All posts by z3u9t.icu

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank is now having to deal with unsettled players as he also prepares for a vital North London derby this weekend, according to a new report.

Spurs, under the new leadership team of co-sporting directors Fabio Paratici and Johan Lange, are bracing for a significant January transfer window where several fringe players could well depart N17.

The most high-profile of them appears inevitable for Yves Bissouma, whose spell at Spurs appears to be nearing a conclusion. The 28-year-old Mali international’s contract expires in June 2026, positioning him for a potential free transfer next year amid ongoing interest from Galatasaray after they failed to sign him in the summer.

Frank has already criticised Bissouma for his punctuality and discipline, explaining at the start of 2025/2026 that the midfielder “has been late several times and the latest time was one too many”.

The midfielder is currently absent with an ankle problem and hasn’t featured in a competitive game all season, but The Mail report Bissouma’s contract includes a one-year extension option — meaning they might not lose him for free next year after all.

Dejan Kulusevski

Knee

29/11/2025

James Maddison

ACL

01/06/2026

Radu Dragusin

Knee

22/11/2025

Ben Davies

Thigh

23/11/2025

Kota Takai

Ankle/Foot

23/11/2025

Mohammed Kudus

Knock

23/11/2025

Randal Kolo Muani

Jaw

23/11/2025

Yves Bissouma

Ankle/Foot

23/11/2025

Lucas Bergvall

Concussion

23/11/2025

Dominic Solanke

Ankle

23/11/2025

Archie Gray

Calf/Shin/Heel

23/11/2025

via Premier Injuries

In any case, they’d also only trigger it if they can’t sell him in the winter, and Bissouma isn’t the only player who could leave in under two months time.

Indeed, Richarlison’s future also hangs in the balance.

The forward’s own contract runs out in 2027, and he’s struggled for consistency not just this season, but ever since his £60 million move from Everton in 2022. Richarlison is believed to be attracting interest from his former club and Frank reportedly views the 28-year-old as ‘expendable’, meaning a January exit for the Brazil international isn’t ruled out despite Dominic Solanke’s injury woes.

On-lookers wouldn’t be at all surprised if one of the aforementioned pair left Spurs in the winter, provided they can sign a replacement for Richarlison, but a much more surprising name has now been touted for the exit door as well.

Mathys Tel keen to leave Tottenham in January and 'unhappy' in London

Just months after his £30 million permanent move from Bayern Munich, Roma have now emerged as potential January suitors for striker Mathys Tel.

Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reports the 20-year-old is unhappy in London and keen on departing Tottenham when the winter window opens, which comes as a shock given he’s basically only just arrived and performed fairly well when called upon.

Tel scored Tottenham’s equaliser against Man United last time out with an excellent finish on the turn, and opened the scoring in Spurs’ 2-1 win away to Leeds just before the October international break.

However, he was also controversially excluded from Tottenham’s 22-man Champions League squad by Frank, owing to the limited numbers they could select due to homegrown quota issues.

Roma boss Gian Piero Gasperini has identified Tel as his primary target, viewing the youngster as someone with significant room for development who possesses the ideal profile to strengthen Roma’s attacking options.

La Gazzetta even suggests that Spurs could green-light a loan deal as opposed to an outright sale, but given both Randal Kolo Muani and Solanke’s struggles to stay fit, this would be rather unwise.

Given Frank’s limited attacking options, Roma’s apparent optimism about securing a deal may prove very premature. Tottenham need more options up top, not less, and Tel is someone who’s still raw but could pay dividends in the future as he continues to adjust to life in England.

Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann once backed Tel to become a ’40 goal a season’ striker, and while he’s still some way off that, letting him leave certainly doesn’t benefit the Lilywhites in any way.

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has been forced to deal with a plethora of injuries since taking over from Ange Postecoglou, with the club’s bad luck in that regard continuing into this season.

Ex-chairman Daniel Levy got so frustrated with Spurs’ key player absences in 24/25 that he overhauled their medical department for the second year running last summer. Key sports science chiefs Adam Brett and Nick Davies were both shown the door before the start of this season, with Nick Stubbings following Frank from Brentford to join as medical lead.

The Lilywhites were minus Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario for large portions of last campaign, alongside many other key men, which undoubtedly played a role in Spurs’ finishing a lowly 17th in the Premier League table.

This season, they haven’t fared much better.

Soon after Frank was appointed to succeed Postecoglou, Spurs lost playmaker James Maddison to an ACL injury which will keep him out for most of 2025/2026, with the England international on an extensive list of absentees.

Dejan Kulusevski

Knee

22/11/2025

James Maddison

ACL

01/06/2026

Radu Dragusin

Knee

22/11/2025

Ben Davies

Thigh

23/11/2025

Kota Takai

Ankle/Foot

23/11/2025

Yves Bissouma

Ankle/Foot

23/11/2025

Lucas Bergvall

Concussion

23/11/2025

Dominic Solanke

Ankle

23/11/2025

Archie Gray

Calf/Shin/Heel

23/11/2025

via Premier Injuries

The likes of Romero, Wilson Odobert, Randal Kolo Muani and Destiny Udogie were also sidelined for periods recently until making their respective comebacks, so Frank will be desperate for this torrid luck to cease as he attempts to guide Tottenham to major silverware and a top four finish.

