Thomas Frank is not at all worried about the fact that Xavi Simons has not been able to hit the ground running at Tottenham.
Out of the seven players that arrived through the door at Tottenham in the summer, Xavi was perhaps the signing that Spurs fans were most excited by.
However, he has made the least impact so far and has found himself out of Tottenham’s starting eleven over the last few games.
Some have questioned whether Xavi is capable of coping with the pace and physicality of the Premier League, but the Spurs boss has no doubts about the Dutchman’s quality.
Thomas Frank says Xavi Simons can have a similar trajectory at Tottenham to Brentford star
Frank has now explained why Spurs were so keen on bringing the Dutchman through the door, and suggested that his early struggles have to do with the fact that the team itself is not clicking on the pitch.
The 52-year-old pointed to Mikkel Damsgaard’s rise at Brentford after his initial struggles and suggested that Xavi could do the same at Tottenham.
When asked if the Netherlands international can play in a team that presses with high intensity, Frank responded (via Football.London): “Yeah, definitely. That’s one of the reasons why we got him here. I think he’s got a very big potential to be that playmaker. How can you say? Creator but also finisher.I think he’s very good at finishing, very good at scoring goals and arriving in the right areas. I have a big belief that he’ll be very good for us.
“But it’s like with anything, we like it to be like this, to make it work. Sometimes you come into a club where everything is smooth, everything is working, no problem, boom, you step in. Even that, you can see, compared with what we have seen at Liverpool, also coming into a champions [team], and it’s not that easy all the time.
“All the time it takes a little bit longer. But as long as the player trains well, keeps the right attitude, keeps doing the right thing, step by step, we will see him flourish. I’m not in doubt of that. Just because we’re always so good to judge him now, but probably after a year or two, oh, how good is he? Now everyone is talking about Damsgaard. He did two seasons before he really flourished in the third one.”
Frank wants his Spurs attackers to build connections
The Tottenham boss put Xavi’s and other attackers’ struggles at the start of the season down to a lack of connections, given that it is almost a new-look Spurs frontline.
The former Brentford boss remains confident that we will see the best of these players once they create relationships with each other on the pitch.
Frank continued: “I’m a big believer in terms of trying to create a relationship, a professional relationship with the players. That’s how I work. So it’s the same with Xavi, with Mathys [Tel], with Brennan [Johnson].
“It’s all the players, how do we get it working? And also, with which players, where do we find the right position for them? So that’s a constant development.”