The big decisions Mohammed Kudus has taken throughout his thoughtful career path have been made with a unique blend of instinct and analysis. When it came to choosing Tottenham Hotspur, manager Thomas Frank ticked both boxes.
“He just fit perfectly in my head and it just felt right in my stomach,” the club’s summer recruit tells Sports Illustrated.
Kudus had numerous opportunities to join the Premier League before eventually accepting West Ham United’s offer in 2023. After establishing himself as arguably the most effective attacking outlet in east London, the one-man swarm was not short of suitors this summer. However, as he outlined in his first interviews as a Spurs player, it was “only” Tottenham.
That clear thinking stemmed from the lofty reputation of Frank. The track record of the amiable Danish coach proved to be more compelling than anything he could have said to Kudus.
The Thomas Frank Factor
When reflecting on his faith in Frank, Kudus says: “Looking at his work at Brentford with attackers. I can name so many; [Bryan] Mbeumo, Ivan Toney, [Mikkel] Damsgaard. So many attackers I’ve seen his development with them has been really, really massive.
“So I thought that he’d be the perfect guy to help with my development. And how he wants his attackers to play, I think I have the qualities to play like that and that’s how I want to play.”
Frank oversaw three waves of forwards flourish under his watch at Brentford. The likes of Ollie Watkins and Saïd Benrahma improved so much that they were poached by Premier League clubs before the Bees had even made it into England’s top flight.
Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo made the jump from the Championship with Brentford and both hit 20 Premier League goals in a single campaign under Frank. Yoane Wissa moved to west London in 2021 with just one full season of top-flight football to his name and joined Newcastle United on Deadline Day for £55 million ($74.1 million), more than six times what he cost before working with Frank.
What Thomas Frank Demands of Tottenham Players
The attacking transformation players undergo on Frank’s watch doesn’t come easily. As Kudus points out: “He’s a very demanding coach, offensively and defensively.
“One of my major attributes is getting the ball one-v-one and taking players on. The team try to put me in positions to do that which helps a lot. Just try to create as much as I can, but defensively as always he expects a lot, of course.”
Kudus is not alone in working against the ball. “We press high, whichever opposition we play,” he says of Tottenham’s style. “We press really, really high and that comes with a lot of running demands and high interesting movements and stuff like that, too. The demand from him is very high but it really, really helps the team and you can see that from some of the games already.”
Manchester City, so often comfortable playing out of a thimble of space, were left notably frazzled by Tottenham’s press in an early sign of how Frank’s demanding approach can bring the best out of Kudus and his teammates.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Thomas Frank Sold Tottenham to Mohammed Kudus Without Saying a Word.
