Tottenham remain in pursuit of an attacking midfielder before the transfer deadline in just five days time, after missing out on high-profile deals for Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze.
The situation is reaching a critical stage, and despite Thomas Frank’s excellent start to life at Spurs, the Dane is very unlikely to make a success of his first season in charge if he doesn’t bring in much-needed reinforcements – especially for his attack.
Dejan Kulusevski will remain out for the foreseeable future with a knee injury, and James Maddison is expected to miss a large portion of the 2025/2026 campaign after rupturing his ACL in pre-season.
This has left Frank with gaping holes in quality going forward, with Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge, among other reliable sources, reporting that Spurs ideally want to sign a winger, number 10 and a centre-back before the deadline next Monday.
“Spurs want to sign a No 10, a winger and a centre back ahead of the deadline,” said Bridge recently.
“It could be a very busy final few weeks at Spurs and clubs are aware they are prepared to pay £60m on the desired player after missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White and Eze for similar fees.
“Spurs feel they couldn’t have done any more on both failed deals.”
Right now, Tottenham are believed to have made calls over the likes of Lucas Paqueta of West Ham and have even internally discussed Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo as late options.
“In the last 24/48 hours, Tottenham also made some calls for other players,” said journalist Fabrizio Romano via his YouTube on Tuesday evening.
“They wanted to understand the situation of Lucas Paqueta at West Ham. Also a player they appreciate and they know very well, and was already a target, but now, obviously, it’s late in the market, so it’s going to be difficult, is Semenyo at Bournemouth. Another name mentioned internally at Tottenham in the last 24 hours, then soon it’s going to be time to decide. Soon is going to be the time to make final decisions, attack and go for these new signings. But for sure, Tottenham will be busy again on the market. It’s not over at all. So they are optimistic to find the solutions they want.”
As well as these names, there are suggestions that Tottenham are registering an interest in Marseille midfielder Adrien Rabiot.
Tottenham make Adrien Rabiot approach after Marseille bust-up
According to ESPN, the 30-year-old former PSG and Juventus star was involved in a Marseille bust-up with teammate Jonathan Rowe last week during their 1-0 defeat to Rennes.
In the aftermath of this, his future under Roberto De Zerbi is now uncertain, and ESPN state that Tottenham have made an enquiry over signing Rabiot.
The France international played the majority of his matches as a number 10 last season, bagging 10 goals and six assists as he really picked up form in that role during the second half of 2024/2025.
He even captained Marseille against PSG, with reports claiming that Rabiot is available for hire at around £13 million.
“We are talking about a problem for Juventus because in Italy he may have been targeted for criticism, but in France it’s completely different,” said David Trezeguet about Rabiot in 2022.
“He is world-class, an extraordinary player. Now he will evaluate his options and will go back to being the important player he always was.”
