Inside Futbol

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank has emphasised that, whether as a head coach or a manager, titles carry little weight and that success depends on close collaboration across the club, amid Manchester United‘s sacking of Ruben Amorim.

Frank was appointed head coach of Tottenham in the summer, arriving from Brentford to succeed Ange Postecoglou following a campaign in which the Lilywhites finished 17th in the league, despite securing Europa League glory.

His time at Brentford began in 2016 when he joined as assistant head coach alongside Richard O’Kelly, before being promoted to head coach two years later, a role he held until his departure in 2025.

Amorim recently expressed a desire to be treated as the manager rather than just the head coach during a press conference at the weekend, shortly before he was dismissed by the Red Devils, with a breakdown in relations with director of football Jason Wilcox.

When asked about the differences between a head coach and a manager, Frank said that, these days, most clubs have a sports or technical director overseeing operations, with someone always above the coach or manager, whether the chairman of the board, the CEO, or other senior leadership.

The 52-year-old made it clear that, regardless of job title, managers do not have full control over spending or decision-making, and it is not simply a matter of opening the club’s coffers and signing players without accountability.

He stressed that success comes from a collaborative approach, with alignment between the head coach, sporting directors, ownership, and leadership, and that while disagreements and competition are inevitable, unity across the club’s leadership is crucial for achieving the best results.

Club Years Blackburn Rovers 1989-1999 Leeds United 1999-2004 Leicester City 2004-2006 Blackpool (loan) 2005-2006 Blackpool 2006 Jason Wilcox’s playing career

Frank said at a press conference (5:01): “I don’t know. I think these days it’s more or less that, at all clubs, there is a sports director or a technical director, or whatever we call it.

“There’s definitely one above you, no matter if you’re a manager or a head coach.

“If you’re manager, I guess it’s the chairman of the board, or what is it, or sometimes the CEO.

“I think there are different constructions in clubs, but most likely, no matter if you’re the head coach or the manager, it’s not like you just got the key for the money box, just opening it and pulling out millions and just buying players and having no responsibility.

“So, for me, no matter what kind of title you have, it always needs to be collaborative between the head coach, the sports director, ownership, leadership, so you’re completely aligned in what you do.

“Then sometimes there will be disagreements. We all push. We’re all competitive, but that needs to be completely aligned.

“And again, that’s where the biggest success you see is coming.”

With the transfer window open, Frank will be eager to ensure his vision is aligned with sporting director Johan Lange at N17, allowing Tottenham to recruit players suited to his system and capable of driving the team forward.

Spurs currently sit 13th in the league table, yet are just four points off the top five in a Premier League season that remains fiercely competitive.

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Tottenham Hotspur were unhappy with Yang Min-hyeok’s lack of game time at Portsmouth and he is now set to join Coventry City for the rest of the campaign, according to journalist Chris Wise.

The South Korean started his career with Gangwon FC, where he made a name for himself as a top prospect for the future.

Spurs identified Yang and quickly paid a fee of around €4m to the South Korean outfit and he came to Tottenham last winter from his home soil.

In the second half of last term, Yang was sent on loan to Championship side QPR and then R’s boss Marti Cifuentes hailed him for his attacking instincts.

Tottenham then sent him on a fresh loan spell, to Portsmouth, in the summer.

However, the teenage winger found it hard to see game time at Fratton Park, as John Mousinho preferred Josh Murphy ahead of him, even though he impressed with his performances during Murphy’s injury absence.

The Pompey boss even hailed him for his performances, stressing why he should feel on top of the world.

However, Yang scored only once following his impressive run in mid-October and now he has left the Fratton Park outfit.

Star Yang Min-hyeok Ashley Phillips Alfie Devine Will Lankshear Jamie Donley Tottenham stars on loan at Championship clubs

It has been suggested that the Premier League club recalled him from his Portsmouth loan on Monday, as they ‘weren’t content’ with the game time he was getting at Pompey.

He played close to 700 league minutes at Portsmouth and now he is set to join promotion hopefuls Coventry City for the second half of the current campaign.

And it has been suggested that the Sky Blues have promised Spurs to deliver Yang more minutes at the Midlands club.

Frank Lampard’s side have been looking to bring in wingers this month and they were hopeful of securing Romain Esse from Crystal Palace.

But now it looks like Tottenham talent Yang is going to be the new Coventry winger; he scored three league goals for Pompey in the first half of the campaign.

Spurs will hope to see the South Korean play week in week out to help the Sky Blues get to the Premier League by the end of the season.

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Newly appointed Vejle Boldklub manager Claus Norgaard has defended his decision not to follow Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur, to instead take up the manager’s role at the relegation-threatened Danish Superliga team.

