What can Frank bring to Spurs? | Trent makes big arrival at Madrid | Is Cunha just the start of Man Utd’s big summer signings?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido. Joining me are The Guardian sports writer Jonathan Liu and the Daily Mail's football editor Ian Ladyman. Welcome along to you both. Jonathan, I'm going to start off with you and Back Page of The Guardian. Tottenham get their man. Spurs delighted after Frank confirmed on a three-year deal, writes Sir David Heitner.

In terms of, you know, it's been obviously, you know, a little while since that Europa League final and it was always expected to be the case that Ange Potokoglu would lose his job. It has now been, you know, all sorted. He's now in with his backroom team. How do you feel Spurs have handled this, Jonathan?

I think Frank is a pretty smart appointment. The conundrum for Spurs and Daniel Levy was always how you carry on and maintain and preserve all of the good things that Andrew Bosticobb did in terms of culture, in terms of keeping the squad together, in terms of his people skills, and obviously the mentality that helped him to their first trophy win, whilst also managing to break into that tough

Premier League top 16. And Frank, I think, over guys like Iriola and Marco Silva, I think he's much more similar to Costa Coglu than those other two. Partly because of his people skills, the fact that he doesn't really...

care what people think of him. He's prepared to think outside the box. But also the style of football they play. And this is a team at Brentford that consistently outperformed expectations, that consistently outperformed their wage bill. They've played some very good football in the Championship. They were the highest

team, highest possession team in those two teams and then basically switched up again, switched up to join the Premier League and had to play a more pragmatic style, played a slightly longer ball style and then after the loss to Ivan Toni a couple of summers ago, you know, then changed their style again. So I think

There's a lot to love there. I'm interested to see what he does with players like Brennan Johnson and Dominic Folanke and Pedro Porro as well, and how he can get those players firing. The start of play is a big talking point, isn't it, Ian? And what he did at Brentford, he was allowed to innovate and switch up, just as Jonathan has described. But how would Spurs fans react to having less of the ball compared to what they had under Ange Postakoglu?

Well, if it comes with good results, I think they'll cope okay with it. But it's a pertinent question, a pertinent point. I do think that

I endorse a lot of what Jonathan said about Thomas Frank. Very, very bright guy. Pretty much unblemished record in terms of his progress at Brentford and the way he handles himself and the way that he handles players. The way, for example, he handled the departure of Ivan Toney. Almost seamless, the way that Brentford moved on. However, when a manager moves from a...

modest-sized Premier League club to a big Premier League club, there is always that element of unknown. The scrutiny is greater. The pressure is greater. The demands on time are greater. And as you say yourself, the scrutiny of how you play is greater. And it would be fascinating to see how Thomas Frank handles all of that. It's like going from a paddling pool to the ocean, going from Brentford to...

to Tottenham with the greatest of respect to Brentford. And look, some managers deal with it really well. Look at Eddie Howe. He was at Bournemouth, spent a little time out the game, went to Newcastle, presented himself as exactly the same guy and his progress has continued. Someone like Graham Potter, although there were mitigating circumstances, went from Brighton to Chelsea and struggled a little bit. You could argue that you can still see some of the damage inflicted by that spotting.

spell when you look at Potter now and some of the things he does and says. So how will it go for Thomas Frank? It's absolutely impossible to say. He will be expected to win games first and foremost because that's what despite all the emotion understandably attached to Tottenham's Europa League win is the fact that Tottenham lost too many games and got Hans-Poster Koglu sacked. That is the first thing that needs to be corrected.

What sort of traits do you think will serve him well, Jonathan, as he makes this significant step up, as Ian has been alluding to there, to a team that are going to be playing in the Champions League as well as week in, week out in the Premier League? Well, he's an incredibly smart tactical manager. I think much, much smarter than his predecessor in terms of finding solutions and in terms of innovating. You remember earlier this season when teams basically couldn't stop Brentford scoring within about 20 seconds.

He's always been finding little edges like that. He's always been innovating in order to find solutions. But he marries that up with people skills. And I think the point that Ian raises about Graham Potter was a really good one because if you look at Brentford, they are a brilliantly run club. Everything is in alignment. The finances make sense. There's real clarity over mission and roles and structure. And if you look a little bit further back, when he was at Bromby, they didn't have that. The finances were a mess.