Luckily for Spurs, electrifying winger and star summer signing Mohammed Kudus is likely to return against Man United this weekend after the Ghanaian confirmed his knock is getting better.

Tottenham hit by injury blow as "promising" youngster Elijah Upson withdraws from England duty

Speaking to Tottenham News, pundit and academy expert John Wenham, who oversees the Lilywhites Rose account on X, says that Tottenham’s injury woes even stretch down to youth level.

Young defender Elijah Upson, who captains Spurs’ Under-18s, was forced to withdraw from the England Under-17s World Cup squad after suffering his own injury, which comes as a crying shame considering the club could have had five youth players representing them for the Three Lions.

The 17-year-old was recently handed a call-up to Tottenham’s Under-21 squad as well, playing the full 90 minutes and shutting out West Brom in a 1-0 win just over a month ago.

The injury comes as more of a blow to Upson’s personal development, with the versatile centre-back/right-back looking to make Johan Lange – who now oversees the academy as one of his many co-director responsibilities – stand up and take notice.

Manchester City’s nine-match unbeaten run is over, with familiar issues coming to the fore.

On Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s team were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa, Matty Cash the afternoon’s only scorer, condemning the Sky Blues to a third successive defeat at Villa Park for the first time since 1966.

Midfield was certainly the biggest problem position for the Citizens.

With Rodri still sidelined, and his natural deputy Nico González picking up a knock against Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday, Tijjani Reijnders was deployed as a one-man midfield in the Midlands, but struggled both in and out of possession.

So, with crucial and challenging fixtures right around the corner, should Guardiola recall an experienced member of his squad who has been compared to, arguably, the club’s greatest midfielder of the Abu Dhabi-era?

Rodri's importance to Manchester City in numbers

Manchester City’s downturn in results last season was primarily put down to Rodri’s absence, seeing a miserly 73 minutes of action in the Premier League, rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal.

Well, after starting only three Premier League matches to commence this campaign, the Ballon d’Or suffered a hamstring injury at Brentford earlier this month, a major blow for both the team and the player, and the date of his return is not yet known.

Since his debut at West Ham in August 2019, Manchester City have lost only 38 of 237 Premier League matches, with the Spaniard sitting out 17 of these defeats (45%), including 16 of 18 since 5 February 2023 at Tottenham.

In fact, August’s 2-1 reverse at Brighton was the first time Rodri had started a Premier League match and lost for 938 days.

In summary, to reiterate the obvious, he is very important to Guardiola’s team, who are simply not the same without their midfield fulcrum, so with both Reijnders and Nico struggling to fill his void, do Man City have the ideal candidate for this role in their squad?

Manchester City's ideal Rodri deputy

Having spent over £380m across the January and summer transfer windows, many of Manchester City’s existing players have rather been forgotten about.

Well, Mateo Kovačić certainly fits into that category, but he could certainly still be a useful contributor.

After requiring achilles surgery in June, thereby sitting out the Club World Cup, the Croatian international had not been seen in sky blue this season, before coming off the bench against both Everton and Villarreal in the last week or so.

Nevertheless, as the table below documented, Kovačić was a massively important figure in Guardiola’s team last season.

Goals

7

4th

Shots

51

7th

Goals – xG

+4.8

1st

Completed passes

2,020

4th

Key passes

35th

7th

Big chances created

6

8th

Passes into final 3rd

240

4th

Progressive passes

193

3rd

Tackles

74

1st

Interceptions

30

2nd

Touches per 90

87.8

3rd

Average rating

7.31

4th

As the table emphasises, Kovačić was one of Man City’s best performers last season.

Only Erling Braut Håland, Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden scored more goals across all competitions, while he also ranked very highly for chance creation, passing, touches and defensive metrics such as tackles and interceptions, which is a long-winded way of saying he was an all-action midfielder.

During his time at Chelsea, then manager Frank Lampard labelled him “intelligent” while, following a 3-2 win over Fulham 12 months ago, Guardiola described him as a “copy and paste” Rodri.

Meantime, former Man City defender Micah Richards described Kovačić as being “like Yaya [Touré]”, arguably the club’s best-ever midfielder, noting that the Croatian “can beat three players with his skill”, concluding that he is a vitally important player.

In his pomp, especially in the 2013/14 campaign, Touré was untouchable, both literally and metaphorically, possibly the best all round midfielder the Premier League has ever seen and, while he may not be that good, Kovačić certainly shares those same well-rounded characteristics.

Thus, with key games against high-flying Bournemouth, Borussia Dortmund and then beleaguered champions Liverpool all to come in the next fortnight, Kovačić’s return could be the Sky Blues’ under-the-radar secret weapon.

The Citizens travel to Swansea City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and it would probably be sensible for Guardiola to give the Croatian a run out, helping to rebuild his fitness, although who knows, those in South Wales may get a glimpse of the lesser-spotted Kalvin Phillips, after his cameo in round three.

0 tackles & 0 dribbles: Pep must axe 4/10 Man City star who won just 1 duel

Manchester City were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa on Sunday, bringing to an end their unbeaten run, and player in particular stood out in a negative way.

Oct 27, 2025