The 46-year-old, who has previous experience as a full-time manager, had been working as Frank’s assistant at Brentford before Frank was roped in by Tottenham last summer to succeed Ange Postecoglou.

Norgaard was given the chance to follow his manager through the doors of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but he had other ideas in his mind.

He took time off and has now taken the job of boss of Danish Superliga outfit Vejle.

It is not going to be an easy job for Norgaard, who has to pick the team up from the bottom of the Danish top-flight table following a poor first half of the season.

Explaining his decision not to follow Frank to Tottenham, Norgaard insists that he felt the best thing to do was to travel and believes that it did prove to be the best call.

Asked about potentially heading with Frank to Tottenham, Norgaard told Viaplay (via Tipsbladet): “That was the case, and it still is, but given the situation, it was best for me to take the opportunity to travel.

Job Denmark U16s Denmark U17s Denmark U19s Brondby Brentford Tottenham Hotspur Thomas Frank’s managerial jobs

“It will always require making choices and compromises, so I think it was the best solution.

“I have come to the conclusion that I think it was the right thing for me and my family.”

Norgaard’s Brentford boss Frank has been under pressure at Tottenham of late, with one former top flight star insisting that he is struggling with the gigantic stature of the club.

Frank also has a number of Spurs fans who are far from convinced by his appointment, but he recently stressed the side are in a transition period and he can win over disgruntled supporters by winning games.

He will have to do that without Norgaard at his side however.

The new Vejle boss will face his first Danish Superliga game in charge against Fredericia in early February and Frank will surely hope to see him succeed, even if it would make the chance of an early reunion more remote.

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Tottenham Hotspur face needing to improve their offer for Santos star Souza after they had a €10m bid knocked back by the Brazilian side.

Spurs are swinging into action in the January transfer window and have just offloaded Brennan Johnson to Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, bringing in around £35m.

Young defender Kota Takai has been loaned to Borussia Monchengladbach, delighting the German club’s sporting director, while Manor Solomon has vowed to keep Fiorentina in Serie A after swapping Villarreal for the Italians on another loan.

Tottenham also want to do incoming business and they are keen to land Santos’ left-back Souza.

Now Spurs have solidified that interest by putting in an offer for Souza, of €10m, which has been turned down by the Brazilians.

Spurs face needing to improve their offer as, according to Spanish journalist Eduardo Burgos, Santos ‘will not accept’ any offers below €12m to €15m.

Santos are ‘counting on’ Souza and are not keen to offload him, but ‘more offers are expected’ and are likely to test the Brazilian side, who appear to have an idea of the level at which they would do business.

Souza came through the youth set-up at Santos and broke into the first team in 2024.

Left-back Age Souza 19 Gonzalo Escobar 28 Kevyson 21 Vinicius Lira 18 Santos’ left-back options

He helped Santos to a finish of 12th in the Brazilian Serie A last year and further burnished his credentials.

The defender also has interest from AC Milan, who have also tried to reach an agreement to secure his signature.

Tottenham can deploy their superior financial firepower if needed and it may be a question of how badly Spurs want to take the Brazilian to north London this month.

Souza, who is due to turn 20 years old in June, chipped in with two assists and a goal in Brazil’s Serie A last year.

He has been capped by the country at international level, appearing for Brazil’s Under-17s earlier in his career.

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Fixture: Tottenham Hotspur vs Sunderland

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 15:00 UK time

Thomas Frank has picked his Tottenham lineup vs Sunderland for this afternoon’s Premier League contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The former Brentford boss is continuing to come in for criticism and a dull 0-0 draw away at his old club last time out did nothing to dampen it.

There are concerns that Frank could well be unsuited to the Tottenham job and the draw at Brentford provided his critics with ammunition.

Frank has shrugged off worries over the style of play and insists that Tottenham remain in transition.

He has also made a big call by selling Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace, with the Wales international having regularly provided an attacking threat for Tottenham.

Spurs cult hero Jurgen Klinsmann though has somewhat backed up the decision by explaining in his view, Johnson will not be prolific.

Now Frank must steer Tottenham back to winning ways against Sunderland, a side he feels have ‘done fantastically’ in the Premier League this season, noting their solid backline.

The two sides last met in 2017, playing out a 0-0 draw.

Guglielmo Vicario is between the sticks in the Tottenham lineup vs Sunderland, while to keep things tight at the back, Frank picks Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies.

In the centre of the pitch, Tottenham look towards Rodrigo Bentancur and Archie Gray, while Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel support Richarlison in attack.

Frank has options off the bench if he needs to change his Tottenham lineup vs Sunderland today and they include Kevin Danso and Lucas Bergvall.

