There were huge fears at the start of August that the now-departed Daniel Levy was going to allow Thomas Frank to enter a new season with a Tottenham Hotspur squad that simply wasn't good enough. The Europa League triumph aside, most of the Spurs squad should have been looking over their shoulders heading into the transfer window.
There were huge departures, with one of the club's all-time greats, Son Heung Min, bidding farewell to the Lilywhites. The early acquistion of Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United for £55m lifted spirits but it felt like the same old story of Levy allowing the club to be second best had ensued as we entered the latter stages of the window.
Spurs fans watched big six rivals pick up top attacking talent, with Bryan Mbeumo (£71m) moving to Manchester United for some reason. Joao Pedro (£60m) headed to Chelsea and Liverpool broke their transfer record to sign Florian Wirtz (£116m).
It looked as though it went from bad to worse on the night of August 22 when one of the Premier League's most highly sought after players "let it all work out". We know where this is going and where he was going once Fabrizio Romano dropped that nasty 'here we go', but here's why Spurs will end up lucking out.
Tottenham losing to Arsenal for Eberechi Eze will be a blessing in disguise
Eberechi Eze is undoubtedly one of the most talented attackers in English football, and without him, Crystal Palace would not have won the FA Cup last season. He was inevitably going to be in demand, but it looked for all the world that he was going to be part of Frank's revolution.
The 27-year-old had been linked with Arsenal, the club he started his youth career with, but reputable journalists continuously suggested a move to Spurs was on the horizon. That was until a Kai Havertz injury put the Gunners under pressure to sign an attacker.
There are claims that Eze even called Mikel Arteta to ask if he could join them before making the decision to join the Lilywhites. He opted for the red side of North London and their club media team decided to cringe up an announcement video.
If Spurs had missed out on Eze and ended the window without a new attacker alongside Kudus then it would have been devastating. But instead, Levy's last hurrah was to swoop for Xavi Simons who is the superior talent when you take into consideration age, experience, success and versatility.
Why Xavi Simons is the better deal
The Lilywhites paid £52m to RB Leipzig to bring Xavi Simons to the white of North London. The Dutch attacker was heavily linked with Chelsea, but said that once he got the call from Spurs he wanted the move.
Simons, 22, is a jack of all attacking trades, able to play across the frontline, even as a second striker and in attacking midfield. He put English football fans on notice with his excellent strike in the Netherlands' 2-1 defeat to England at last summer's European Championships.
He is a real talent who has starred at Leipzig and previously PSV Eindhoven where he bagged the 2023 Eredivisie Golden Boot with 19 goals. He was just what Frank needed given the Dane has similarly found success working with versatile forwards such as Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.
Eze is unbelievably talented but Simons offers a profile that can help Spurs in several areas. Arsenal are going to lump their new English attacking midfielder on the left because Gabriel Martinelli is so woeful in front of goal.
As Sampha would say, Spurs "let it all work out" and ended up with the better player and the better deal.
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