crusade to leave on loan.

There is a huge mess at the club created by Thomas Frank, and it may not get any better. Losing the likes of Tel and Antonin Kinsky on loan would be bad enough to the depth and an indicting sign of how poor Spurs are at believing in their talents, but the latest transfer news could be a blow of a whole different dimension to the club's future.

According to a new report from BILD's Christian Falk, via Bayern Munich outlet iMiaSanMia, Tottenham Hotspur center back Luka Vuskovic is now squarely on the Bayern Munich transfer radar in 2026. Apparently Vuskovic was actually offered to Bayern, but thankfully for Spurs, the Bundesliga giants are only watching the Hamburg loanee at this point and are not viewing him as a transfer priority.

Tottenham cannot lose Luka Vuskovic this early

Tottenham have already done business with Bayern pretty frequently these last few years. They obviously sold Harry Kane to them, waving goodbye to their best ever player in the process and that definitely hurt. But they also acquired Mathys Tel on loan and then permanently last year, as well as Joao Palhinha on loan later in the summer.

Losing Vuskovic would be a whole different blow, of course. Because at least with Kane, the England international had made it clear that he wanted a new chapter in his career, and it was better to sell him outside the Premier League to Bayern, rather than a potential top four rival like Manchester City or Manchester United.

Vuskovic is a teenage sensation and already one of the best center backs in Europe and one of the best players in the Bundesliga. Of course Bayern would be interested in monitoring Vuskovic as an option, as he has more raw talent than any of the current center backs on Bayern, which is saying something since Die Roten are by far the best team in the Bundesliga.

Tottenham Hotspur entered the January transfer window desperately needing more help on the wings, and now the fan base has to be worried that Spurs are going to somehow enter February much, much weaker in their biggest area of need.

Spurs already sold Brennan Johnson for over 30 million euros to local rivals Crystal Palace, and while that was actually the right move considering the Wales international's lack of a clear role in the team, the right wing position is now a catastrophe with both Dejan Kulusevski and now Mohammed Kudus injured for the foreseeable future.

Worse yet, the best left winger in the squad, Mathys Tel, now understandably wants a loan move away from the unbridled incompetence of manager Thomas Frank, as he has been repeatedly snubbed out of the starting lineup by the manager despite being his team's best player at the position.

Tottenham are running out of options

Tottenham have shown interest in a wide variety of winger transfer targets, but none of them are biting. Antoine Semenyo already chose Manchester CIty over Tottenham, and neither Man City wingers Omar Marmoush or Savinho are interested in a move away; Savinho is actually injured.

The next top winger on Spurs wish list is 19 year old RB Leipzig prospect Yan Diomande, who already has six Bundesliga goals and is widely viewed as the next big thing at the position - kind of like Tel used to be. In fact, Bayern Munich want to sign him badly as the Luis Diaz understudy, while familiar Tottenham transfer rivals Yan Diomande are also very interested in him.

Spurs have been holding out hope that Leipzig would be interested in selling Diomande to them this winter, and Leipzig's recent addition of Nigerian winger Sani Suleiman seemed to point in the direction of the Ivorian international Diomande potentially being floated on the transfer market.

Unfortunately for Tottenham Hotspur, it looks like that won't be the case and Spurs will have to wait until the summer to try and bag Yan Diomande. According to a report from Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel, Tottenham have already tried to sign Diomande this month but were told by Leipzig that a deal is impossible to complete. Leipzig will not let Diomande leave their club this winter, as they are instead only interested in listening to offers in the summer with Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Tottenham, and even Ligue 1 powerhouse PSG all interested.

That is quite the scary group of clubs in on Diomande, and Tottenham have to be ready for an even fiercer transfer battle than they thought. But the one beneficiary of all this is young Tottenham left winger Mathys Tel, who has been wanting out of the club for a lack of minutes.

Had Spurs been able to sign Diomande this winter, Tel would have almost certainly wanted out, due to having even less minutes if Spurs were to invest a ton of money into Diomande right here and right now. Diomande's rejection means Tel is still the top guy on the left wing in Tottenham, and Spurs still have a shot at not losing him on loan (or worse). With Diomande off the table, it has never been more obvious to Thomas Frank and Tottenham: Mathys Tel is the guy. Play the man.

Tottenham Hotspur came out of nowhere and signed a player they had been linked to for at least a year, swooping in at the last second to steal former Atletico Madrid center midfielder Conor Gallagher from under Aston Villa's noses by paying a whopping 40 million euros for the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace standout.

Gallagher joins Tottenham as a new box to box midfielder to replace the entirely discarded Yves Bissouma, whom Spurs supporters are still holding out the unlikely hope that they will be able to find a suitor for this winter before his contract officially expires.

