Tottenham Hotspur are going to be one of the more active teams in the winter transfer market, because they have been playing pretty poorly so far in the 2025/26 Premier League season under Thomas Frank and are at serious risk of not even qualifying for European football at all next year. They are currently in the Champions League, but that is only by virtue of winning the Europa League; they finished 17th in the English top flight last season under Ange Postecoglou.
And yet instead of taking steps forward, it feels like Spurs are treading water or even actually moving backwards under Frank in 2025. The summer signings of Randal Kolo Muani, Mohammed Kudus, and Xavi Simons have all been important to varying degrees, and yet the Spurs attack still feels wholly incompetent and quite disjointed under the new manager.
Tottenham need to sign a player who can bring more goals to the table, and they are zeroing in on the left wing position as their biggest need. And so far in December, the main transfer target linked to Spurs has been Bournemouth breakout superstar Antoine Semenyo, who was already a target for the Lilywhites in the summer market.
Tottenham are fading fast
But Spurs are fading fast in the battle for Semenyo. According to the latest information from talkSPORT transfer reporter Alex Crook, while the battle for Antoine Semenyo is heating up, Tottenham Hotspur are the ones cooling down. Manchester City have been holding direct talks with the Ghanaian winger, while Manchester United and Liverpool are "very keen". Meanwhile, Tottenham are suddenly reportedly seen as the "outsiders" in the transfer race, which was not the case weeks ago when they were mentioned as favorites alongside the likes of Man City and Liverpool.
It appears the transfer race has been turned on its head, per the rumor mill. Man City are gunning harder and harder after Semenyo as they look to flip the script on Arsenal in the Premier League title race, while the Gunners themselves appear to be nowhere near the Semenyo chase. And despite their big summer signings in the attack, Man United appear to be highly interested in Semenyo, moreso than the surprisingly struggling defending Premier League champions Liverpool.
And now Tottenham are falling behind the rest, perhaps already rejected by Semenyo or simply not as serious in the player anyway - maybe even sending the inevtability of losing out on another highly sought after Premier League transfer target.