Evening Standard
·22 agosto 2025
Tottenham: Thomas Frank insists club has not let him down but admits squad is not stronger

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·22 agosto 2025
Spurs have signed three players since Frank’s arrival
Sticky situation: Thomas Frank
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Thomas Frank admitted the current Tottenham squad is not stronger than when he took over, but insisted he has not been let down by the club.
It has been a largely positive to start to life at Spurs for Frank on the pitch, with his side pushing Paris Saint-Germain all the way in the UEFA Super Cup and then easing past Burnley on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
However, supporters have been left frustrated by the lack of action in transfer window. Spurs fell short in their attempts to sign Morgan Gibbs-White earlier in the summer and this week saw a deal for Eberechi Eze hijacked by Arsenal at the last minute.
The club's incomings have so far consisted of Mohammed Kudus arriving for £55million, Kota Takai for £5m and Joao Palhinha on loan.
Heung-min Son has departed for LAFC, while James Maddison has been ruled out for the majority of the season with an ACL injury and Dejan Kulusevski remains a long-term absentee.
Ahead of his side's trip to face Manchester City on Saturday, it is hard to argue that Frank's options have been strengthened since the start of pre-season.
"You can say that's two players in, two players out, so probably pretty similar I would say," the Spurs boss said in response to that question.
"But also, as I said I think in my first press conference, was that I think it's a good squad. I think there's some talented players. I think there's some quality players in there as well so probably the same level, but I think that's good.
"Then it's up to me together with the players and the staff to make sure we can compete, and then as I said, we do what we can to strengthen it."
Frank emphasised in his first press conference at the start of the summer that his task was to get Spurs competing in multiple competitions.
That came a few weeks after Daniel Levy declared that the club "need" to win the Premier League and also spoke of his desire to lift the Champions League.
Asked if therefore he felt like he'd been let down by the club after moves for Gibbs-White and Eze failed to materialise, Frank said: "No. I think I say to my players if they work very hard, do everything the can, I can’t ask for anymore.
"I know the club are working extremely hard and it’s unfortunate that you can’t go into Waitrose and buy two good players then walk away five minutes later.
"It is a little bit more complicated than that. I see the club working hard, I see Daniel working extremely hard, I see Johan [Lange], I see Vinai [Venkatesham] and we are all on board in terms of doing what we can do to improve."