Tottenham Hotspur are hoping to make headway in the Premier League and Champions League next season, all the while challenging for further silverware in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
They’ve got a taste for that winning feeling, you see, and while Ange Postecoglou was sacked in June, we left with his head held high, a hero, the manager who came and conquered after so many were thwarted before him.
In Thomas Frank, though, Spurs have the perfect successor, bringing structured organisation and dynamic balance, but also a pragmatism that was lacking under Ange’s wing.
While Mohammed Kudus has already been reeled in, Tottenham are hoping to sign another creative midfielder, with several names lined up.
Spurs sounding out attacking midfielders
Only one week ago, it looked as if Tottenham were on the cusp of signing Morgan Gibbs-White. But Nottingham Forest allege the Lilywhites made an unlawful approach.
While work is being done to get that one over the line, Tottenham have since set up contingencies, with RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons the centre of talks between the outfits, though Arsenal and Chelsea are also interested.
Elsewhere, transfer insider Graeme Bailey has revealed that Tottenham are hugely keen on striking a deal for Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey, 24, who is expected to be on the move this summer.
Newcastle United and Forest are also keen on a deal, with Villa reported to have set a price of £50m for their homegrown midfielder.
Why Spurs want Jacob Ramsey
Last summer, Tottenham explored a player-plus-cash move for Ramsey, with Giovani Lo Celso heading the other way. That never came to fruition.
At 24, Ramsey is entering the prime years of his career, but having made 167 appearances for Aston Villa, his boyhood club, he’s struggling for purchase in Unai Emery’s plans.
At his best, Ramsey is lively and slippery and exciting. Statman Dave once noted his “magic” technical qualities, and that sense of wonder could lead him right to a new chapter down N17, buoyed by the knowledge that Tottenham’s vested interest winds right the way back through the previous campaign and into the 2024 summer window.
If Frank succeeds in unlocking those powers, he might have a cut-price alternative to the likes of Simons on his hands, who may yet restore his finest form, perhaps expand it to something not yet witnessed.
The diminutive Dutchman has scored 21 goals and supplied 23 assists across 71 matches for Leipzig, with talent scout Jacek Kulig even suggesting that the playmaker is “destined for greatness“.
After a couple of frustrating seasons in the Premier League, Ramsey doesn’t have the same hype around this name, but there’s little question that he has what it takes to level back up; the dynamic midfielder, after all, ranked among the top 2% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues last season for pass completion, as per FBref.
|
Jacob Ramsey – Premier League Stats by Season |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Apps (starts) |
Goals |
Assists |
|
24/25 |
29 (19) |
1 |
3 |
|
23/24 |
16 (8) |
1 |
1 |
|
22/23 |
35 (31) |
6 |
7 |
|
21/22 |
34 (29) |
6 |
1 |
|
20/21 |
22 (6) |
0 |
0 |
|
Data via Transfermarkt |
|||
He’s shown before an aptitude for clinical performances, and that could swell larger in a new project at Tottenham, with Frank’s tactical prowess sure to take his development to the next level.
Ramsey might not have the reputation or accomplishments of Simons, but he’s got so much more to give and could prove a shrewd signing indeed, as well as playing in similar positions to the Dutchman, either as an attacking midfielder or on the flanks, drifting into central positions.
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