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Tottenham Hotspur: Thomlinson reveals potential reason for Bissouma struggling to find a starting role

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According to Joe Thomlinson of Sky Sports, Tottenham Hotspur’s new signing Yves Bissouma is a ‘bad trainer’ and concludes it could be the reason why he has struggled to break into the starting side. 

The Lilywhites have enjoyed the rewards of bringing in the likes of Richarlison and Ivan Perisic this summer with their stellar performances which have helped the side continue their unbeaten run in the Premier League so far this season.

While they also bought in Djed Spence, Clement Lenglet and Fraser Forster, these three were always going to be fringe players that were either bought in for squad depth or for the future, one summer signing has failed to break into the first team despite being an elite-level talent.

That is Bissouma, who was bought from Brighton for £35m in total, and described as ‘Champions League level’ by his former manager Graham Potter, has failed to nail down a starting role in the side. Thomlinson believes he may know why and he revealed he is not the best in training.

Thomlinson said on the Sunday Vibes show, “And I have to say, I did an interview with Neal Maupay and Lewis Dunk last season where I was saying, talking about Yves Bissouma, what a player and they were saying yes one of the best centre-mids in the league.

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“And I said must be a nightmare to train against and their reaction was very much no, not a good trainer, not a good trainer… I wonder whether that is sort of, if not a good trainer, then Conte is very much on the training ground you are going to train as you play, I wonder if that could be a factor.” (41:43)

TIF Thoughts on Bissouma…

While both Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur have been stellar performers for the club so far, it is very surprising a player of Bissouma’s talent has not been able to shift either of them out of the side.

So far this season Bissouma has only managed one start where he played the full 90 minutes against West Ham United, otherwise, the most time he has seen on the pitch in a game is 20 minutes, which came against Leicester City in their last game. (Transfermarkt)

The fact that it has been revealed he is not a hard worker in training is a huge red flag and has to be the reason why Bissouma has struggled to shine so far in north London. There is an elite player in there, but if he is not willing to put in the work he is not going to reach the heights he is capable of.

Antonio Conte is a passionate and strict manager and is notorious for his intense training sessions, which we say in the Spurs preseason. He does not seem like the kind of manager who would accept players slacking off. If Bissouma does not change his attitude as soon as possible his time at Spurs could be very short, and I wouldn’t blame the club for doing that.

Will Spurs regret signing Bissouma?

Yes

Yes

No

No

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