Meanwhile, many assumed that Gallagher was replacing Rodrigo Bentancur, as the signing of the Englishman came just days after Spurs fans learned that Benta would be out for a minimum of three months with a torn hamstring from the 3-2 loss to AFC Bournemouth.

Rodrigo Bentancur and Conor Gallagher are near opposites

However, Bentancur and Gallagher not compatible players in the slightest. Not that Bentancur is a true deep lying playmaker, but, quite obviously, Gallagher and Benta have very differing profiles in the middle of the park.

Tottenham fans have been wanting that deep lying playmaker for a long time, knowing that Bentancur is not cutting it. Those who assumed Spurs were signing Gallagher instead of that sort of a No. 6 were thus disappointed, but it looks like they may be able to turn those frowns around.

Because according to a fresh report from Tom Allnutt of the Sunday Times, Tottenham Hotspur are indeed interested in signing a more creative midfielder who can make top class passes from deep. They are still interested in signing that profile of player after the addition of Conor Gallagher. However, it is unclear if Spurs will have the opportunity to sign the caliber of player they want in that role this January transfer window or if they will simply have to wait until the summer window for one.

These sorts of No. 6's are in massive demand in world football. Chelsea paved the road for Enzo Fernandez for this reason, selling Gallagher in part for that purpose. Arsenal prioritized signing a couple of them to build their team around. And Manchester United are now just as desperate as Tottenham to get their hands on a player like Adam Wharton, so both Spurs and the Red Devils will likely have to resign themselves to pursuing that quality of a 6 in the summer window.

The good news is that Tottenham are not thinking of Gallagher as a Bentancur replacement, and they are not going to rest on their laurels thinking that Rodrigo Bentancur is good enough of a deep lying playmaker to stick with. Archie Gray can't do it all on his lone some - at least, not yet.

Tottenham Hotspur have a couple of players they are trying to sell after already sending Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace, as Yves Bissouma is very much on the transfer short list while Radu Dragusin could also potentially go, depending on how Spurs feel about going down a center back.

But there are other players making transfer noise due to a lack of playing time whom Spurs will want to keep at all costs. The most prominent of them is young left winger Mathys Tel, who is suddenly turning those transfer rumor whispers into shouts, as all the Thomas Frank lineup snubs have worn thin on the 20 year old star.

Tel now wants a loan move out of Tottenham - not a permanent transfer, thankfully, but despite being vital to the team as their best left winger, his lack of starts have left him with no choice but to request a transfer for more playing time.

Tottenham can't lose Mathys Tel

According to a new report from Sky Sports Germany's Florian Plettenberg, who covered Mathys Tel frequently when he was at Bayern Munich, the possibility of convincing Didier Deschamps to put him in the French national team squad at the 2026 World Cup is not the only crazy idea he has in his head leading to a desire for a transfer out of Tottenham.

Plettenberg is also reporting that the young Tottenham Hotspur forward wants to play more at the striker position than rather on the left wing. He is not used very often as a No. 9, and Tel is apparently frustrated by that fact, partially leading to his desire for a transfer, which Plettenberg confirms is something Spurs are still very much blocking.

Well, if Tottenham want to block Tel 100 percent from leaving the club and taking away, by far, their best current left wing option, then they need to present a clear plan for regular playing time for Tel. They can make concessions about him playing at striker, because he is honestly better than Richarlison there and scored important goals at the position against Leeds United and Manchester United this season.

But Tel is not best off as a striker. He is a tremendous left wing prospect with the way he plays, his athleticism, his eye for goal, and his desire to shoot from range. Tottenham need to show Tel why he is best on the left wing and keep playing him there, throwing him the occasional bone at the 9 to appease him this season. He can't go.

Tottenham Hotspur already sold Brennan Johnson to start the January transfer window in one of their first orders of business, latching onto a transfer offer from local rivals Crystal Palace to recoup a fee of some significance to a player they no longer valued. Of course, they could not have predicted Mohammed Kudus's multi month injury just days later, but, alas, that is what Maghnes Akliouche will be for.

In any case, Johnson is not the only player who could officially exit Tottenham this winter transfer window. Although Spurs do not want to lose any more center back depth this year, Radu Dragusin has been pretty aggressive about wanting to return to Serie A and leave the Spurs bench behind him.

But the biggest priority for Tottenham to sell is veteran center midfielder Yves Bissouma. Now that he is on an expiring contract, it is less likely Spurs will be able to find a suitor willing to pay for a player buried on the bench and more famous for laughing gas incidents than his play on the pitch - and it's not like he was standing out brightly for Mali at the AFCON Tournament either.

Yves Bissouma needs to go

Bissouma's departure from Tottenham is much more likely now, too. Because while everyone was busy talking about Conor Gallagher and how he is not the right fit to replace Rodrigo Bentancur or fill Spurs biggest need for a deep lying playmaker who can lead the team from the front foot, we all lost sight of the player who Gallagher is really replacing.

