It’s easy to forget with the firehose of positive Tottenham Hotspur news currently spraying in our faces, but Tottenham Hotspur play a Premier League match tomorrow, at home vs. Bournemouth. Wait, actual games? I know, right?
Thomas Frank is in the middle of his press conference and kept the good news going, first by opening with a little joke that’s kind of about Xavi Simons but is really about Tottenham’s newest England international.
“We have a new international player in the squad… Djed Spence.”
It was announced earlier today that Djed Spence was named in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the first international break of the season, with World Cup qualification matches against Andorra and Serbia. Spence has a few U21 England caps but this is the first time he’s been called up to the senior squad, and who knows — with a winnable match at Wembley vs. Andorra, he might even get a cap.
Frank also alluded to Spurs’ imminent signing of Xavi Simons, even if he couldn’t speak on it directly. News broke earlier that Spurs had full agreement with both Manchester City and the player for a £52m, 5+2 year transfer, and while Frank can’t speak on it until it becomes officially official, he did admit that, yes, something is happening.
“I can confirm that we’re working very hard to get someone over the line. That I can confirm. Right now I am happy to speak more about Djed [Spence and his England call-up] and other players in the club.
“I hope they get good news later today for various reasons because we’re trying to sign players and that we will try to do until the end of the transfer window.”
In other news, Frank did confirm that Destiny Udogie, who picked up an injury during warm-up while Spurs were on tour in Asia, is back with the team and available for selection vs. Bournemouth. Yves Bissouma, however, is still not with the team; there were reports earlier in the week that a deal was close to transfer Bissouma to Galatasaray, but this has yet to be confirmed. There was also good news about Radu Dragusin, whom Frank said was about two weeks away from rejoining training.
“Yes, [Udogie] could feature, he’s in the squad and that’s very positive for us. I think Bissouma for sure is out of the next game. The specific timeline is more in doubt because I don’t think he will be out for too long.
“Dragusin is on the way back and he’s been running for a while. I think he should join the team in a week’s time, 10 days’ time, I think that’s the thing, so that’s positive, but of course it is an ACL. I’m always a little bit more, not worried but just aware that it takes time. When you’ve been out of football for nine months, you know, you need to get in. It’s not enough to have a six-week pre-season. You need to take a little bit more time, but it’s positive and some surprise and come back quicker, of course.”
Bournemouth come to North London with a heavy loss to Liverpool in week 1, followed by a narrow win over 10-man Wolves in week 2. The match kicks off Saturday morning at 10 am ET / 3 pm BST. It is not televised in either the USA or UK, but is streamed on Peacock.
