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Tottenham Hotspur supporters are used to getting bullied on the transfer market by the other Big Six club for elite targets. This past summer window, Arsenal beat them to both Eberechi Eze and even the unheralded Brentford defensive midfielder Christian Norgaard, while Manchester United pipped them to the real Brentford prize in right winger Bryan Mbeumo.

Now this coming winter transfer window, Tottenham have seemingly already lost out on the Antoine Semenyo sweepstakes before the January market even officially opened. Semenyo has already rejected Spurs with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United all interested in one of the best players of the 2025/26 Premier League season thus far.

So that means Man United have beaten Tottenham to Mbeumo and potentially Semenyo this year, and in 2026, they could take another winger off the table for Spurs, which is actually a bigger threat to Tottenham if Man United don't get their hands on Semenyo.

Tottenham can't lose out on him, too

According to veteran Spurs journalist Paul O Keefe, while Manchester United do appreciate Antoine Semenyo "a lot", he warns fans to "watch them" in the sweepstakes for RB Leipzig sensation Yan Diomande, who looks to have even more upside than Tottenham Hotspur summer signing Xavi Simons from the same club. O Keefe added in a later tweet that Man United "like him a lot", in reference to Diomande.

The 19 year old Ivory Coast winger is becoming a mainstay in the Leipzig lineup this season, and he has already lit up the Bundesliga with 6 goals in 10 starts, including a recent hat trick in a 6-0 blowout of Eintracht Frankfurt that got the whole footballing world buzzing.

It is still very early to anoint Diomande as anything, but his eye for goal and insane acceleration already have top Premier League clubs placing him near the top of their wishlist of prospects. Since Spurs are having a tough time signing established Premier League stars like Mbeumo and Semenyo, the less heralded folks like Mohammed Kudus, Simons, and now Diomande could be more up their alley.

Spurs have had great success going after prospects. Luka Vuskovic, Archie Gray, and Lucas Bergvall are all very young players on their books who already look like future world class superstars. Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel have shown promise, too. Diomande could be next on this list, but Tottenham now have to be wary of Manchester United yet again. Losing out on Diomande to them on top of the others would be a real travesty.

This past summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur were stonewalled twice on the transfer market by arch rivals Arsenal. First, the Gunners plucked Thomas Frank's coach on the field, defensive midfielder Christian Norgaard, right from under their noses. But the most infamous move was Arsenal's last minute transfer for attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze.

The hero of the 2024/25 season for Crystal Palace after budding superstar Michael Olise's departure to join Harry Kane and Bayern Munich, Eze fired Palace to the FA Cup. He buoyed that into a big money move in the summer transfer window, and everyone seemed to think, including the world's biggest transfer reporters like Fabrizio Romano, that Eze to Tottenham was imminent.

At the last second, though, the boyhood Arsenal fan chose the Gunners, leaving Spurs in the dust. Tottenham eventually recovered to sign Xavi Simons, but the Dutchman did not even feature on the pitch when Eze sunk Spurs with a hat trick in an emabarrassing 4-1 defeat. Forget that Eze has done nothing else all season long for Arsenal; the way he humiliated Spurs not once but twice has been enough for many of the Gunners faithful as their club still sits first in the Premier League.

Tottenham fans have always been skeptical

So when Tottenham Hotspur started to show interest in another Premier League star who grew up idolizing Arsenal in Antoine Semenyo, many fans were immediately skeptical. Regardless of the fact that Semenyo has been a monster this season and a legitimate Premier League Player of the Season candidate alongside Erling Haaland, many Tottenham fans did not want to see the club go after another player who idolized Arsenal just to have the rug pulled out from them because they never intended on being a Spur in the first place.

Even after Arsenal said "no thanks" to Semenyo, Tottenham fans remained skeptical. So now that it has become obvious that Semenyo has no intention of joining Tottenham with Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City being the only real contenders left in the transfer race, Spurs fans are honestly more relieved than peeved at this point.

Because the prevailing belief was that while Semenyo is a great player who can potentially help Tottenham, Spurs were never going to pay the wages of the other clubs and do not carry the same cachet as the others either. Semenyo was always going to pick someone else, including his Arsenal affinity. Therefore, Spurs would have wasted their time and resources on another doomed target, potentially missing out on someone else. So instead of being Eze'd again, Spurs know before the winter window opens to look elsewhere, perhaps to Omar Marmoush or Savinho at the Etihad.