There was a very fractured relationship with the owner and Frank couldn't do his best work and ended up quitting.

And I think that's the key. It's not just about if Spurs think Frank is going to come in and fix everything, then they're going to be mistaken about that because things need to be in alignment, whether it's recruitment, whether it's the staff he has around him. You know, Levy is going to need to back him and give him full backing if he's going to get the best out of this manager for which they're paying such a hefty fee.

Well, at least he's managed to get most of the background staff that he wanted, Ian, particularly Justin Cochran, a first-team assistant coach, but also Chris Haslam and Joe Newton. And he's also joined by Andreas Gilgson, who's coming from Manchester United as an assistant coach. How critical do you think that is?

Yeah, I think it's really important and it's interesting simply because that's a very traditional way to do it. Many managers go from club to club, taking the people that they know with them, the people that they trust, people that they've worked with before. Totally understandable approach. Hans-Poster Klagau did it totally differently. Whoever Hans-Poster Klagau has been, he's almost started again with his backroom staff.

And I know for a fact that that was one of the things, one of the reservations that people at Tottenham started to have about Posto Coghlu in his second season was they used to look at him and see quite an isolated figure, someone who wasn't necessarily or obviously leaning on the people around him. There were some questions about whether the people around him quite had the experience of

Now that's the way Pogge chooses to do it. Frank is doing it the more traditional way, taking people that he knows. I totally understand that. Recruitment will be so important for Tottenham going forward. We know the model that they have under their technical director, Johan Lange. They like to buy young players, develop them and then see them do well or move them on at profit.

You could argue that's not what Tottenham need at the moment. I understand why they do it and they've done it to some degree with some degree of success with players like Bergvall, for example, but they also need some oven-ready players. They absolutely do for the Premier League and the Champions League. Is Dominic Solanke good enough

durable enough to carry that attack through a Premier League season and a European season? Not sure about that. How do they get around that? Will they buy... Will they react to circumstance and deviate from the path that they decided they were going to take a couple of summers ago? That will also be absolutely fascinating because that squad will need some more depth and some more quality. Yeah, I wonder, how much do you think...

And Thomas Falk will be backed, Jonathan, and where do you expect him to want to strengthen? Are we going to see significant changes in that Tottenham Hotspur squad? I'd like to think so. I think that one of the biggest criticisms of the ownership from the fan base over the previous season has been

how that's the depth of the squad has been exposed and obviously you know there was a kind of a freakish injury crisis in the middle of the season and it really exposed how little experience and how little contingency there was so you know there are big questions like you know if

Song Ho-Min, is he the player that he was three or four years ago? Is he going to need to be moved on at some point? To what extent can you rely on him? To what extent can you rely on Solanke to play 50 or 60 games as a number nine without a big dip in form or physical fitness? So that's one issue. The other issue is when you do your business,

Because Tottenham and Levy have liked to operate in terms of doing your business as late as possible, getting best value for money for the business. And sometimes that can be antithetical to actually creating the team spirit and the cohesion and putting in the block of tactical and physical work that you need to do early in the summer. So it's whether they can do their business early enough for Frank to get his players and impose his ideas on a squad.

Yeah, so that axis between Thomas Frank and Daniel Levy is key, but I also wonder, Ian, what about Thomas Frank in the media? I mean, he's always been, you know, pretty gracious. He's always been very, very, you know, gets on with the media. He doesn't ever really seem to have any issues, but as you mentioned before...

The scrutiny isn't there so much when you're at Brentford. It will be at Spurs. If he doesn't start well, do you think he's got the wherewithal, the qualities to handle that? Or do you think he might go the way of Antropos Coghlu and at times get a bit spiky about it?

I hope we don't see any of Angie's passive aggression and staring at the floor, etc. We've probably had enough of that for a couple of seasons. Look, Thomas Frank has been excellent with the media. Brentford generally are excellent with the media.

with the media, they're very front foot with the media. Thomas Frank's very front foot with the media. He likes to get to know people. He knows people's names. He does it on purpose. He understands the benefit of it. He understands naturally, instinctively, the benefit of being emotionally connected to the people that he write about and talk about his football club because it makes sense. So many managers don't do it. So many managers are too scared of the media. Thomas hasn't been like that.

