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Tottenham are close to completing a deal with Santos for Brazilian left-back Souza.

A fee of around £13m has been agreed for the 19-year-old. Final conversations revolve around the structure of the deal.

The player is also believed to be keen to join Tottenham, with personal terms agreed in principle

The club has already been looking to be active in the market. Earlier this weekend, it was announced that Mohammed Kudus will be out until after the March international break with a quad injury.

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Souza played 29 games for Santos last season, and will give Thomas Frank more options on the left side of defence.

Right-back Djed Spence has been deputising there while Destiny Udogie is sidelined with a hamstring injury. Ben Davies only returned to action in the weekend's draw against Sunderland.

'Souza already on Ancelotti's radar for the World Cup'

South American football expert Tim Vickery on Sky Sports News:

"He is very impressive. He is a 19-year-old left-back, very physically strong. Great footballer and very versatile. He defends well and attacks well.

"Can go on the outside and can also cut in on the inside. He has had a difficult debut season, playing for Santos in a relegation battle and they only just avoided relegation.

"Santos, on the one hand, you have the tradition of Pele and the greatest club side in the world at one point but on the other side they represent a small city. The fans are so demanding.

"For him to come through, fighting relegation, and doing very well, it speaks volumes. He is already on the radar of Carlo Ancelotti for the Brazil team."

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Thomas Frank believes he has earned the right to have more time in charge at Tottenham as the pressure continues to mount on the head coach.

Wednesday's defeat to Bournemouth leaves Tottenham languishing 14th in the Premier League, with just one win in their last six in all competitions.

A poor night was compounded by more unrest from supporters and club captain Cristian Romero seemingly criticising the club's hierarchy on social media.

Despite the turbulence, Frank believes he has done enough to deserve patience.

Spurs' night of woe: Romero's social media post, Frank's Arsenal cup and fan unrest

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"No doubt about that. Put it this way, would we love to be higher in the table and have more points? 100 per cent," Frank said in his pre-match press conference ahead of his side's FA Cup third round tie against Aston Villa.

"We work hard every single day to make sure we perform well. We want to land in the best possible position at the end of the season.

"We need to look at the FA Cup game, a good opportunity against Villa, a team who is flying in this moment in time. The tournament is very important for the fans, we won it eight times in our history. This is a tough spell, we will get through this.

"We definitely want to do more [from an attacking point of view]. We have scored enough goals."

Frank also conceded that the style of play under his tenure hadn't matched that of the expectations of fans, but claimed that they were working hard to find a way to match the 'ethos' of Tottenham.

"It's a fair question. We spoke about that frustration. It's the ethos of the club, it's something we're working very hard on," he said.

"I see myself as above average intelligence. I am very aware of that. My teams have always created chances and scored goals.

"This team will do the same. It's fair to say we have been lacking in some of the tough, free-flowing offensive players that we've had in the last few seasons.

"That's part of the challenge, and part of other bits we need to work hard on every day to improve it."

Kudus out of action until March

To make matters worse for Frank and Tottenham, winger Mohammed Kudus is set for a spell on the sidelines as Frank revealed that the Ghanian is set to miss at least two months of action with a quad injury.

Kudus missed the trip to the Vitality Stadium, with Frank confirming that he is not expected to return until after the March international break, while also providing updates on Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.

"Lucas Bergvall is being assessed today. We will know more later today with him," Frank said. "Same with Rodrigo Bentancur. It looks like a hamstring injury, a bigger one. We don't know the timeframe of that one.

"Kudus is a bigger one in the quad. That's one where we expect him back after the March international break.

"The latest on Kulusevski, we know it's a complicated injury. If there's one person that can accelerate then it's Dejan. A top pro and top mentality.

"The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee. We have an injection to help that 10 days ago. We will know in three to four weeks, it will settle. When it settles, he will be on the grass."

Kudus injury comes at worst time for Frank

Injuries never come at a good time, but for Frank, losing Kudus now is a bitter pill to swallow.

Spurs have struggled offensively since Frank took charge, but Kudus has routinely been one of their brighter sparks. The former West Ham man leads the way with assists in the Premier League for the club, is top when it comes to take-ons and also third in chances created.

Add to that the fact he is also the biggest threat from crosses, delivering the second most in the team and completing the most, the fact Frank will be unable to rely on him at a time where he is being called out for a lack of entertaining football is a dagger.

Frank spoke about the 'ethos' of the club being one of entertainment, but a combination of his approach and the players he has at his disposal right now have meant that Tottenham games have become far from a must-see.

Unless Spurs choose to act in the transfer market and bring in a replacement for Kudus that fits said ethos, Frank may have to focus on ditching the idea of expansive football altogether and just try to win by any means necessary to buy himself the time he believes he has already earned.

Callum Bishop

Tottenham's next six fixtures

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Tottenham captain Cristian Romero appeared to blast the club's hierarchy for "lies" in a now-edited social media post.

Following Wednesday's 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth, which leaves Spurs 14th in the Premier League table, Romero took to Instagram in the early hours to post a cryptic message, which seemed to be aimed at those above him.

It read: "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."

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However, the post, which has been supported by team-mates Richarlison and Pedro Porro, has since been edited to remove the words "to tell a few lies".

Romero's full post now reads: "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. I am the first. 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.

"We'll stay here, working, sticking together and giving our all to turn things around. Especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together is part of football.

"All together, it will be easier."

Spurs players involved in fan disputes

Romero's post came after centre-back partner Micky van de Ven, Porro and midfielder Joao Palhinha were involved in post-match confrontations with the Spurs fans.

Following a winless start to 2026, the away fans on the south coast showed their disgruntlement at full-time after Antoine Semenyo's stoppage-time winner ended Bournemouth's 11-game winless run.

Van de Ven, Porro and Palhinha all had separate heated exchanges with the travelling support in a repeat of last season's scenes at the Vitality Stadium, where former boss Ange Postecoglou was met with abuse by the away end.

Palhinha told Sky Sports: "It was just the supporters were sharing their frustrations. We, of course, understand, we respect them first of all.

"I just said we are fighting for all the same.

"We want to win, not just the players, the staff and the supporters. We are trying to get the wins that, in my opinion, we deserve in the last games."

Frank drinks from Arsenal-branded cup

Under-fire Tottenham boss Thomas Frank said it would have been "completely stupid" to knowingly drink from an Arsenal-branded cup before the loss at Bournemouth.

The Dane's unfortunate gaffe sparked outrage among sections of Spurs' disgruntled fanbase after pictures circulated on social media.

"I definitely didn't notice it," Frank said of the cup.

"I think it's fair to say we're not winning every single football match so it would be absolutely, completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal's (emblem on).

"They have been in the changing room the game before us. It's normal to take a cup, give me an espresso, I do that before every game, so I think actually it's a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked a question about that.

"We're definitely going in the wrong direction if we need to be worry about me having a cup with a logo of another club. Of course I would never do that. That's extremely stupid."

The loss left Tottenham with just two wins from their last 12 top-flight games.

"I think it's fair to say everyone involved in Tottenham, it's a tough one to take today," said Frank.

"Hopefully everyone can see how hard we worked to get everything in the right direction.

"Overall the performance was good, especially the second half, in a game where we deserved to get more.

"That is extremely painful to be part of, so of course people are frustrated - that's natural.

"It's very tough to sit here right now and we haven't got anything out of overall a good performance."

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