Lucas Bergvall was the biggest Tottenham Hotspur talent of the 2024/25 season, and the club would not have won the Europa League without him, even if the Swedish international ultimately had to bow out in the end due to an injury.
With how dynamic he looked box to box and even the goal threat he began to carry at points in the campaign under Ange Postecoglou, Spurs fans were really excited to see the leap he could take forward in the 2025/26 season under Thomas Frank.
Instead, Bergvall was mostly out of the lineup to start the 2025/26 campaign, with fans frustratingly wondering why Frank did not value the midfield sensation even half as much as his predecessor Big Ange did.
Lucas Bergvall confounds
Lately, though, Bergvall is starting to get more games for Spurs. Whlie that is definitely a positive for Spurs supporters, the exact usage of the 19 year old Swede has also raised even more questions from the crowd.
Frank, throughout the 2025/26 season, has consistently utilized Bergvall in a more advanced role, whereas Postecoglou had him as a more classic, box to box No. 8. And the reason why this confounds Spurs fans is that Frank is not using Bergvall in his optimal position, because he is clearly better as an 8 than a 10.
Bergvall is a superior athlete and a Rolls Royce of a midfielder who is best when he can explode with the ball at his feet in transitions and come up from the midfield into the attack, starting moves with his robust athleticism. Bergvall is not someone with an innate playmaker feel for the game in tight spaces; he is, rather, a rock and roll kind of midfielder who just makes things happen spur of the moment and needs to carry.
His defensive work is also better in that 8 role where he can run and crash other midfielders, picking up possession and then gliding with it up the pitch, crashing from one box to another with his speed and explosiveness.
So Spurs fans have to wonder how, then, Thomas Frank envisions Lucas Bergvall in his ideal starting lineup and how he sees him as a tactical piece. Frank is utilizing Bergvall much differently than Postecoglou was, and it honestly is not helping the young man settle in and play his best football. It is confusing for Tottenham fans to see what is being done with Bergvall this season.