Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur were outclassed yet again on Saturday afternoon, eliminated from the FA Cup in the latest humiliation that clearly proves to Tottenham Hotspur fans that Thomas Frank is not the right man to lead this now sinking ship.

But despite the poor all around performance of Spurs as a team, there were a few individuals who did distinguish themselves positively in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa that, once again, really underscores the differing trajectories of these two clubs.

Xavi Simons was obviously the main positive for Tottenham and is a star of the future at the N17, but a more veteran acquisition from the Bundesliga this summer was also a standout in the middle of the park in the second half.

Joao Palhinha was falling off

Joao Palhinha started the season hot but recently fell off, casting his future in doubt with the option to buy him on loan from Bayern Munich for about 25 million pounds. While his defensive prowess earned him praise, the Portuguese international also received wide spread criticism for his poor play on the ball and lack of progressive carrying or passing.

Well, after a jaw dropping bicycle kick in the 3-2 loss to Bournemouth, Palhinha once again distinguished himself positively on Saturday afternoon with a grand all around performance against Aston Villa, particularly in the second half when Tottenham Hotspur were finally starting to claw their way back into the game.

Palhinha was obviously magnificent defensively with a whopping five interceptions and so much hard work to try and break up play as everything else was falling apart. But he was also quite good offensively, which was a positive change of pace for the veteran midfielder. He had two key passes, two dribbles completed, and two fouls drawn in an all around performance that was all parts active, progressive, and, yes, even creative.

Tottenham have a tough decision to make with Joao Palhinha whenever the 2025/26 season ends, because he is 30 but is still showing he has plenty in the tank athletically. And while it is debatable the trade off between offense and defense, there should be little doubt that his highs have been higher than either Yves Bissouma or Rodrigo Bentancur as veteran Tottenham midfielders - and his lows are far less low than Bentancur's disaster classes or Bissouma's inane laughing gas antics.

Palhinha has to keep playing like this and showing offensive involvement, but between the bicycle kicks and this show of determination and heart in an otherwise dreary defeat, the man is absolutely on the right track to changing his course back to a positive one.

Tottenham Hotspur had one last bullet left in the chamber this season, and that was the hope that they could buckle down and treat the FA Cup as their main competition with it being their only shot at following up Ange Postecoglou's 2024/25 Europa League triumph with a follow up trophy in 2025/26.

But once again, Spurs were outclassed and outmanaged, falling 2-1 to top three side Aston Villain the Third Round of the FA Cup. They showed urgency in the second half and played better, but another woeful start to a game doomed them.

There was not a whole lot to admire about Tottenham again in this one, but a few players did stand out individually. And quietly, Xavi Simons continues his streak of positive games, only broken up by an unfair suspension brought on by the Liverpool brigade.

Thomas Frank is the common denominator

Simons was impervious on Saturday afternoon despite a putrid performance by many of his midfield teammates. The Dutch No. 10 had three key passes, three fouls drawn, and two interceptions in an all around display of excellence, especially creatively.

Spurs fans have been desperately waiting for a big game from Simons like this one and for him to string a few of these together. Hopefully, this is the start of something. But as impressive as Simons was, his latest breakout performance at the heart of everything good for Spurs was the reminder of a harsh truth that the club's brass must reconcile with.

Because as good as he was, you could not help but thinking watching Simons and Tottenham as a whole, how much better and more impactful he would be as a playmaker and even as a potential goal threat from the No. 10 if he were not saddled by one of the worst managers in the Premier League in Thomas Frank.

Imagine how much more expressive and expansive both Simons's and Tottenham's football as a whole would be without Frank restricting it and playing so negative and defensive. Imagine Simons coached by a more innovative manager with Mathys Tel, Dominic Solanke, and Wilson Odobert to link up with in a young, well rounded attack with Solanke unselfishly anchoring it as the veteran man.

One can only dream, because, as of right now, Simons and Spurs supporters still have to be stuck with Frank, as the upper management has no intention of even thinking about firing him; they have lost the ambition and imagination the fans still have.

