It did not take long for Tottenham Hotspur to react to the severe injury to center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur. The Uruguayan international went down with a hamstring ailment in a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth that initially did not seem like much to worry about. After all, Bentancur is no longer a must start for Spurs, and the injury itself seemed like nothing more than a couple of games on the sidelines.
Instead, Bentancur is out for a minimum of three months and will require surgery for a torn hamstring, even putting his World Cup at risk. So Spurs went out and made an immediate signing, ending the years long meme of a transfer pursuit of Conor Gallagher, which had been so repetitive and so fruitless for so many months that everyone just assumed the links were one giant fake.
But with Aston Villa closing in on a deal for the former Chelsea man, Tottenham swooped in at the last second and signed the box to box midfielder. Although Gallagher is not the profile that matches Bentancur, nor is he necessarily the shrewdest signing from a cost and fit perspective, he is a warm body with legitimate Premier League experience - and he was once pretty dang good over at Crystal Palace for a minute.
Tottenham need a new coach
Gallagher, at the end of the day, does not move the meter as much as another potential signing that could become a thing in the coming weeks. Because Gallagher's big move from Atletico Madrid to North London was overshadowed by another, more major move in the Spanish capital. Real Madrid, after losing El Clasico and after dealing with months of inane controversies, fired Xabi Alonso.
While Alonso did not work out for Real Madrid, few managers making their first move to one of the biggest clubs in Europe do succeed there. It takes managers with years of experience or who have been directly groomed by the club to make it over there, such as Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti.
But just because Alonso failed at Madrid does not make him a failure of a coach. Just two years ago, Alonso won the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen's first ever triumph, forging an undefeated season to dethrone Bayern Munich's record breaking run. And that is why Real Madrid brought him in to replace the coaching GOAT, Don Carlo.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are saddled with Thomas Frank in the manager's chair. And Frank just keeps getting worse and worse as the points continue to drop in the Premier League. Spurs need a new manager more than they need any player in any position, and with Alonso available, the most obvious move is to go out and get him to replace a man who may arguably be the worst manager in the English top flight this season.