Tottenham Hotspur are going to find it difficult to sign the top players they want to upgrade their squad this January, especially the goal scoring left winger and deep lying midfielder playmaker that Spurs supporters so desperately crave.
And just as Spurs will find it tough to sign top talents on the transfer market, they will also have the tough task of parting ways with key players who no longer serve a long term purpose to the squad and are best off exiting the N17 this January so they can blossom elsewhere.
No single player epitomizes that shift more than young right winger Brennan Johnson, who was a leading goal scorer for Tottenham last season and even struck gold with the decisive blow to hand Spurs their first Europa League title in 41 years in Bilbao against Big Six rivals Manchester United.
Brennan Johnson is now obsolete
But in 2025/26 under Thomas Frank, who coveted Johnson highly when he was Brentford's manager, Johnson's importance has waned further. He has been usurped on the right wing by the far more well rounded and dynamic Mohammed Kudus, and even when Frank has experimented with Johnson on the left, the Welsh international has been a total dud in that position.
He is not scoring or helping out the team in other ways, and with transfer interest mounting in Brennan Johnson, it is clearly time for him to go. But Thomas Frank confused Spurs fans a bit after the win over Crystal Palace with an update doubling down on the importance of Johnson to the team, even though he scarcely plays and has honestly been playing very poorly this season.
Frank said of Johnson, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, "Yeah, I think Brennan is very important for us. Maybe he didn't get many minutes, but unfortunately we can only play 11 players. We spoke about it before with Mo, he's coming in and put his stamp on that right winger position. Then the left, we tried different solutions. He's still started quite a few games. I think Brennan is an important player for us."
Right, so Frank tried out Johnson in a number of roles this season, and he has been unable to make an impact in any of them. Tottenham are openly in transfer rumors about selling Johnson, and when specifically asked about these rumors, Frank said that Johnson was important in lip service only because he really just gavea. whole bunch of reasons why he is not important now that Kudus has arrived - and then Dejan Kulusevski will be coming back from injury.
Frank might as well be honest, because even though it is diplomatic to call Johnson "very important" and you do not want to bury your own guys or lose transfer leverage, it is patently and blatantly obvious that Johnson has no place at Spurs in 2026.