For weeks, Tottenham Hotspur were eyeing a big money move for star winger Antoine Semenyo, who was already one of the best players in his position in the Premier League last season but has now kicked up his performances a notch to become a Premier League Player of the Season contender behind arguably only Erling Haaland.

With a 65 million pound release clause active at the beginning of January, Semenyo is, by far, the most coveted player in the Big Six this coming winter transfer window. Tottenham were initially labeled as one of the top contenders for him, but, now, it looks like they have already been rejected and Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool are the three favorites to bag the Bournemouth star.

But the thing is, Semenyo's transfer still has big time ramifications for Spurs, even if he is going anywhere but Tottenham. For starters, if Semenyo goes to Manchester City, either Savinho or Omar Marmoush could become available as the blockbuster new winger signing for Spurs.

Tottenham still have to care about Antoine Semenyo

Even if Semenyo goes to Manchester United or Liverpool, the transfer still matters to Tottenham Hotspur. That's because Antoine Semenyo's abrupt exit from Bournemouth will mean that the Cherries have to sign someone on the left wing to replace him, and perhaps they will look to Spurs for a solution.

Young standouts Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel have the potential to be truly special players in the Premier League, and they should honestly be playing more than they are right now. But if Thomas Frank is not going to develop them and give them enough minutes, Spurs could try to send one of them out on loan to get that experience.

Bournemouth need a left winger, and either Tel or Odobert could interest them as a quick Semenyo fix for the final months of the season. Normally, clubs like Bournemouth prefer to buy and develop their own players than do the same for another Premier League club, and maybe more importantly, Tottenham are a mid table team right now competing with Bournemouth and could bristle at the thought of making Bournemouth - a team that already embarrassed Spurs this season - even better.

The thing is, it is a distinct possibility worth pondering. Tel is probably more valuable to Tottenham right now, but he is also probably more coveted by Bournemouth as a better replacement for Semenyo than Odobert. While the chances of this kind of loan deal happening are low, they are plausible, and Tottenham fans should keep an eye on any transfer rumors regarding this.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters have already witnessed a sea of changes this year. After winning the Europa League, Spurs fired Ange Postecoglou for finishing 17th in the Premier League. And after one of their most active summer transfer periods in recent memory, Spurs also gave Daniel Levy the boot after years of stingy spending and underperformance relative to the rest of the Big Six.

So far, Tottenham have not seen any of the fruits of this actions born. They have been atrocious in the Premier League under Thomas Frank, and all signs point to another transfer window of empty promises to the supporters despite the encouraging summer; Antoine Semenyo, for example, is already entirely off the table before January has arrived, let alone Christmas.

And to compound matters, the most competent member of the front office appears to be bolting. Perhaps it says something about how far Tottenham have fallen that executive Fabio Paratici is flirting with a move to Fiorentina, the literal worst team in Serie A this season.

Tottenham could be in crisis

Every big transfer reporter is calling it a close move, including Fabrizio Romano, and now the other titan of Italian football journalism, Gianluca Di Marzio, is saying the same. Per Di Marzio, Fiorentina boss Rocco Commisso and Fabio Paratici are in "advanced talks", and the Tottenham Hotspur man is "increasingly close" to a move to Florence. Di Marzio says that "everything points" to a switch being completed, and Tottenham themselves will come to an official decision in the coming "few days".

The deal is set to be a 4.5 year contract that would make Paratici the center of an ambitious rebuild. Fiorentina were one of the biggest risers in European football last season, coaxing breakout seasons out of players like Moise Kean and Dodo. This season, they have been the polar opposite and an embarrassment, ruing the appointment of former Serie A title winning AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli, who was coaching in Saudi Arabia before moving back to Italian football.

Tottenham without Paratici is a definite cause for concern for Spurs supporters, because it leaves the underwhelming Johan Lange as the main executive voice in terms of club decisions in the transfer market. Lange has a mixed track record, whereas Paratici has a proven one and helped build the nucleus responsible for the Europa League triumph. Worse yet, the imminent Paratici departure seems to hint at an overarching aura of dysfunction at the N17.

