A year ago, Genoa were on the cusp of a permanent agreement to sign Djed Spence until between them, the Italian club and Tottenham Hotspur could not agree on a fee below his £8.5m option to buy. A likely return to a north London scrapheap beckoned.
That may have been a sliding doors moment for both Spence and Tottenham’s fortunes. Richarlison is another who might have been sold at various points in his three years at Spurs whose world-class brace added a layer of gloss to the victory over Burnley.
It was, nonetheless, a first game in charge that Thomas Frank described as “a good performance, not a through the roof performance”. The Dane’s next trick will be to match those transformations across the pitch.
The scoreline did not account for the moments in between Richarlison’s goals – the second already a goal of the season contender – when Tottenham teased, a disconnect between the front and middle threes screaming out for James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
That Frank should lose both to serious injuries at the start of his reign is desperately unfortunate, the two most innovative creative players in the squad a long way off a return.
When Spence looked up, too often he would be found searching for Brennan Johnson, who until his second-half strike struggled to convince in his new position on the left wing, searching the wrong channels.
Cult hero status secured in the Europa League final, for now Johnson has the difficult task of filling the void left by Son Heung-min.
Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel have shown promise but Frank is, as yet, without a ready-made visionary to take things up a notch.
That could be about to change. Daniel Levy’s pursuit of Eberechi Eze made significant progress over the weekend.
The Crystal Palace player wants to join. A £70m deal would be transformative, with the England international able to play as a No 10 or on either flank.
Little wonder then, that the latest Change for Tottenham protest outside the ground on Saturday fell on deaf ears, attended by just a handful of people. It came hours after the Eze news broke, three months after the Europa League triumph and three days after Spurs came within inches of beating Paris Saint-Germain.
Eze would not have changed the result against Burnley but there were spaces he would have exploited. Kyle Walker was hailed as “outstanding” by manager Scott Parker on his return to English football and yet it was Eze who seemed to have hammered the final nail in the veteran defender’s top-flight career in Palace’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City last December.
On this occasion, Walker was mostly untroubled by Johnson and what might have been a disastrous comeback proved an impressive showing from a 35-year-old who looked finished at this level.
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There will be bigger tests. At the time of Spurs’ first goal, Burnley had enjoyed 6.9 per cent possession; they were not clinical and underperformed for xG (1.1).
Frank’s new charges were able to run and run, Lucas Bergvall the most advanced of the midfield three in a role where Pape Matar Sarr has also been used to fill the gaps left by Maddison and Kulusevski.
Eze is a more permanent solution, made all the sweeter by Arsenal’s prolonged interest in the playmaker. Alongside Mohammed Kudus, who assisted both Richarlison goals, it promises to be one of the signings of the summer – and just what Frank needs to unlock his new side’s full potential.
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