No team has been as unlucky with injuries as Tottenham Hotspur, and it seems like every week, there is a new injury problem that pops up. Spurs already entered the season without star attackers Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, and those guys are still out with no real return date in sight.

Meanwhile, striker Dominic Solanke has been a long term absence, too, and Mohammed Kudus recently suffered an injury that will cost him at least a couple of months. Destiny Udogie is always in and out of the lineup with injuries and remains out.

In the last game, center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a potential multi game injury, and while he is no longer an important starter to Spurs, it is still a tough blow to the team's depth at a position that is not exactly an area of strength.

Tottenham get bit again

To that end, another veteran player at a weak position has just gone down in Spurs most recent game, too. Richarlison was seen pulling up with a hamstring injury, and Thomas Frank confirmed after the game, via BBC Sport, that it is indeed a hamstring injury for the Brazilian striker.

Although Richarlison is not really having a great season and has been inconsistent all around, he is Spurs leading goal scorer and one of their only two healthy strikers alongside Randal Kolo Muani - a talented loan signing who is subtly showing signs of mentally checking out of Spurs.

Tottenham can ill afford all these injuries, and although being out of the FA Cup after this loss to Aston Villa means fewer games for Spurs, the Premier League fixture set, along with all the meaningless international matches, means the congested schedule is conducive to more and more injuries, particularly to overworked veteran players.

Richarlison has been worked hard by Thomas Frank, who loves him despite his issues. And now with Richy, Frank is going to have to increasingly turn to his other players, such as Kolo Muani and Mathys Tel. The latter may be the real silver lining for Spurs, since Tel is contemplating leaving in order to get more minutes ahead of the World Cup for France.

Despite those silver linings, losing a player is never good, and Tottenham are going to have more depth problems to worry about with Richy out of the equation. Next up, Tottenham will battle local rivals West Ham in the Premier League, followed by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur are going to have to sign a new attacking star in the January transfer window. They already needed to sign one coming into the new year, but with star right winger Mohammed Kudus now injured for potentially multiple months, Spurs need for a winger has reached desperation levels.

Antoine Semenyo has already agreed to join Manchester City after rejecting Tottenham weeks ago, leaving Spurs to head back to the drawing board with a barren list of options. Man City wingers Savinho and Omar Marmoush seem off the table despite being dream options for Spurs. Savinho is now injury for two months himself, while Marmoush apparently has no interest in leaving the Etihad despite a lack of minutes in the 2025/26 season.

So now the new top target for Tottenham appears to be young Ivorian phenom Yan Diomande, who has been impressively manning the left wing at RB Leipzig. Diomande is one of the biggest jewels in not just the Bundesliga, but in all of European football as well.

Tottenham are not up to the task

Tottenham were already heading for a fierce transfer battle with Manchester United, having no guarantee that Leipzig will even sell this key, valuable future star this winter at all. And now, the transfer battle is about to get even tougher.

According to a fresh report from German outlet BILD, Bayern Munich are now convinced of Yan Diomande as a top option for them. He is their No. 1 target on the left wing to provide competition with Luis Diaz. Meanwhile, Bayern have dropped Malick Fofana, a former Tottenham Hotspur transfer target this past summer, off their left wing wish list, making Diomande even more likely.

Competing with Manchester United, who are nowhere near the top level these days, has been hard enough for Tottenham; they lost out on Bryan Mbeumo pretty easily to Man United this summer, after all, and were even behind United in the Antoine Semenyo sweepstakes, too.

But Bayern? Forget about it. Bayern tend to always get the Bundesliga players they want when they want them, which is why the Florian Wirtz to Liverpool anomaly was so surprising. But they have an especially good connection with RB Leipzig, too, signing players like Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer, and Dayot Upamecano from the east German club over the years.