Think about it. Gallagher is a box to box monster of a No. 8 who never gets tired, wins possession, and can affect the attack with some quality. He is a leader who works hard for the team. Basically, he is a Bissouma replacement and, as a character, everything that Bissouma is not while being both a younger and a more effective player.

He obviously comes at a higher price tag, but if Spurs were smarter and actually sold Bissouma last summer before his injury and signed Gallagher for a reasonable price instead of being forced to outbid Aston Villa and pay 40 million euros, they may not have paid that much more for Gallagher than what they would have sold Bissouma to the Turkish or Saudi Arabian leagues.

Gallagher is the Bissouma replacement in the 8. Spurs still have to sign that young, stellar No. 6 to pair with Archie Gray at the base, but Gallagher is now the experienced Premier League box to box midfielder who steps in and erases Bissouma's role in the squad completely. Now how much better does that sound when you reframe your thinking in that way?

But long term, you can see why Dragusin would want to leave Spurs. It is honestly a bit hard for him to truly gauge his playing time status since he is just coming off a long term injury and is now working with a manager in Thomas Frank who may be a better fit for his skill set than predecessor Ange Postecoglou. At the same time, though, it is pretty obvious that he is not going to be selected over Danso, Romero, or Van de Ven.

Plus, once Tottenham get Luka Vuskovic into the first team after his loan with Hamburg concludes, Dragusin is going to seem like nothing more than a potential road block to arguably the biggest teenage defensive gem in world football.

Radu Dragusin isn't just on Roma's radadr

Dragusin and his agent have been angling pretty hard for a move back to Serie A, as he was a standout player for Genoa before moving to Tottenham, where he has not been as good of a fit in the Premier League.

But another league that he could fit with his athleticism and hard nosed defending is the Bundesliga, and RB Leipzig, who love their nasty defenders, are now among the teams interested in him and ready to compete with his dream destination of AS Roma.

Per a report from Italian transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio, RB Leipzig are ready to make a move for Radu Dragusin this January transfer window. Other clubs in Serie A have been linked to Dragusin by other reporters, but the most credible link is to the Giallorossi.

Although Spurs do not seem interested in selling Dragusin to Roma at this time due to center back depth concerns, perhaps they will be more swayed by Leipzig as a landing spot, especially if Dragusin is willing to hold out until the summer transfer window.

That's because promising Leipzig left winger Yan Diomande is one of the dream transfer targets for Spurs this year. Tottenham want to sign a new winger, and Diomande is in high demand among the top clubs in Europe with his goal threat, future upside, and explosive athleticism. If Dragusin wants Leipzig, maybe he could be the make weight that lowers Diomande's price - or even, in a less likely case, gets Leipzig more willing to sell Diomande to them this winter.

Tottenham Hotspur will soon officially wave goodbye to executive Fabio Paratici, who will, at the end of the current January transfer window, transition to a new role at a new club. Paratici will become the Director of Football at Fiorentina in February, returning to Serie A and leaving Johan Lange and the rest of the incompetent troup behind him at the N17.

It is a sad way for Paratici to end his time at Tottenham, as he was a popular figure around the club and had only just returned again after suspension to help Spurs secure a decent loan signing in Randal Kolo Muani to close the summer 2025 transfer window.

But Paratici started to develop some pretty wild ideas towards the end of his Tottenham tenure, including a plan to replace Thomas Frank with a manager who would somehow be even worse - Italian mid table specialist Igor Tudor.

Fabio Paratici knew it all along

Then again, Paratici was ultimately right about the most important thing, and that is what he told Tottenham NOT to do during the summer transfer window back when he was in more of an advisory role at the club.

According to a report from The Athletic's Jack Pitt-Brooke, all along Fabio Paratici was telling key decision makers at Tottenham Hotspur that Thomas Frank was not the right man for the job and that Spurs should not hire the Danish manager to replace Ange Postecoglou. He insisted that Spurs hire someone else, though this report does not specify who he had in mind (it likely was not Tudor, who was already hooked up with Juventus at the time).

Paratici may be slowly going off the rails now, but he was quite prescient about Frank in the summer while the rest of us were swept up in the Brentford Moneyball craze. Frank has since gone on to prove Paratici very right and everyone else at Tottenham very wrong.

Tottenham are a demonstrably worse team in the 2025/26 season with Frank as manager, which is wild considering Spurs were a lowly 17th in the Premier League under Big Ange. Firing Postecoglou was not necessarily the wrong option, but hiring Frank has proven to be a calamity, much to the delight of rivals Arsenal and Chelsea who teed off on Spurs in head to head games. Had Spurs heeded Paratici's warning abotu Frank, perhaps the club would be in a very different situation now with a young nucleus that is honestly much better than Frank makes them look.