Tottenham are pursuing Bryan Mbeumo in a move that would reunite him with his former Brentford boss Thomas Frank, though the manager will already be pleased with two new players he gets to work with
Two Tottenham stars will know exactly where they stand with new Spurs boss Thomas Frank after the manager tried to sign them for Brentford. Spurs confirmed the appointment of Frank as their new head coach on Thursday.
The Dane joined as Ange Postecoglou’s successor on a three-year deal after Daniel Levy triggered the £10million release clause in his contract. Frank had long impressed with his work in charge at the Gtech Community Stadium during a near seven-year period, with some of his assistant coaches now following him in the move to north London.
As he looks ahead to competing in the Champions League, Frank will be keen to quickly establish exactly who his key players are while signing new players of his choosing. And the 51-year-old will be pleased that he will now work alongside two players whom he almost signed for Brentford in recent years.
Frank and Brentford had a long-held interest in Brennan Johnson during his time with Nottingham Forest in the Championship. They had several bids rejected by Forest in the January window of 2022.
Brentford again pushed hard to sign Johnson in the summer of 2023, with Frank seeing the then 22-year-old as a pivotal part of his plans for the 2023/24 season after Ivan Toney was hit with an eight-month ban.
The west London side reportedly had a £40million bid rejected after falling short of Forest’s £50m valuation. Spurs eventually won the race for Johnson, paying £47.5m to the east Midlands side before the summer transfer deadline.
The Lilywhites were once again able to get one over Frank’s Brentford last summer by signing Archie Gray from Championship side Leeds United. The versatile youngster was close to joining the Bees in a £40m move before the plug was pulled, as Leeds were unhappy with the structure of the deal Brentford were offering.
That led to Tottenham sweeping in and stealing Gray from under Frank’s nose. The 19-year-old went on to feature heavily in the 2024/25 campaign, making 46 appearances in all competitions, with the majority of those games coming at centre-back.
Gray will be looking to kick on even more from August under Frank, who will now be the one in charge of his development – 12 months on from missing out on him.
Frank will also be keen to reunite with his star player, Bryan Mbeumo, from this season at Brentford, with Tottenham holding initial talks about a deal for the Cameroonian forward with their London rivals.
Mbeumo is one of the most sought-after Premier League players this summer transfer window after a stellar season at Brentford, in which he scored 20 top-flight goals while also contributing seven assists.
After enjoying his most prolific campaign to date under Frank, the 25-year-old has become more intrigued by a Spurs move now, having been linked with Manchester United in recent weeks.
Mbeumo arrived in west London from French side Troyes six years ago for a then-club record fee of £5.8m. Fast-forward to this transfer window and he’s the subject of huge bids from both the Red Devils and Spurs.
United have had a bid of around £55m rejected by Brentford. And as reported already by Mirror Football, a first official step has been made towards reuniting Mbeumo and Frank, with Spurs technical director Johan Lange offering up £65m plus £5m in add-ons to land the Cameroon international.
However, Sky Sports reported that Mbeumo is still leaning towards United, who are expected to go back in with a fresh offer for the Brentford talisman.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
