Tottenham Hotspur supporters will be happy that the club have at least signed, presumably, two talented and known Premier League attacking players this summer between Morgan Gibbs-White and Mohammed Kudus, but as with anything Spurs related, there's always an inkling of disappointment somewhere in the background.
At the risk of giving Daniel Levy too much credit, many Spurs fans have to point out that new manager Thomas Frank has missed out on some slam-dunk transfer targets, simply because Daniel Levy and the Tottenham decision-makers at N17 didn't actually try.
Arsenal swooped in and stole Frank's veteran midfield leader Christian Norgaard from underneath them without so much of a whimper from Spurs. And the case of Bryan Mbeumo has been as puzzling as it is frustrating, with Tottenham not even challenging Manchester United for the signing of Frank's greatest individual piece of player development as Brentford coach.
Tottenham barely even tried
After at least a month of negotiations that Tottenham could have easily hijacked if they tried, Mbeumo is headed to Manchester United. Fabrizio Romano gave the fabled "here we go" to the newest Red Devil, as Mbeumo will join forces with fellow Premier League superstar Matheus Cunha this summer to create a new-look Man United attack. The price? 70 million pounds.
Fab and others have reported that Mbeumo told Manchester United he only wanted to sign with them, but given Tottenham beat Manchester United in the Europa League Final and have his former manager as their head coach, you'd have to think that Spurs would have had a strong chance if they truly went for him.
It felt like the 25-year-old right winger wasn't even on Tottenham's radar beyond lip service to appease the fans. Mbeumo scored 20 goals with 7 assists last season, and while Mohammed Kudus at 55 million pounds could prove to be the better long-term ploy for Spurs, there could have been room for both players.
Nonetheless, Mbeumo is now pretty much officially headed to Manchester United, and Tottenham will have to hope that Mbeumo and this move don't end up tormenting them. Frank could very well end up with precisely none of his Brentford stars at Tottenham, which would be a crying shame, since players like Mbeumo, especially, have the quality to be key contributors for a Spurs side that did finish well below the Bees in the Premier League table in spite of their historic Europa League triumph.