Tottenham Hotspur, speaking overall, did enjoy a productive summer 2025 transfer window. They made Mathys Tel's loan from Bayern Munich permanent, added Joao Palhinha on loan from the Bavarian giants, bagged striker Randal Kolo Muani on loan on transfer deadline day from Champions League winners PSG (though he played for Juventus during that time), and had both Xavi Simon and Mohammed Kudus as crown jewel signings of the period.

The thing is, though, Tottenham's list of transfers they missed out on, once again, was even better than the players they signed. They failed to bring in Savinho near the end of the window from Manchester City, and they also lost out on marquee Man City signing Rayan Cherki at the beginning of the window.

Both Eberechi Eze and Christian Norgaard rejected Spurs for rivals Arsenal. Yoane Wissa spurned Thomas Frank to sign up with Newcastle United. Bryan Mbeumo did the same, penning a contract with Europa League Final rivals Manchester United. And Morgan Gibbs-White pulled the rug out from under Tottenham by signing a contract extension with Nottingham Forest after owner Evangelos Marinakis threw a tantrum when Spurs activated his hidden release clause.

Tottenham's regret will haunt them

But if you ask many Spurs fans, the transfer they regret not making the most was Morgan Rogers, who would have completed their ailing attack perfectly as a proven source of progression, creation, and even goal scoring from that left flank, as well as playing other positions.

Well, Rogers only made the Tottenham transfer regret even stronger on Sunday with a game winning performance against Manchester United - the same team Spurs could not beat this season. Aston Villa won 2-1 behind Rogers's two goals, and his first goal was completely out of nowhere with a beautiful touch, dribble around Leny Yoro, and a curled finished that left the Man United keeper rooted to the spot. Arjen Robben would be proud.

Rogers did have an awful start to the season, but he has redeemed himself since, and this one performance against Manchester United both epitomizes his game changing ability and was far beyond anything any Spurs attacker (aside from Kolo Muani against PSG) has produced in an individual display this season.

Tottenham are going to be back in for Savinho this January transfer window after Antoine Semenyo apparently turned them down, but you have to wonder if Spurs fans will try to push the club to finally make a real effort for Rogers.

Tottenham is having yet another disastrous season. It was the same last campaign, but there was at least light at the end of the tunnel with that Europa League win in sight.

Unlike Ange Postecoglou, though, there is no silver lining for Thomas Frank. It feels like the Dane is coaching on borrowed time, and it would be a miracle if he made it far into the new year, let alone the end of the season.

Look, coaches should always be given time. That's simply the bare minimum. However, plenty of time has already been given to Thomas Frank, and the higher a club's ambitions, the less time new coaches are given before a decision needs to be made.

Arsenal legend throws a not-so-subtle dig at Thomas Frank

Speaking to Sky Sports, Paul Merson took a scathing jab at Thomas Frank, but it's seriously difficult to criticize the former Arsenal defender.

In his own words, Merson said: "Thomas Frank earned his strips at Brentford, he’s taken that step up but I don’t think he’s read the script... For example, telling the Tottenham fans they’re not real fans, you can’t do that. I’m not a Tottenham man but those fans are loyal, they turn up every week 60 thousand of them, they don’t see great football every week, and they keep turning up."

"These fans pay a lot of money to see Spurs play, you take your 2 kids, get a drink, a burger and a program and you’re paying a lot of money. They’re allowed to voice their opinion if it’s not going well."

"All Tottenham fans ask is to be brave, work hard and be brave. I’ll give Maddison his due, he’s one of them, gives it away a lot but doesn’t shy from the ball, and I think it’s bang out of order what Thomas Frank has been saying, so I can see why Spurs fans haven’t taken to him."

Weirdly, Tottenham fans agree with Paul Merson

Look, you'll rarely find Paul Merson saying anything positive about Tottenham. That's important context to take into account whenever he voices a Spurs take.

However, that context aside, where's the lie?

Paul Merson is only voicing what every Tottenham fan already knows about Thomas Frank, and if anything, he's been lenient on the Tottenham gaffer. On a different day, he would have been justified to say 10x worse things. Tottenham fans already have.