Diomande would pick Bayern over Tottenham any day of the week when looking at the differing trajectories and power of both clubs. Spurs are in for a lot of trouble if Bayern are indeed serious about a Diomande transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur have so many young talents who are not getting the right amount of opportunities under Thomas Frank, and there are several key players who Spurs supporters now hae to worry about being driven out of the club by the incompetence of their manager.

The most worrisome example is that of French forward Mathys Tel, because the young man is actually considering a loan move, at best, away from Spurs because of how little Frank is playing him despite him being by far the biggest attacking threat in most games.

Meanwhile, a more established star is also pretty obviously angry at the club and the manager, as Frank could very well end up costing Spurs one of the best defensive players in the world in center back Micky van de Ven.

Tottenham can't sell him

There is one more, less talked about young talent who could be interested in leaving Spurs soon, either on loan or even a permanent transfer. Backup goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has shown serious potential goal when given opportunities, and he is really not all that far off from starter Guglielmo Vicario with likely more future upside.

But with how little Kinsky plays, it is impossible to know if he will be able to reach that level without getting the minutes or opportunities. Kinsky needs to play more, and now Fabrizio Romano is reporting on his YouTube channel that West Ham United, one of Tottenham Hotspurs' local London rivals, are interested in stealing him away.

Most of the transfer rumors surrounding Kinsky are dealing wtih a possible loan, as it would be asinine for Spurs to let him go permanently, especially not to West Ham. And surely the Hammers would love to steal him away, given their need for a top young goalkeeper and their desire for revenge after losing Mohammed Kudus to Spurs this past summer transfer window.

There are actually more transfer rumors linking the starter, Vicario, away from Spurs due to his ridiculous mistakes, poor leadership skills, and lack of reliability. There are many Spurs fans who would rather see Kinsky stay and get more minutes, with Vicario sold in exchange for a better, younger keeper like James Trafford as the starter. But then, of course, Kinsky might still not get enough minutes.

A loan move involving Kinsky makes sense, but, alas, that would make Tottenham even thinner in goal with Vicario as the only legitimate option between the sticks. And he is barely legitimate.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Cristian Romero won the Europa League Player of the Tournament last season in Spurs first European triumph in more than 40 years for a reason. He is a Copa America and World Cup champion for a reason, too. And he took the captaincy from Son Heung-min for this season for a reason.

Romero is a leader. He is the guy who plays with a fire and lights a fire around his teammates, elevating the players around him and holding everyone to account, including on a Tottenham team where complacency and unwarranted ego are boundless while accountability and results are hard to find.

Tottenham fans have already turned on their horribly out of touch manager and their woefully entitled squad, who spend more time arguing with their own supporters than actually trying to play better football.

Cristian Romero is a hero

And it was only Romero who was brave enough to call out this decrepit organization publicly - a board so shambolic that they have pushed the mighty Spurs closer to relegation places than Champions League contention.

Instead of celebrating Romero speaking out on their behalf and wanting better for the club, there are players within the building going behind his back to undermine him to the media with leaks complaining that Cristian Romero benefited from a "double standard" for not being fined by the club, per a report from the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law.

That same report adds further evidence purported by these club sources that Romero is benefiting from a double standard by stating that he gets more freedom to do what he wants around the training ground than other players in the squad.

But the thing is, who on earth wants Romero disciplined? Why should he be punished by Thomas Frank for speaking his mind and wanting to win? And what in the world would Tottenham Hotspur accomplish as an organization by fining or suspending Romero than alienating their captain and best player and making themselves look like an even bigger train wreck to the world than they already are?

Whoever these people are leaking negative thing about Romero need to reassess their own mental capacity and intentions, because they clearly are not living in the right reality and have their own selfish interests at heart rather than the club's. Romero is having a strong season and has been a good captain thus far, and that is more than can be said about many of the people in the building, including his own teammates.

For the most part, Tottenham Hotspur have been wheeling and dealing their prospects around to start the winter transfer window, shifting loan deals. Their biggest move thus far has actually been a sale, with right winger Brennan Johnson moving to local rivals Crystal Palace just before Mohammed Kudus's injury cut down Spurs to zero healthy right wingers.

