Tottenham Hotspur have been working on signing Thomas Frank as their new manager since Friday night when they fired Ange Postecoglou, and it looks like Spurs are close to hiring Frank, based on information from Fabrizio Romano and other important transfer insiders around Europe.
It's only a matter of time before Frank is announced as the next Tottenham coach, and there's an expectation from fans and transfer reporters that he will try to bring his biggest gem from Brentford with him, Bryan Mbeumo.
According to a new report from the Hounslow Herald's Sam Tabuteau, not only are Frank and Spurs in the final hours of agreeing to terms on an official deal, but the Brentford coach wants to bring both Mbeumo and defender Nathan Collins with him to North London.
Mbeumo has been linked to Tottenham for weeks, long before Postecoglou left the club, but he apparently already chose to join Manchester United above the other big Premier League clubs. In fact, Man United have already begun negotiating with Brentford for the 25-year-old right winger, but there's a hope that Frank can sway the breakout star forward's mind.
Tottenham are looking at Cristian Romero replacements
There's no doubt that Mbeumo is an ambitious and transformative target for the Tottenham attack, but few have focused on Collins as a potential option. Per Tabuteau, Collins is an option for Spurs if Cristian Romero were to leave the club this summer, and with Tottenham already linked to a few center back targets after Postecoglou's dismissal, Romero's departure unfortunately seems like it could happen.
Collins is a couple of years younger than Romero at 24, and the Ireland international is coming off a career year for a Brentford side that significantly outperformed Tottenham in the Premier League. He averaged 1.1 tackles, 0.9 interceptions, 5.8 clearances, 1.5 blocks, and 0.4 dribbles completed allowed while completing 86.3 percent of his 51.6 pass attempts per game. He even contributed five goals to the Brentford good.
None of those numbers jump off the page as elite, but taken all together, they are solid and show that Collins has no major deficiencies to his game and is a quality Premier League center back. Given the aspirations Tottenham should have, Collins isn't a starter or a direct replacement for Romero, but he could be a decent buy for Spurs if the price is right.
Obviously, the real target Tottenham should be going after is Mbeumo, but the concern with the 20-goal, 7-assist winger is this: Would Daniel Levy be willing to outbid Manchester United in wages for him? Frank can push all he wants, but we all know the stinginess of Levy is the ultimate deciding factor in these cases.