Thomas Frank is like a bull in a China shop right now. Not only tactically speaking, but his mannerisms don't help at all. Tottenham fans might overlook the poor performances, but his collateral damage in post-match interviews is just not it.

He persistently throws players under the bus, takes the blame away from himself, and acts in manners that break every unspoken rule in the book. There is no way a manager should ever clap the home fans after a loss. Especially the fans that he called fake not so long ago.

It might be painful to hear a former Arsenal player voice Tottenham fans' concerns, but that's where the club is at right now.

For most of the summer 2025 transfer window, then RB Leipzig star attacking midfielder Xavi Simons appeared to be very close to a move to Chelsea. It was only in the end of the battle that Chelsea seemed to drag their feet, leading Tottenham Hotspur to swoop in out of nowhere and sign him as a Plan B after the awful Morgan Gibbs-White saga in which Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis unprofessionally blocked the transfer of a player on a valid release clause.

Simons, in the end, was then really a Plan C option to Eberechi Eze as well. Eze, a local London hero who had just won the FA Cup as the clear star of a Michael Olise less Crystal Palace attack, was set to join Tottenham. At the last second, childhood club Arsenal sealed his signature with a slightly sweeter offer to the Eagles, leaving Spurs holding the bag.

Tottenham came away from the entire ordeal actually being happy with their catch. Simons turned out to be cheaper than the other options and is even younger. In theory, he had even more upside despite not being proven at the Premier League level.

Xavi Simons was poor vs. Liverpool

But after another poor performance that came with a red card as a cherry on top, Chelsea and Arsenal have to be looking at the Simons transfer and thinking that they came out on top. It's not like their alternatives, Alejandro Garnacho and Eze, have been totally lighting it up either, but Garnacho's Carabao Cup displays and Eze's menacing hat trick in the embarrassing Spurs North London Derby defeat both outweight Simons's minimal production.

Obviously, Simons has not been helped by Thomas Frank, the tactics, the overall setup, or players around him like Richarlison this season. But he has to take some accountability for his struggles, especially since he is one of the very few 60 million pound transfers in the history of the Spurs.

Simons has just two truly great games all season long, and they were against bottom feeders in Brentford and West Ham in games Spurs dominated. But Simons is not elevating the team in more difficult games, and against opponents like Liverpool, Manchester United, and both Chelsea and Arsenal off the bench, he is a non factor. And he just held his team back against the Reds. Simons has to do more in the big games, otherwise Arsenal and Chelsea will not regret missing out one bit.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters are hoping for one more marquee attacking addition in the January transfer window. Spurs brought in Randal Kolo Muani on loan, as well as both Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus, to beef up their attack in the summer transfer window, and while it has been a bit of a bumpy road for Simons and Kolo Muani (for various reasons), they have proven to be assets to Spurs. And Kudus has been indispensable, easily one of the best signings of the summer by any Premier League franchise.

But Tottenham still have a major goals problem, which is to be expected when players of the caliber of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have left the club in recent succession. By and large, Spurs fans want to see the club go after a goal scoring left winger this winter to help fill the biggest void in the side.

The problem is that the dream transfer target, Antoine Semenyo, does not seem interested at all in joining Tottenham, which comes as no surprise to the smartly cynical Spurs fans, who had already noted his childhood affinity for Arsenal FC.

An Antoine Semenyo alternative

Tottenham now have to pivot to Semenyo alternatives, and there is no name spoken about more than Savinho, who was strongly on Spurs transfer radar in August. Savinho was their top winger transfer target at the end of the transfer window, but Manchester City were unwilling to part ways with the Brazilian star, especially with Rodrygo Goes not coming the other way from Real Madrid.

In an appearance on the NBC Sports broadcast of Aston Villa vs. Manchester United, The Athletic's David Ornstein reported, via The Spurs Watch, that while Tottenham Hotspur have been rejected by Antoine Semenyo, they remain strongly interested in Savinho from Manchester City. They could reportedly make another move for the Brazilian standout this winter transfer window after their failed approach in the summer stanza.

Savinho has barely featured for Man City this season with just four Premier League starts, and he has honestly been pretty terrible in them, too. But Savinho has been very good in the Champions League, including a dazzling performance off the bench against Real Madrid in which he cooked up a previously dominant Alvaro Carreras.

