Tottenham Hotspur have been going after two of the best midfielders on the summer transfer market in Newcastle United star Sandro Tonali and West Ham United star Mateus Fernandes, and there is optimism that Roberto De Zerbi can land his fingers on both dream targets to vastly upgrade a midfield that has been among the Premier League's worst over the last several seasons.
In the meantime, though, 20 year old gem Lucas Bergvall saw how interested De Zerbi was in this players, recalled his own inability to get into either RDZ's team or Thomas Frank's team (though for very different reasons and under very different circumstances), and thusly submitted a transfer request to Spurs.
Bergvall wants out, and rather than try to prove De Zerbi wrong or convince the Italian manager of his place in the team, even considering the new signings are more 6's than 8's, he wants to go to another club where he feels comfortable he can play every week.
Lucas Bergvall is not that guy
Meanwhile, Mateus Fernandes is actually choosing Tottenham Hotspur for the same reason. According to a report from Diario AS, the Portuguese international surprisingly prefers a move to Tottenham over the mighty Real Madrid and their legendary Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho. And even though Mou really wants him, Fernandes would prefer Spurs over the record Champions League winners because he believes Spurs will give him more opportunities to develop.
Now, Fernandes's decision sends a not so subtle message to Lucas Bergvall over his own transfer request. Tottenham have to acknowledge that playing time and development are important to young players nowadays, and they are not going to just go for the bigger name club, which is a case that goes for Luka Vuskovic suddenly wanting Brighton over a Tottenham return (or another loan deal, which honestly makes less sense).
But then, Bergvall and Tottenham have to acknowledge something else that stands out more and actually reflects poorly on the Swedish international. If Fernandes sees Tottenham as a better place for him to getting playing time and compete even though Real Madrid are also thin at the No. 6, then Spurs have not at all lost their reputation for being a great place for young players to play.
So it says that Bergvall might just be someone who does not want to compete at the elite level. Yes, he was hard done by Thomas Frank, but at the same time, it is up to him how he wants to battle back, face the challenge, and prove himself. Tottenham is not too tough for Fernandes to want to go there and shine from Day 1, so why is it any different from Bergvall who was key to the team just the season before? Bergvall just got served a message by Fernandes: he's not the same level of character or competitor as the West Ham star, who actually did seize the opportunity even on a team that did get relegated to the Championship.
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