The Johnson move was right at the time, and, thus far, most of the transfer rumors around Tottenham have been for other potential sales of unwanted players like striker Richarlison, center midfielder Yves Bissouma, and center back Radu Dragusin.

But quietly, while the trail for a new forward grows colder and colder, Tottenham were able to secure a new signing that will soon be official. Except instead of landing a forward or midfielder, Spurs bagged a defender in their only major area of need on the back line.

Tottenham have a deal in place now

Per Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur have the fabled "here we go" and a deal reportedly in place for Santos phenom Souza at left back. Spurs had been negotiating with the Brazilian powerhouse for weeks for the 19 year old fullback, and they have now agreed to a 15 million euro deal after upping their bid from a measly 8 million euros. Having already agreed to personal terms, Spurs have now struck an agreement with Santos, as well as payment terms.

Souza matches the Tottenham plan of signing young stars before they truly become stars, just as they did with Mathys Tel, Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, and Wilson Odobert. There are few left back prospects in the world as promising as Souza, and left backs do not exactly grow on trees.

Tottenham themselves know that as well as any club in the Premier League. They have one great left back in Destiny Udogie, but he needed the help and potential competition since he is so frequently injured. And behind him, Spurs have literally nobody, flipping between veteran center back Ben Davies and right back Djed Spence as an inverted option. And it is thus telling that of the two of them, Davies has actually been better.

Souza will come right in this January and get minutes. Udogie is still currently out with an injury, and while he should return relatively soon, there is still plenty of room for Souza to soak up starts and prove that he is worth the hype as the next big thing from Brazil at left back.

Tottenham Hotspur have a serious attacking problem in the 2025/26 Premier League season, and regardless of how poor of a job new coach Thomas Frank has done tactically, the lack of quality at the forward positions is a huge reason why Spurs are stuck in 14th in the table and toiling behind the rest of the Big Six.

The best goal scorer on the team is Richarlison with six league goals, and he is nowhere near one of the better strikers in the league right now with a frustratingly inconsistent all around game. Spurs other strikers are flawed, too, with Randal Kolo Muani not really scoring much and Dominic Solanke too injured to be of any use. Meanwhile, the young left wingers Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel are talented but not getting chances, while the best starter, right winger Mohammed Kudus, is now injured for two months.

Tottenham are going to have to make multiple attacking signings in 2026, and fans prefer if they could sign those players this January for an immediate boost. Left wing has been largely seen as the biggest area of need for Spurs, but the striker position is also a major issue for Tottenham without a proven 20 goal scorer in this post Harry Kane era.

Tottenham are better off without him

According to a recent report from the Daily Mail's Simon Jones, Tottenham Hotspur have added a somewhat bizarre name to their striker transfer wish list. Jorgen Strand Larsen recently moved from La Liga to Wolves in the Premier League, and he has been an unsurprising transfer bust. So Wolves, by far the worst team in the league this season, are willing to part ways with the 25 year old Norwegian international who was once linked to the likes of Newcastle United before the season started.

Per Jones, Spurs are interested alongside Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Everton, and Nottingham Forest. Spurs, though, are, like Villa and Everton, said to be less than certain about Strand Larsen as a possible transfer target because of his inconsistent form. The Daily Mail journalist states that Wolves are looking for 40 million pounds for him.

While 40 million pounds is not the worst fee ever asked for a Premier League striker, Strand Larsen has found the back of the net just once with only one additional assist in 14 total Premier League starts and 19 overall appearances in the 2025/26 campaign thus far. That is an awful return, making Strand Larsen legitimately one of the worst Premier League strikers of this season thus far and someone Spurs should probably avoid at all costs, given his fee and production make him a worse option than any of the strikers - Tel included- currently in the Spurs squad.