However, it will be different. He will be asked, he'll have to do much more media for a start, especially now during the Champions League, much more media. There'll be many more people in the room. There'll be more Tottenham games on the TV. He'll be asked a different kind of question.

Whether he'll still be able to do those lovely Sunday walks that he likes to do around Richmond and down the Thames, I do not know whether he will. And all these things come into play because it is different. Will he cope with it? Yes, I think he will cope with it. But you never quite know. It's a huge jump.

We're going to talk Trent Alexander-Arnold after he was presented as a Real Madrid player. But before we do so, we're going to be hearing from Trent, who surprised many with the level of his spoken Spanish when he was presented to the media. This doesn't happen every day. It's a dream come true. I'm very happy and proud to be here. I'm very happy and proud to be here.

I want to show Real Madrid fans how I play. I do realize I'm signing for Real Madrid, the demands are high, but I'm going to give my all for the team and Real Madrid fans.

I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I thought that was pretty impressive. I'm going to give him a solid eight and a half out of ten to Trent for his efforts in Spanish. I mean, clearly, you know, it was rehearsed. He'd thought about it. He's been speaking it for months. We found out afterwards. And I think, you know, we know through the transfers of David Beckham from Manchester United and also Gareth Bale from Tottenham that this is what you do when you join Real Madrid. Just your thoughts, Ian, on how he addressed the assembled media there in his Spanish speech.

You know what I was thinking when I was watching that? I was just thinking that that is actually the first time that Trent will ever have done a press conference like that because obviously he was an academy graduate at Liverpool so he's never joined a club before. Introductory press conferences are pretty nerve-wracking things. Particularly nerve-wracking when it's your first time. Particularly nerve-wracking when you're coming from Liverpool amongst all the fuss that we know about. It's Real Madrid. It

it's in Spain, and he goes and he stands there and he delivers it in Spanish. It didn't seem to be an autocue, so he'd remembered it really, really well. It seemed to me as though he did it authentically with a pretty impressive accent. And I think it's a fabulous thing to do. I know it's gone down very, very badly on Merseyside. You'll have to deal with that. But I tell you what, it's a wonderful story. This is a kid who was born within...

within a six iron from Anfield. Came through the academy, it wasn't always easy for him at first. He struggled at times, he had issues with anger management on the field, had to be dealt with a few times by some of his academy coaches who warned him that he wouldn't make it if he didn't sort that side of his game out. He sorted it out, he gets in the Liverpool team, he wins everything there is to win, he plays 30 odd times for England twice.

And there he is, proud product of Liverpool, standing behind a podium in Madrid, starting life as a Real Madrid player, presenting himself like that. It's an absolutely fabulous story, I think, and a great reflection also on England's academy system. Inside pages of the Daily Telegraph have the headline, Trent impresses at Real with word perfect start.

Yes, it was. I mean, you know, you're right, by the way, and it was a pretty impressive accent as well. Like he's, you know, he's obviously worked hard at it. What do you make of Jonathan about how he will face the cultural challenge of moving to somewhere like Spain and everything that it brings with him? Because we know that for Gareth Bale, that was...

pretty difficult. You know, he wasn't particularly included, you know, in the squad in terms of, you know, he was very much more of a loner, didn't speak much of the language. Seems like Trent is going to take this head on.

Yeah, very much so. I mean, he's an educated guy. He's a really smart guy. He's a curious guy, a worldly guy. Obviously, he shared a dressing room with Spanish speakers for seven years. There is something quite funny about how it says something about how football is still viewed by a lot of people in this country when a guy...

managed to say something in a foreign language and everyone just gawps in wonder like gosh how has he how has he done that obviously he's been you know he learned spanish at school like like a lot of people do and then obviously from liverpool fans you've got the idea it's almost this form of betrayal but i think the fact that he's taken this challenge on at this point in his career suggests that he has a real appetite for wanting to challenge himself and the cultural aspects that you mentioned

It will help him integrate the fact that he so clearly wants to be a part of the dressing room and not just in a footballing sense, in a way that Bale arguably never was. He's obviously made a career out of defying expectations, defying expectations of what people were kind of envisioning for him.

as a player and as a guy. He's done it again today and under the new leadership of Xabi Alonso, I wouldn't bet against him doing it on the pitch in Madrid White as well. Well, yeah, and he will know about moving from Merseyside to Madrid, although, of course, Xabi Alonso is a Spaniard, so that would have always been more comfortable for him. Let me take to the Daily Mail your paper, Ian, and the headline, Trent, Reds would welcome me back.

