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Antoine Semenyo has been linked with a January transfer to Tottenham, but the player joining Manchester City could still benefit Thomas Frank.
Manchester City winning the January transfer battle for Antoine Semenyo could, in turn, help Tottenham sign their main attacking target from the summer window. The Bournemouth star is expected to be on the move next month with Pep Guardiola's side, Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester United all heavily linked.
The 25-year-old signed a new contract on the south coast this summer - with a £65million release clause included. His stellar start to the 2025/26 season, with nine goal contributions from his first eight appearances, saw a number of clubs take an interest.
Tottenham and Man Utd were keen to sign him this summer. Talk surrounding his imminent future lessened off the back of seven games without a goal, but decisive strikes this last week against Man Utd and Burnley, alongside the winter period fast approaching, has seen the rumours resume.
An injury to Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush's ongoing participation at AFCON has seen City jump right to the front of the queue. Signing Semenyo mid-season would allow for a sale in their front-line, according to journalist Dean Jones.
Marmoush, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are all stars that could depart given their uncertain futures. The latter was of significant interest to Spurs and Thomas Frank ahead of the campaign kicking off, but City rejected their advances.
His importance to Guardiola was on show during the first few months of the season, but he has played just 130 minutes of Premier League football since November.
In a World Cup year, Savinho departing mid-campaign and joining Spurs is a real possibility especially given their struggles off the left.
The Lilywhites were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool this past Saturday with Xavi Simons and Cristian Romero both shown red cards.
The former will miss the next three games which seemingly makes the addition of an attacker even more important with Dominic Solanke, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski long-term absentees.
Despite another loss at home, Frank was positive when describing his side's display after the game. He said: "I think overall it was a good performance tonight. Proud of the players and the team and how they responded.
"I actually think the first 30 (minutes) was also good from us and how we responded to setbacks throughout the game. It's something we have been working very hard on because that's the biggest thing the best teams need to do.
"How do we respond to setbacks during a game because the best teams deal with it and move on and keep going. Stick to the plan, and we talked about it before, structure and everything. Today we did that excellently. There was great personality and character in the team."
That was Spurs' final home game of this year with Sunderland as the first visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2026.
Challenging fixtures, particularly away from home, are also on the horizon for Spurs over the busy Christmas and New Year period with trips to Crystal Palace, Brentford and Bournemouth over these next few weeks. The match against the latter comes one week into January - which means the Cherries could be without Semenyo.
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