Tottenham failed to replace the 2025 Europa League final hero in Thomas Frank’s squad.
Tottenham Hotspur are sitting 14th in the table, winless in the Premier League in 2026. They have shown barely any fight to climb the table, with a relegation battle for the second season running looking more likely.
Spurs had a quiet winter window deadline day, dashing the hopes of millions of fans who were desperate to see the arrival of at least one new player. It did happen, though, with young James Wilson joining from Hearts on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy. He will be playing for the Under-21s for the rest of the campaign, which means Conor Gallagher and Souza turned out to be the only first-team signings.
There was a need for more business to happen following the Lilywhites’ struggles and the current situation of the squad. Indeed, Spurs were without nine players for that clash with Manchester City on Sunday. Despite having only 11 senior players available, Thomas Frank and Co. earned a credible 2-2 draw with the Sky Blues.
However, a point against Man City cannot hide the fact that Tottenham needed more signings than Gallagher and Souza in the winter window.
Alasdair Gold weighs in on Tottenham failing to bring in a winger
Heading into the January transfer window, Tottenham had prioritised signing a left-winger. Failure to replace a talismanic figure like Son Heung-min last summer has come back to bite the north Londoners, with none of Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert or Randal Kolo Muani being consistent on the left flank.
Additionally, Spurs opted to cash in on Brennan Johnson during the opening week of the transfer window, allowing the Welshman to join Crystal Palace on a permanent deal. To make matters worse, Mohammed Kudus, one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal campaign, is now sidelined with a quad injury for the next few months.
Frank admitted last week that Tottenham had made an ambitious move for Antoine Semenyo, before the Ghanaian eventually swapped Bournemouth for Man City. The Danish tactician added that the club would be active on deadline day and may look into the loan market for a Semenyo alternative.
However, the Hotspur Way chiefs ultimately failed to strengthen their wide ranks. Now, reliable Football London journalist Alasdair Gold has shed light on Tottenham’s failure to bring in a winger before the window slammed shut.
“The glaring absence, of course, and this isn’t my fault, was the left-winger. The left-winger is a huge thing, although weirdly, with Kudus’ departure from the scene, it ended up being just any winger, please kind of thing of a decent quality,” Alasdair Gold said on his YouTube channel.
“Um, and obviously, we had last week the news from Thomas Frank, which was kind of an open secret that Spurs had gone for Antoine Semenyo, threw a lot of money in, and it hadn’t worked.
“Spurs looked at alternatives. Frank even admitted that, you know, they could look at loan moves. This is to help them in the short term, but for one reason or another, they just could not get a deal done for a winger that they felt improved the squad.”
Frank has been hung out to dry by the Tottenham board. The 52-year-old has not got the required tools to steer the club away from a perilous position, and given the current make-up of the squad, getting positive results and going on a winning run appears to be a task.
Tottenham’s failure to bring in a wide player as a replacement for Johnson shows incompetence of high level. The decision to sell Johnson to Crystal Palace now looks to be a foolish one, with Kudus not available until April.