Tottenham Hotspur Lineup vs Sunderland

Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies, Bentancur, Gray, Kudus, Odobert, Tel, Richarlison

Substitutes: Kinsky, Dragusin, Danso, Palhinha, Bergvall, Spence, Kolo Muani, Scarlett, Williams-Barnett

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Tottenham Hotspur winger Manor Solomon has expressed his optimism about contributing with quality at Fiorentina and claimed that La Viola will survive in Serie A.

On Friday, the London-based club confirmed that they had recalled Solomon from his season-long loan spell at Spanish club Villarreal, where he made five goal contributions in eleven appearances.

Solomon was then sent out to Fiorentina, a club under new sporting director Fabio Paratici, with the move being seen by the Italians as ‘an important first signal’.

At Fiorentina, Solomon will be entrusted with the job of pulling the club out of the dire straits they currently find themselves in, at the bottom of Serie A.

The Florentine club have work to do to pick themselves up, something the Tottenham-contracted man wants to assist with.

Assuring the fans via his first interaction with them, Solomon insisted that he is positive about contributing to the team with his quality.

“I haven’t seen much recently, I’ve just watched a few clips of recent matches”, Solomon told Fiorentina’s media.

Team Points 14th – Cagliari 18 15th – Parma 18 16th – Lecce 17 17th – Genoa 15 18th – Pisa 12 19th – Hellas Verona 12 20th – Fiorentina 9 Bottom of Serie A

“I know the team are going through a tough time, the club want to get out of it, and I’ll try to contribute with quality. I’m sure we can do it.

“It will be a great challenge for me, but also for the team.

“As I said, it’s a tough time, but we’ll bounce back, I’m sure of it.

“We can do much better than this; the team are strong and have an excellent coach, we can do much better in everything.”

Solomon shone brightly for Leeds United last season as he helped the Whites to win the Championship title and earn promotion to the Premier League.

The winger was linked with a return to Leeds in the summer, but no move came about and instead he headed to Spain.

His performances left such an impression on former Leeds manager Simon Grayson that he insisted that opposition defenders felt clueless about how to stop Solomon.

Now the winger will want to help Fiorentina to preserve their Serie A status before then considering his future next summer.

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Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Rouven Schroder has hailed Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Kota Takai for his physicality and speed.

The north Londoners had some defensive issues last season, with the likes of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven spending time on the sidelines due to injury issues.

They also lost Radu Dragusin, but brought in Kevin Danso in the winter transfer window.

Despite having a number of centre-backs on the books, Tottenham still signed young Japanese centre-back Takai from Kawasaki Frontale, after the clubs agreed on a £5m deal for him.

Given the number of options Thomas Frank has to choose from, Takai has not been likely to get the game time needed.

And now they have sent him on loan to Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach for the rest of the campaign.

Die Fohlen’s sporting director, Schroder, has welcomed the 21-year-old Spurs centre-back, who he believes will be able to help the German club immediately.

The 50-year-old is impressed with Takai’s big stature in the backline, as he stressed that the Japanese has good pace to recover balls.

Centre-back option Radu Dragusin Kevin Danso Cristian Romero Micky van de Ven Ben Davies Archie Gray Tottenham’s first team centre-back options

“Kota is a tall, physically strong centre-back who also possesses good speed”, Schroder told Die Fohlen’s official website about the Japan international’s arrival.

“He has what it takes to help us soon.

“We are looking forward to our new number 14.”

The Japanese defender has travelled to Germany to link up with Die Fohlen and trained with his new team-mates.

He will the number 14 shirt for the German top-flight outfit during his loan spell.

Another Spurs defender, in the shape of Luka Vuskovic, is also on loan in the Bundesliga at Hamburg, and he has been receiving praise from his team-mates for his performances.

Vuskovic is very highly rated by the north Londoners, who do not want to sell him permanently; now, he will come up against Takai.

Takai will look to clock regular game time at Die Fohlen, as he will surely aim to be part of Hajime Moriyasu’s Japan squad for the upcoming World Cup.

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Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach do not have any option to buy Tottenham Hotspur talent Kota Takai at the end of his loan spell, and talk suggesting otherwise is ‘wide of the mark’, according to journalist Sam Tabuteau.

Tottenham agreed a fee to sign the 21-year-old defender from Kawasaki Frontale last summer and the Japanese is regarded as an exciting prospect for the future in north London.

With Spurs unable to give him enough first team minutes, they have decided to let him head to Bundesliga side Gladbach on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

It has been suggested in Germany that Eugen Polanski’s team have an option to buy Takai at the end of the loan, which would give rise to the prospect of Takai’s leaving Tottenham without having ever kicked the ball for them on the pitch.

