Football
Exclusive: New Spurs Boss Thomas Frank Plots Move for Brentford Ace Yoane Wissa
New Spurs boss Thomas Frank is set to raid former club Brentford for star forward Yoane Wissa. The DR Congo international scored 19 goals last season and has one year left on his contract. Spurs' Champions League football offer could lure him away. Brentford may struggle to keep hold of him.
Southampton FC v Brentford FC - Premier League by Dan Istitene | Getty Images
New Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank wants to raid his former club Brentford for star forward Yoane Wissa, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.
The Dane was officially installed as Spurs new manager yesterday – and already he is lining up a move to try and tempt the experienced DR Congo international to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The reported fee for Wissa is expected to be around £40 million – a figure that would represent a bargain given his 19-goal haul in the Premier League last season.
And the question now is whether the 33-cap international has the desire to stay another year with the Bees or join Frank across town in North London with the promise of Champions League football to look forward next season.
Spurs secured Champions League football with a 1-0 victory over United in the Europa League final in Bilbao last month.
And the chance to play against the best players in the world – and the Champions League for the first time – could prove too tempting to turn down.
Now Frank has left the Bees, the West London club know they will face intensified interest in their top players, with forward Bryan Mbeumo tipped for a move to Manchester United.
GROWING INTEREST
And it will be interesting to see if the Bees can keep hold of Wissa, one of their top players last term as the club finished an impressive tenth place in the Premier League.
Wissa has a year left on his current contract and is understood to be happy at the Gtech Community Stadium after a season which saw him dazzle with 19 goals in the top-flight.
The 28-year-old, who has now played four seasons for the Bees in the Premier League, also chipped in with four assists as he finished sixth overall in the top-scorers’ standings.
Only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Erling Haaland, teammate Mbeumo and Chris Wood finished ahead of him in the final placings, his best goal-tally return in the Premier League so far.
In all, Wissa has scored 49 goals in 149 appearances for the club, with 45 of those goals having been scored in 137 Premier League games.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.