Yves Bissouma has been left out of Tottenham’s Super Cup squad for disciplinary reasons in an unhelpful distraction to Thomas Frank’s attempt to mark his debut with silverware.
Frank will take charge of his first competitive match as Spurs head coach on Wednesday at Stadio Friuli in Udine and could lift a trophy if they can upset Champions League winners Paris St Germain.
Bissouma has been left at home after being late “several times” this summer, but Frank has Dominic Solanke available and will aim to mark his Tottenham bow with further cup glory after predecessor Ange Postecoglou masterminded Europa League success in May.
“I think for the team, for me, for everybody involved at Tottenham Hotspur, it’s a massive game,” Frank reflected.
“A great challenge and an even bigger opportunity. That’s how my brain works, I see opportunities instead of pressure or whatever. So for me, massive opportunity and we will definitely embrace it.
“My players, our players, they just won a big trophy six or seven weeks ago, so they had a fantastic experience of doing that and they want to win more.
“It was a great feeling, everything I heard about it, fantastic experience, so the players will be ready.”
Even though PSG only returned to pre-season training last Wednesday following the Club World Cup, Spurs enter this fixture under-strength with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski long-term absentees and Destiny Udogie still sidelined.
It makes the omission of Bissouma all the more eye-catching and could spell the end of his time at the club given the Mali international, who started the Europa League final, is into the final 12 months of his contract.
Frank explained: “Bissouma has not travelled with the team because of disciplinary reasons.
“He has been late several times and the latest time was one too many.
“With everything you need to give your players a lot of love but also have demands and there also need to be consequences and this time there was a consequence for that.
“I will follow up when I come home. I will park it now because there is a relatively important game for tomorrow.”
Summer recruits Joao Palhinha and Mohammed Kudus are expected to make their debuts against PSG but Frank will largely turn to the squad that ended Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought under Postecoglou.
Guglielmo Vicario was a key figure in their Europa League run and acknowledged how special it will be to play for a trophy in his home city of Udine.
“Personally, it will be an emotional day but as soon as we get close to kick-off emotions have to stay away and we have to be focused on what we have to deliver on the pitch,” Vicario promised. “It will be an amazing game and we need to be ready to win.
“We have set the tone and we want to repeat and to do it again. We have tasted the feeling and this feeling is amazing so we want to do it again and we have the opportunity tomorrow with another European final.”
Tottenham will announce their new captain on Wednesday after Son Heung-min left to join Los Angeles.
Ben Davies, Spurs’ longest-serving player after his 2015 arrival, added: “We lost Sonny and he was a big part of the dressing room and obviously a huge player for us.
“We are definitely going to feel his loss but ultimately the senior guys in this team have to be here to support everyone.”