However, Tottenham have not agreed to include an option to buy in the loan deal.

Talk otherwise is ‘wide of the mark’ and Takai, 21, will be playing for Gladbach as part of a simple loan agreement.

It remains to be seen if Tottenham are open to extending the loan next summer in the event that Takai makes an impact in Germany with Gladbach.

Game Competition Hannover Friendly Augsburg (H) Bundesliga Hoffenheim (A) Bundesliga Gladbach’s next three games

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Takai finds himself down the pecking order with the likes of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven being ahead of him.

Takai, a Japan international, will be keen to play as much as he can to keep his international ambitions firmly on track.

Having played for Japan from Under-15 level, Takai has long been marked out as a player who can make a difference for the Blue Samuari.

He joins a Gladbach team sitting in 12th spot in the Bundesliga and hoping for an improvement in the second half of the campaign.

Gladbach are due to host Augsburg on 11th January in their next outing.

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Everton and Sunderland were keen on landing Brennan Johnson from Tottenham Hotspur, but Crystal Palace successfully fought them off, according to the News Shopper.

The Wales international has completed a £35m move to Crystal Palace from Spurs, handing Oliver Glasner another attacking weapon.

Johnson, who could now make his Eagles debut against Newcastle United this weekend, did have other options though and could have headed elsewhere.

Everton boss David Moyes was keen to take him to Merseyside, while Sunderland wanted to put Johnson at the disposal of Regis Le Bris.

Johnson wanted to stay in London, which joining Crystal Palace has ensured, while he is also keen to play in the club’s Conference League campaign.

Neither Everton or Sunderland could offer European football and their attempts to land Johnson fell on deaf ears.

Scoring goals on a consistent basis has remained a real issue for Everton, with in December, Richard Keys bemoaning how blunt the Toffees were looking.

Landing Johnson could have boosted Everton and it remains to be seen where else they might now look during this month’s transfer window.

Sunderland have lost a number of players to the Africa Cup of Nations, but Le Bris’ side still picked up a point against Manchester City on New Year’s Day.

Le Bris has insisted Sunderland will be opportunistic in the transfer window and the Black Cats boss looks to have seen Johnson as an opportunity.

Despite Sunderland sitting a lofty seventh in the Premier League standings, just a place and a point above Everton, their goal difference is just plus two.

With only 20 goals scored, Sunderland have managed the same number of goals as Moyes’ goal-shy Everton side.

It is also a total which is a whopping ten fewer than the next nearest scorers above them in the Premier League table and is likely to be viewed as an improvement area by Le Bris.

Even third from bottom West Ham United have found the back of the net more times than Everton and Sunderland have this season.

The Hammers are also in the process of adding to their attack in this month’s window.

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Tottenham Hotspur ‘do hold an interest’ in tenage Santos left-back Souza, according to journalist Tom Barclay.

The north Londoners endured a difficult last season in the league, despite winning the Europa League under former boss Ange Postecoglou, which booked a Champions League ticket.

The Australian was sacked for Thomas Frank, but already one former Tottenham star thinks the ex-Brentford boss is not the right fit.

Spurs signed the likes of Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus in the summer window, while completing key loans of Joao Palhinha and Randal Kolo Muani.

However, they are struggling with proper left-back options, as Italian star Destiny Udogie has not been able to get rid of his injury issues consistently.

Experienced Welsh defender Ben Davies can also play as a left-back, but the ageing star is being looked at by Nice.

Frank has played England defender Djed Spence at left-back, while young versatile star Archie Gray has been deployed in a makeshift left-sided full-back role.

Left-back option Destiny Udogie Djed Spence Ben Davies Archie Gray Tottenham’s left-back options

Spurs currently sit 12th in the league table, and are looking to do some business this month; they started the window by selling Brennan Johnson, who is expected to play against Newcastle United this weekend.

It remains to be seen if they will look to replace the Welshman this month, but they are keen on bringing in a new left-back.

And now it has been confirmed that the north Londoners ‘do hold an interest’ in teenage Brazilian left-back Souza.

The 19-year-old full-back plays for Brazilian Serie A club Santos, where he teams up with Neymar.

His talent has been recognised for a while in Brazil, as he featured for Brazil’s Under-17 side, making 12 appearances for his nation.

In the recently concluded Brazilian Serie A season, he featured for the first team and for the Santos Under-20 side; he has played 38 senior games for Alvinegro Praiano.

Souza’s contract runs until the end of 2028 and it remains to be seen if Spurs will look to make a move for the 19-year-old this month.