Tottenham Hotspur are under enormous pressure to get back to winning ways this weekend, after yet another miserable night. On Wednesday, Spurs were beaten 3-2 at Dean Court, with Bournemouth's winner coming in the 95th minute, no less. That made it just two wins in 12 Premier League outings for the under-fire Thomas Frank, with the Lilywhites languishing in 14th.

Up next, Spurs face two of the bottom three, namely West Ham and Burnley. Those should be a pair of routine wins, but the curse of Dr Tottenham could easily strike once or even twice more. Before that, they host Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday evening, with a major fan protest set to take place.

Defeat in the FA Cup would really crank up the pressure on Frank, facing the reality that Spurs are only three points better off in the Premier League than after 21 matches compared to last season, when, of course, Ange Postecoglou's team went on to finish 17th.

Seemingly set to miss out on the Champions League places, having finished in the top four in only one of the previous six seasons, there are serious question marks about the club's direction. So, could Spurs' prize assets be tempted with a move away, with fears growing that, arguably, their best player could push for a departure?

Micky van de Ven new contract latest

As reported by Matt Law of the Telegraph, Tottenham are eager for Micky van de Ven to sign a new contract. However, it is believed that the Dutch defender is "frustrated with the current situation at the club", so he is hesitant to do so. The 24 -year-old's current contract does not expire until 2029, meaning this is far from an urgent situation, but could be the start of a worrying trend.

This news comes after van de Ven had a rather eventful evening by the South Coast this week. The centre-back had seemingly won a penalty against Bournemouth, following a trademark burst from the back, only to be correctly booked for simulation by referee Darren England following VAR review. After the match, van de Ven then had a heated argument with a Spurs supporter in the away section, a quite surreal sight while Freed From Desire was blaring through the stadium's speakers.

That aside, van de Ven is clearly one of Tottenham's best players, widely-regarded among the best central defenders in the Premier League. Thus, with Spurs unlikely to be in next season's Champions League, potentially missing out on Europe altogether, he could depart, given that many of Europe's biggest clubs would surely be vying for his signature.

Tottenham Hotspur need to be one of the most active buyers in the January transfer market, because they sit a lowly 14th in the Premier League and just lost to the 15th placed team, handing AFC Bournemouth their first win in 11 games. And if it were not for brilliant individual goals from Joao Palhinha and Mathys Tel, it would have been a clean 3-0 defeat for Spurs, who were swept by the Cherries this season.

Spurs have serious questions about manager Thomas Frank - well, at least the fans in the building do. But even if Frank is still the manager until the 2025/26 Premier League season closes, Tottenham are going to need to bring in more talent to help the squad.

The forward positions are the biggest area of need for Spurs, but the club does need some warm bodie in midfield and left back. With Destiny Udogie out injured, Tottenham do not have a true healthy left back in the squad, as inverted option Djed Spence and versatile center back Ben Davies are the only current options, with Davies actually beating out Spence.

Tottenham will soon have a need filled

But Tottenham are soon to welcome a new left back into the building as their first signing of the January transfer window, surprisingly inking a defensive player before signing someone who can help them score goals.

After reporting that Tottenham Hotspur had already agreed to personal terms, Fabrizio Romano is now saying that Spurs and Santos have now agreed on the final transfer fee for left back Souza. After Santos rejected an eight million euro tranfser bid for the 19 year old left back, they are now accepting an updated offer of 15 million euros from Spurs for the top Brazilian defensive talent in 2026.

With personal terms between Souza and Spurs already agreed and now the final fee of 15 million euros agreed, all that is left for this deal to be confirmed as an official "Here We Go" transfer for Tottenham is the actual payment structure of how Spurs will hand that money to Santos.

Souza is an unknown commodity, but Tottenham have been by far the most interested club in the player. Johan Lange and Co. must be sold on him, just as they were on the likes of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall before bringing them into the fold at the N17 as prospect transfers. It is anyone's guess as to how good Souza will be, but 15 million euros for a left back is not unreasonable.