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Silence, training woes and a lost gem - Inside Lucas Bergvall's crazy Tottenham transfer situation
From the outside the match with Postecoglou's successor
Thomas Frank should have been perfect. Another Scandinavian and someone who would know Bergvall well.
Instead it just never really clicked. In contrast to his previous coaches, who had all looked to put an arm around the talented teenager,
football.london understands the Dane did not speak to the young midfielder as much individually. Whether it was a ploy to keep Bergvall on his toes - those around some other young Spurs players speak of similar experiences - it instead created unease over whether the youngster was actually in Frank's plans or not.
The initial signs were that he was, starting four of the Dane's first six Premier League games, but he then had to settle for mostly a bench role or starring in the Champions League as he did on his competition debut against Villarreal.
Bergvall was in and out of Frank's plans and was left frustrated by playing everywhere but in his favoured number eight role, the position in which everyone expects him to blossom. Even in training he rarely found himself working on developing in that position as Frank would play him out on the wings at times or as a more advanced number 10, meaning nobody really seemed to know what he was.
There was a feeling from Bergvall's side that he wasn't being allowed to compete as a number eight and when Frank pushed for the signing of
Conor Gallagher in January that only increased. Amid his growing frustration Spurs batted away interest from numerous clubs in the January transfer window with the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa all showing interest.
Another ankle injury later that month meant he missed the end of the Dane's tenure and all but 45 minutes of Igor Tudor's brief stay in N17.
Things looked promising with De Zerbi's arrival and the Italian is said to have had a long chat with the young midfielder after their first training session together. Bergvall duly started his first game against Sunderland but then as the need for results became so important, De Zerbi turned to his experienced heads in Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha, and even the out of favour Yves Bissouma, who was set to be released within a month.
