The third time is not proving to be any sort of charm for Tottenham .

It was a summer transfer window dominated by the pursuit of an attacking midfielder, a player to take on the creative baton and run with it in the absence of the injured James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.

Morgan Gibbs-White was the club's first choice and they thought they would get their man. Mr Marinakis had other ideas.

The focus shifted to Eberechi Eze and a deal was put in place, but a fairly sizeable obstacle emerged in the fact he wanted to join Arsenal.

Thomas Frank wanted his No10 signing in the building early in pre-season but it was not until August 30 that Spurs finally announced the £51million arrival of Xavi Simons .

That was more than three months ago. Simons has since made 11 appearances in th

See Full Page