Last week, it was revealed that Thomas Frank met with ENIC Group and walked out of the meeting with the support of Tottenham Hotspur’s board.
However, since then the Londoners have suffered another defeat at home, this time to struggling Liverpool, and the pressure has undoubtedly increased. Still, pundits such as Jamie Redknapp reiterate the position that the Danish manager needs time to correct the many mistakes he made at N17.
Redknapp is right and Tottenham’s stars need to step up. But with so much left to be desired in defense, who in the Lilywhites squad has what it takes to step up and get the team back to the forefront of Premier League football?
Who can lead Frank’s Spurs team to success?
In recent years, Tottenham have lost Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to overseas transfers. It is difficult to argue that such a talismanic figure was virtually replaced.
Now a new star needs to step up. The Argentina captain was sent off in last weekend’s game against Ibrahima Konate, and it is debatable whether Cristian Romero is the man to take charge.
Spurs need their players to step up to lead the club to success after a first half of the 2025-26 season that highlighted the fact that there was too much driftwood when it came to Frank’s outfits.
Too often Spurs spend big money on players like Richarlison and Dominic Solanke. They both reached sums in the region of £60m, but it’s hard to argue that either striker achieved legitimate success.
The worst player is probably Tanguy Ndombele, who was signed from Lyon for a club-record £63 million in 2019.
Journalist Paul Brown called the lazy French midfielder “one of the worst contracts Spurs have ever signed”. It would be difficult to recreate such a disastrous deal, but ENIC Group may be concerned that it has done just that this summer.
ENIC must be worried that he signed Ndombele 2.0
The Lewis family did not enjoy a perfect summer transfer window by any means, but there is no doubt that the likes of Mohamed Kudus and Xavi Simons have arrived as capable additions that can propel Tottenham back to domestic dominance.
Simmons, 22, joined Tottenham from RB Leipzig this summer for a starting salary of £51m, but his arrival was met with much fanfare, with Chelsea having shown a vested interest in the club for months.
However, it has been difficult for the Dutchman to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League, with content creator Ronaldo Brown even claiming he has been “swallowed” by England’s top flight this season.
Symonds, who has just started playing games, rushed too much against Liverpool and was sent off in the first half after a stud-up challenge on Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk.
Simmons, who was momentarily branded a “reckless idiot” by Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville, will miss important games after improving recently and scoring his first goal for the club in December and maintaining promising creative levels.
There’s nothing wrong with Simmons’ application, but his excessive enthusiasm and high technical level suggest he’s a bit of an Ndombele-type. Frank will need to fix this quickly if he is to make his project a success. Frank worked with the board to acquire this coveted command post at a high price.
After all, Simmons has enough of a skill set to be successful, ranking in the top 10% of players by position in the Premier League this season in pass attempts, top 6% in progressive passes and top 14% in tackles per 90, according to FBref.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the completed pass into the opponent’s goal or into the penalty area.
But you could say the same was true for Ndombele. He is one of the most technically gifted players we have seen in Spurs colors over the last decade, but the application of his skill set has been far too inconsistent. He became an easy scapegoat and his time in the capital ended in tears and with a big dent in the club’s wallet.
The Spurs cannot afford to veer off course here. Neither can Frank. Neither can Simmons.
Forget Romero: Frank must make Spurs’ ‘world class’ star new captain
Thomas Frank now has a big decision to make regarding Cristian Romero’s future at Tottenham Hotspur.
