Thomas Frank only wants players who want to wear ‘fantastic badge’ of Tottenham

Thomas Frank has brushed off Tottenham’s failure to sign Eberechi Eze by insisting he only wants players who want to wear the “fantastic badge” of the club.

Spurs were all set to capture Eze after reaching an agreement with Crystal Palace on Wednesday for a £60million plus £7.5m in extras deal until Arsenal hijacked the transfer of the England international, who has previously revealed he was a boyhood fan of the Gunners.

Eze would have filled the creative void at Tottenham left by James Maddison, who is set to miss the rest of the season after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee earlier this month, whilst Dejan Kulusevski (knee) is a long-term absentee.

“Of course we need to do everything we can to make sure we are as competitive as possible,” Frank acknowledged.

“I think we’ve got six good front players that I think is very competitive, across all the competitions we’re going into, and then Kulusevski, he will come back in this season. I think that’s a big thing.

“It’s probably longer-term with Maddison, unfortunately, but I am also pretty confident that we will sign a player before the end of the window.

“There has been a lot of links, there will be a lot of links in the future and just to generalise to make it very, very clear, I don’t want any players that don’t want to come to the club…and wear this fantastic badge – we don’t want them here. I think that’s very clear.

“I’m also pretty sure that the fans will feel the same. If they don’t want to put the fantastic shirt over their head, play for the badge, play for the club, really enjoy it, no problem – we don’t them there. I think that’s a key message.”

Back in June, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy claimed May’s Europa League success was “not enough” and they “need to win the league”, but Mohammed Kudus is the only permanent arrival to significantly improve the first-team this summer.

Bayern Munich’s Joao Palhinha has also joined, on a season-long loan, and Frank is positive more will follow.

Asked if he had been let down by this transfer window, Frank insisted: “No. I think I say to my players if they work very hard, do everything they can, I can’t ask for any more. I know the club are working extremely hard.

“It’s unfortunate that you can’t go into Waitrose and buy two good players then walk away five minutes later. It is a little bit more complicated than that.

“I see the club working hard, I see Daniel working extremely hard, I see Johan (Lange), I see Vinai (Venkatesham) and we are all on board in terms of doing what we can do to improve.

“I believe that something will happen.”

One positive for Spurs this week was captain Cristian Romero signing a new four-year deal.

“I think that was a fantastic signal from the club and of course from Cristian Romero as well that he believes in the club, the project and the journey we’re just starting,” Frank said.

“I was extremely happy with that and I also think I understand the exciting thing is to sign players, but I think it is as exciting or maybe more crucial to sign existing top players.”