Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani transfer issue as Thomas Frank faces Champions League decision
Tottenham have a new transfer deadline day signing in Randal Kolo Muani and a couple of expected departures and it all leaves Thomas Frank with decisions to make.
The loan move for the Frenchman from PSG, which does not come with an option or obligation to sign him permanently, made him the fifth new face brought in by the club this summer and the sixth signing of the window. Mohammed Kudus was snapped up in a £55million move from West Ham and was followed by the loan signing of Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich. After a month’s gap came the £52million capture of Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig.
Earlier in the window Tottenham had made the loan move of Mathys Tel permanent for £30million and signed Japan international centre-back Kota Takai for £5million.
Going out of the Hotspur Way exit door was captain Son Heung-min after 10 years at the club to join LAFC in an MLS record of more than £20million while a string of loan players have departed around the UK, Germany and Argentina, including Luka Vuskovic, who only arrived this summer finally from Hajduk Split and is now in Hamburg on loan.
In the final hours of deadline day, Spurs loaned Manor Solomon to Villarreal for the season and sold Bryan Gil to Girona in a €10million (£8.6million) deal.
So how does all of that affect Tottenham’s long-standing squad issues that have resulted in players being left out each season from their European squad?
Here’s what it means for both the club’s Premier League and Champions League squads now Muani has sealed his move to north London and Frank’s decisions.
Premier League
Muani, Xavi and Palhinha must be added in now, while Son, Fraser Forster, Timo Werner, Alfie Whiteman, Sergio Reguilon, Josh Keeley and Alejo Veliz have all come out of the squad from last season. Two players must come out of the Under-21s list and into the main lists in Antonin Kinsky and Matthew Craig, although we can assume the latter will not be part of the first team squad this season so we’re not going to include him here.
In all Spurs have 16 non-homegrown players with Muani’s arrival and Gil and Solomon’s exits, when they can register 17. That number is helped domestically by the fact that a club’s Under-21 players do not need to be included on their 25-man squad list yet are eligible to play in the Premier League.
To be considered an Under-21 player for this current Premier League season, players must have been born on or after January 1, 2004. That means Tel and Takai do not have to be registered in the main squad and Yang-min Hyeok, Luka Vuskovic, Ashley Phillips, Alfie Devine, Jamie Donley, George Abbott, Alfie Dorrington and Mikey Moore, who would have qualified, have all headed out on loan.
Kevin Danso qualifies as a homegrown player in Premier League terms because he was in the youth academies at Reading and MK Dons for years before leaving England at the age of 16 and later returning for a season at Southampton.
