Tottenham wanted to sign Semenyo — Coach

Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank has revealed that Spurs attempted to sign Antoine Semenyo before he moved to Manchester City this month.

Semenyo has hit the ground running at Man City, bagging three goals and one assist in four appearances.

Frank has now revealed the extent to which Tottenham went in their attempts to sign him.

“The club work relentlessly to try to do the best they can to try to improve the squad, especially Johan (Lange), Fabio (Paritici) and Vinai (Venkatesham), and all the people behind them,” Frank said.

“I mean it, we can’t be too obsessed with short-term fixes that don’t help with the long term, because if we don’t do that, then all the hard work we put in now can be limited for the future.

“And that’s not that we don’t badly want short-term success. I can promise that the Lewis family is super committed to this project; they want to do everything.

“And I will go against my rule, hopefully only once, that there’s no doubt it was clear that the club wanted to sign Semenyo.

“They did everything – I think that’s a clear signal that the Lewis family is very committed. That’s a big signing, with finances and all that.

“That’s the quality of players we’re looking for to improve the squad, and if we can’t find that, then it’s definitely better to take the right decisions.”