Should Tottenham Hotspur consider reuniting Thomas Frank with £60m-rated star? – Opinion

If we walk back to his time at Brentford, Thomas Frank constructed a system where he relied a lot on pressing in a structured manner complemented by the swift transitions that he deployed in his sequences, and then he wanted to get a sense of positional flexibility in attack given how his forwards used to keep on rotating to take advantage of the zones. And Watkins, who has previously worked with the Dane head coach and is now playing under Unai Emery at Aston Villa, does possess these core principles in his game.

But if we look into these core compatibilities one after the other, starting from the pressing. The England international has that ability to deploy an exceptional press from the front, and we saw how last season he was among the top percentile strikers under Unai Emery for his press in the final third, complemented by his successful tackles. And given relentless efforts off the ball, it will be really important to play that in the Dane head coach’s system, which prioritises counter-pressing and high-tempo transitions (at least from what we have seen from the 51-year-old at Brentford).

And one thing that all the Premier League watchers know about Ollie is that he is a poacher, but he is also more than that, given how he is good at dropping deep and linking with attacking midfielders. In many games we have seen him dragging defenders out of position, which creates space for inverted wingers, which in the current Tottenham side someone like Mohammed Kudus or James Maddison can take advantage of. Given his intelligence off-ball, it ends up being quite in line with what Ivan Toney brought to the Brentford side under Frank (if you remember).

Moreover, while Watkins is a central striker, the 29-year-old has that ability to drift to the left channel. So if we are thinking about this in that Thomas Frank structure, it gives the Dane head coach some sort of room to alternate between a front two (3-5-2 or 4-2-2-2) and a lone striker in a 4-3-3. And this tactical fluidity makes Watkins more than just a plug-in striker who is just a traditional No. 9.

But there should be concerns over Watkins as well…

The former Brentford striker is 28, and Aston Villa at the moment values him north of £60 million. So in the end he does not fit Daniel Levy’s recently adapted transfer strategy to prioritise young talents who have huge upside at N17. So the chiefs at Hotspur Way need to do a sense of financial analysis and see what sort of value he brings to the side vis-a-vis his cost in terms of the whole transfer transaction as well as the wages. The Lilywhites should also ascertain opportunity cost given that Levy can pursue alternatives like Benjamin Sesko, who should be available for a price tag not very far from Watkins.

Moreover, we have seen all of Richarlison, Tel, and Kudus play down the middle in different spells across their careers, and if the former were to stay and we also see Kudus becoming a second striker in certain setups, the Aston Villa striker may find himself being over-rotated (which is also currently the case with him at Villa Park), which ends up affecting both his confidence and his output.

Lastly, while Watkins plays wonderfully in transitional games, the North Londoners under Thomas Frank may end up facing a lot of low blocks in the English top tier, and this is where you need technical superiority complemented by close control in tight spaces, and while Watkins has improved in that area, the Englishman is still not elite tier there, and Frank may need to end up working with him over this.

Watkins and Frank is a smart reunion, but…

See if Tottenham and Levy can end up offloading Richarlison, and if they fail to land a younger yet high-potential forward (like Sesko), then Watkins becomes a very smart choice who is more of a ready-made solution given his familiarity with Frank’s system complemented by his capability to make an immediate impact. But any transfer for him needs to ideally be below Villa’s current asking price of £60m.