How surprising is this that this sort of detail has emerged? Because it seemed like it was all going a bit pear-shaped in terms of his relationship with the fans, with the booze at Anfield four weeks ago. But now, you know, it seems like the owners have spoken to him and been very praiseworthy of him.

Yes, although the owners are probably on one side of this debate and a significant number of the supporters are on the other side of the debate. I was at Anfield for the final day of the season against Crystal Palace. I was delighted to see that Trent wasn't booed that day. He was cheered when he got his medal and cheered when he lifted the trophy and that was all absolutely right.

However, as Jonathan alluded to there, there is now an assumption, certainly if you have a look down my social media feed, there seems to be an assumption now that because Trent spoke some Spanish today, it means he's been preparing for this move.

for months and months, which means that he always knew that he was leaving Liverpool, which means that he's committed an even greater sin than some Liverpool fans think he's committed by leaving in the first place. So I don't think there will be any going back for Trent Alexander-Arnold, actually. It's a very, very nice thing for the owners to say to him, frankly,

And if he's taken it that way, if he's taken it literally, I would be surprised. I think he sees it as a polite gesture. I don't think there'll be any going back to Liverpool as a Liverpool player for Trent Alexander-Arnold. And when he goes back, as I'm sure he will do at some point in the Champions League, it will be quite a night for him in not necessarily the best of ways, I would say.

Well, another man who described his move as a dream come true is Matthias Kunje, who is now officially a Manchester United player. Inside pages of the Telegraph Sports section, there he is, big smile on his face. Brazilian Matthias Kunje unveiled at Old Trafford after a £62.5m move from Wolves. Kunje signing marks radical shift in United transfer policy. Buying players with proven Premier League experience now appears central to the club's recruitment strategy. So no more sort of going for the likes of

Anthony and Rasmus Hoyland, etc. Jonathan, do you think this is the right way for United to go? If it is a marked shift, I think it suggests a certain impatience among the top brass over how slow progress under Ruben Amberham has been so far. I think

The fact that Kunio and Mbomo have been signed so early in the window is a real statement of intent. I know people could have cast aspersions about some of the finances, but United are confident that there's no issue there. I think what really...

The part that is going to be key for me is not just how Kunya and Mbomo, if it is Mbomo who they bring in, fit together, but who plays in that number nine role, who is so crucial in an Amarim system. I think it was the back of the eye, was it, mentioning Kyokuris. I think that is the guy who is going to be key to making the whole system work. Obviously, Kyokuris did an amazing job at sporting for Amarim. The question was, I think, over whether he can adapt that

style to the Premier League, very different style of football. But yeah, it does look at United are doing their business early, which I think makes a marked change from how they've approached previous windows.

Yeah, 54 goals in 52 games for Gjokers at Sporting this season. In fact, he is the subject of the headline in the eye in United calling on complicated Gjokers chase because of what his president has said there at Sporting. How crucial do you think that it is that United do try and push for this player? Or it sounds like by the headline they're thinking of looking elsewhere?

It's fundamental that they get a goal scorer. Dilap was the number one target and they didn't get him. He's gone to Chelsea. So now obviously they're moving down their list. And you look at players like Kunja, very, very good player, and Borremo, very, very good player. But I tell you what, you drop those players into that team without a goal scorer and I'm afraid Manchester United continue to go round in circles for the next...

eight, nine months because they haven't got any goals. Bruno Fernandes is the only source of goals in that team. Don't think it's going to happen for Haaland and Xerxe. Maybe give him a little bit more time. Who knows? So,

When I say it doesn't matter who it is, of course it matters who it is. But the fact is it's got to be someone. And it's all very well to brief the media. James Ducker, I noticed, wrote that story in The Telegraph. I have a great deal of time and respect for James. I'm sure that story is well sourced. However, that is so difficult to do. Just to say, oh, we're going to start buying Premier League players only. How on earth do they do that? Who does that? Which of the big clubs managed to do that? They'd all want to do it if they could. And you can't.