The problem with Savinho is that he is left footed and best on the right wing, and he is also more of a creative winger like Mohammed Kudus. It is not a direct fit for what Spurs need in terms of goals on the left like an Antoine Semenyo or even an Ademola Lookman would provide.

Thomas Frank has bought himself no favor with Tottenham Hotspur supporters in the past month. The loss to Arsenal in the North London Derby will simply not be washed off the palate that easily, and Spurs fans were only sickened even more by the 3-0 drubbing at the hands of an otherwise unimpressive Nottingham Forest side.

This past weekend, Tottenham lost again 2-1 to Liverpool, and while Frank avoided another hefty dose of criticism by virtue of the two red cards that muddied the game, it is truly hard to say that there has been any tangible improvement from Spurs under this failing manager.

And what incenses Spurs supporters even more is his treatment of some of the team's most promising players, and, right now, there is no situation Spurs fans are taking greater umbrage with than the incessant benching of potential breakout star Mathys Tel.

Mathys Tel is fully COYS

The former Bayern Munich man has been COYS from day one, and he has scored some important goals this season as a striker, too. Tel was vital against Leeds United and then Manchester United off the bench, and when he does play, even when it is as a substitute, he shows a real spark and a level of class above that of his teammates athletically and in his desire to get after goal.

And yet, Thomas Frank has inexplicably left Mathys Tel on the bench in every Premier League game since Oct. 19 against Aston Villa. That means it has been more than two months since Tel last started in the league, even though he has literally been playing well and showing a lot more short term and long term value than schlubs like Richarlison.

Tottenham fans are growing tired of the same excuses, the same tired lineups, and the weekly cowardice exhibited by Frank. He left Tel to rot on the bench again in the loss to Liverpool, only bringing the Frenchman on for peanuts in the previous game against Nottingham Forest for 10 minuts with Spurs already dead to rights. And nothing, not even a second on the pitch, in the loss to Liverpool with nine men out there.

This is not how you treat rising stars. Tel has done literally everything right and holds a lot more long term value to this club than Richarlison, who ideally will not be in the squad at all when the 2026/27 season kicks off. As Spurs think about signing a new winger, maybe they should actually give Tel a dang chance.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters are itching for the club to make the sort of big, serious transfer moves that an organization that is serious about winning trophies even bigger than the Europa League title would make. Spurs like to sell their fans on the story that this is what they are after, and they have been doing an especially hard job of selling that dream to supporters after canning Daniel Levy.

But after not adding a top left winger or striker to the side to replace the goals vacated by prime Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Tottenham are left with an attack that is almost entirely carried by Randal Kolo Muani and Mohammed Kudus.

Looking ahead to the January transfer window, Spurs supporters were slightly getting their hopes up for Bournemouth star left winger Antoine Semenyo, who has raised his cachet significantly with a sick start to the 2025/26 Premier League season. And with a 65 million pound release clause, the excuse of price can not be made for the Ghanaian international, who won't even miss AFCON this year either.

David Ornstein drops the hammer

But unfortunately, Tottenham Hotspur seem to have slipped out of the heated transfer battle for Semenyo entirely, with Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City now seemingly the last men standing for the Bournemouth man.

In an appearance on the NBC Sports broadcast during Sunday's coverage of Manchester United vs. Aston Villa, top transfer insider David Ornstein reported, via Spurs Zone, that the issue with Tottenham not signing Antoine Semenyo is not financial. Per Ornstein, Spurs were very interested in Semenyo and were indeed ready to meet his wage demands, but he basically politely told them no thank you, I will be looking elsewhere.

Basically, Spurs, as with Bryan Mbeumo and Rayan Cherki this past summer transfer window, got rejected by Manchester United and Manchester City for a top transfer target. That only solidifies Spurs standing as being a step below the other Big Six clubs, to the point where you wonder if their consistently poor performances in the Premier League have permanently placed them below the others, even as they literally beat Man United in the Europa League Final.

Tottenham are going to have to go back to the drawing board with Semenyo now fully in the rearview mirror, and now you had better believe that the mumblings of a move for a player like Manchester City stars Savinho and Omar Marmoush will increase.