Thomas Frank has made it clear that he knows Cristian Romero is looking forward to the coming season at Tottenham amid speculation surrounding his future.
The Spurs defender has been linked with a move to La Liga and Atletico Madrid in particular as he enters the final two years of his contract at the north London club. The 27-year-old World Cup winner is set to captain Tottenham in one half of their friendly at Reading on Saturday with Son Heung-min the skipper for the other 45 minutes.
At his first press conference as Spurs head coach on Friday, Frank described the Argentine as "very, very important for us" and was later asked whether if Romero were to leave would he push for a new centre-back to replace the two-time Copa America winner.
READ MORE: Every word Thomas Frank said on Morgan Gibbs-White, Son, Romero, Kudus, Daniel Levy and transfers
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“But it’s like a theory. Right now he’s here, that’s what I’m focusing on," he said. "As long as players are here, I’m training them, I’m playing with them. He’s definitely here and very committed. I know he’s looking forward to the season."
Son has also been linked with the exit door at Spurs after entering the final 12 months of his contract following that Europa League win. So after 10 years at the club should the South Korean be able to decide what comes next for him?
“It’s always tricky, situations like that. If that happens. Right now I have a player that is fully committed and training well, and will play tomorrow," said the Dane. "If a player has been at a club a long time, then there will always be a decision for the club to take of course. And of course, the head coach and the guys who are in charge and this case will be with Daniel [Levy] and Johan [Lange]. Because there is something in it if someone wants to leave at a certain stage, then there can be something there. But the club will always decide in the end, of course."
Two years ago Ange Postecoglouhad Harry Kane to call upon all through his first pre-season, only to lose the England captain a couple of days before the Premier League campaign began as he made the move to Bayern Munich. Tottenham would presumably not want a similar scenario with their South Korean star.
“Yeah. First and foremost, he’s here now. I’m not worried too much about it," said Frank. "Let’s take that five or six weeks down the line. That will probably be something I get [asked] the following week, so I’ll practice my answers. Right now, he’s here."
It's not just about outgoing players as Frank made it clear that he wants new players through the door if Tottenham are to compete on all fronts as the chairman Daniel Levy wants.
"No doubt if you want to compete in all tournaments you need a competitive squad, a robust squad. There’s a lot of competitive players in the squad. It’s an exciting squad. There’s no doubt the club is in the market and looking. I would like to speak when a player comes in and not about the market," he said.
"It’s always a balance, the squad size, how big, how small should it be to compete. I know Tottenham. I know the players, I’ve seen a lot but I need to know them one to one, need to train them and getting input every single day about them to give me more knowledge. But if you want to compete you need to use the squad well."
One position Frank appeared to rule out for the mean time in the transfer market is another forward.
"I think the front three, four, depending on if we play with a 10 and a front three, with Dominic up there, I think Richarlison is a good striker, I know he’s been struggling with injuries, I think he was having a strong end to the season and was very important for the team to win the Europa League trophy," he said.
"Brennan, Kulusevski, I know he’s out for a little bit of a while but he’s still there, Maddison, Odobert, Mathys Tel and now Kudus. I think that’s a strong, creative frontline and I’m 100 per cent sure we will score a lot of goals."
On Kulusevski's return after his patella surgery, the head coach added: "I don’t like to put a timeline on it. Put it this way, he’s not ready for the first game of the season."
Frank is excited about the £55million arrival of Mohammed Kudus from West Ham and believes there is plenty to work with when it comes to the 24-year-old Ghana international.
"I think in the first season at West Ham he had a very good record in terms of goals and assists. Everyone is affected if a team is not performing top for various reasons," he said. "Last year for whatever reason West Ham struggled a little bit so maybe it was difficult for him to produce the same numbers. But Kudus is a very good offensive player. He can score goals and create goals, and that's what we will work on."
So will Tottenham be looking to sign more Premier League-experienced players like Kudus and the sought after Morgan Gibbs-White?
"I think it’s a plus to have Premier League experience, I don’t think it’s the most important [thing]. For me when I look at a player, I think, is it a good player? The ability is most important. If it is a very good player I don’t think he has a problem playing in the Premier League," said the head coach.
"I know it is very intense, very physical but I don’t think any problems for any player to play here. Of course, different times in careers, things like that, but not the only thing we’re looking into."
For anyone thinking that Frank's version of Tottenham will be a boring, defensive side, the Dane made it very clear that he expects goals aplenty from his new team.
"Clear principles, all phases, that you hopefully will see. How we defend but also how we attack. I want to play brave, aggressive and attacking football," he said. "I’m convinced we will score a lot of goals but we need to be able to defend also if we want to win enough football matches.
"I haven’t seen one single team have success without being able to defend. That’s not saying we don’t want to attack. We need to be brave. A nice mixture. We will be pragmatic sometimes when we need to be."
Tottenham had a nightmare with injuries last season with Postecoglou having to select a team every three days from a tiny group of often 13 players for almost three months in the middle of the season, as the number of missing players reached double figures for much of that period.
Frank made it clear that he will be looking to see what happened during the season in terms of those problems to ensure any mistakes are learned from.
"It’s always difficult for me to look into what happened before me. Of course, we try to look into it and speak to people who were there last year and try to learn from it," he said. "For me, if there were mistakes that’s another thing. I will definitely make some mistakes. We need to learn from that. We need to learn from last season. I have some ideas of what we can improve and do better. It should be possible to improve."
He added: "Hopefully, in this pre-season we will make the players more robust to compete on all four fronts. Also, make sure we rotate enough in the squad. Those are the two biggest things. But one thing is the aim but the next thing is to prove it."
And what of Levy's big declaration that the Europa League triumph was not enough and that he wants to win the Premier League and Champions League?
"I share his ambitions for the club. A club of this size should have that ambition," said Frank. "How far away we are is probably very difficult to say, but we should throw it forward and go for it.
"No doubt that needs to be the aim for the future. What are the odds for us winning the Premier League this season? I’m not allowed to gamble either… so I think we’re probably not the favourites. Probably three teams at least ahead of us but we will do what we can to build a strong and competitive team."
The Morgan Gibbs-White mess, a departure from the club and Thomas Frank's first set of matches as Spurs boss - click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Or to watch on YouTube!
