Tottenham are in transition. Jose Mourinho
has made them more resilient and has constructed a lethal counter-attack,
but his side are flawed in possession and can still struggle to break teams down.
It’s not the ideal moment for team-building.
The pandemic has prevented the club from capitalising on the financial advantages
of their new stadium, and – having had to take out a £175m Bank of England loan to compensate for
lost revenues – Daniel Levy won’t be pushing his chips into the middle of the table any time soon.
But Levy still has to maintain a balance
and will be keen to keep Mourinho content – and, despite significant improvements over the summer,
the Portuguese can reasonably claim that areas of his side need further attention.
The time is coming to find a successor to Hugo Lloris and the centre of defence needs improving,
but the priority is midfield where the balance still isn’t quite right.
Ryan Gravenberch would be a luxury option. At 18 he’s far from fully mature,
but it won’t be long before every major club in Europe is after him.
To have a reasonable chance, Spurs would have to make a leap of faith before his price tag
take him out of reach. And Levy does enjoy a strong relationship with Ajax
and have negotiated with them before for Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen.
Gravenberch would be a coup. He can play as a 6,
8, or 10, which would make him more positionally dexterous than any of the other midfield options.
And, as almost a mid-point between the two, Gravenberch might be the ideal
third-man in a midfield of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Tanguy Ndombele.
A trio of players who contrast stylistically,
but who overlap in a few areas – in receiving the ball from the defence, for instance,
or passing the ball reliably and purposefully out of the deeper zones. That kind of range
seems key to Spurs improving their possession in the middle of the pitch and improving their
attacking range – and might also allow Giovani Lo Celso to be pushed further into attack.
Gravenberch is also an elegant player, particularly when given license to go forward.
He’s authoritative in stature, but soft and smooth with his touch,
and he’s capable of shooting with both finesse and power.
He’s a mighty prospect.
Can Tottenham afford him? Only Levy knows that, but they can’t afford not to be interested – and,
should Harry Winks leave, possibly Dele Alli too, then the finances wouldn’t be such an issue.
Should they want to look elsewhere, though, RB Salzburg’s 20 year-old
Mohamed Camara is a bundle of different abilities. He mixes finesse and disguise
in his passing with the intensity required by his side’s high octane defensive style;
he’ll most likely head for Germany and Leipzig, but he’ll rightly have his other options.
Hoffenheim’s 24 year-old Diadie Samassekou is cut from the same cloth, having also come
through at Salzburg. He is a very balanced midfielder, comfortable as either the deepest
of a midfield three or in a double pivot. He’s capable of line-breaking passes and carries too,
and also helps to begin moves by dropping back to receive possession from the back line which,
again, would help Mourinho’s Spurs become more diverse.
Fiorentina are not having a good season, but we still like their towering,
slightly spiderish Serbian: the 23-year-old Nikola Milenkovic.
James Horncastle likes him, too, describing him as being ‘notoriously difficult to get past,
as being at home on the right of a back-three,
and consistently able to exploit his height in both boxes.’
Tottenham operate from a back-four rather than a
three, but Milenkovic certainly fits the physical profile of a Mourinho defender.
Huge, hard to beat, and a little bit rough – with a set-piece threat as a bonus.
Milenkovic is aggressive in his defending, tending to push up and out of the line to close down
attackers. And he has a surprisingly broad range of passing for a strong, stopper-type defender,
which – with Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld starting and Joe Rodon
signed in part for his ability on the ball – would seem to suit Mourinho’s objectives.
In addition to Rodon, who joined over the summer and is happier as a left-sided centre-back,
and Japhet Tanganga, who graduated into the first-team last season, Tottenham may want to
further future-proof their defence with Lens’ Loic Bade – a graduate of the famed Le Havre academy.
He’s a cultured player, too, and carries the ball well while still being reassuringly rugged without
it. He’s also 6ft3 and as well as being predictably good in the air,
is a shoulder-to-shoulder type defender, who uses
his body well and is capable of over-powering attacking players without committing fouls.
French football has fallen into financial crisis and Bade will be a bargain for somebody.
Perhaps Spurs’ most subtle need is behind the defence, where goalkeeper and captain
Hugo Lloris has just turned 34. Lloris’ form has been in gentle decline for a few years,
with both his kicking and his willingness to leave his line at set-pieces a source of concern – the
latter particularly so now, given his side’s propensity to drop deep when protecting leads.
He has understudies, but neither is a realistic long-term threat – so Lloris
needs immediate competition and someone who can eventually take his place.
Matvey Safonov fits that bill as probably the best young goalkeeper in Europe,
and – at just 21 – he’s already Krasnodar’s first choice.
Safonov’s fundamentals are excellent. His handling is secure, and his long-arms,
strong wrists and reflexes make him a notable shot-stopper. At 6ft2 he’s not the tallest
for a goalkeeper – although he does have a few centremetres on Lloris – but he still manages to
be imposing and authoritative in the way that other early-developing goalkeepers often are.
It’s unlikely that he’d settle for being second-choice, though, and – in any case – because
of the financial cost, Russian players typically don’t leave their home country so young.
So, our other option is Chievo’s Croatian U21 international Adrian Semper.
At 6ft4 he has the size to properly control his six-yard box and, when facing shots,
he has the footwork and reach to cover both sides of his goal and get to the corners. In
addition to which, he seems strong down either side, not obviously favouring either hand.
He has the same agent as several Leicester players, including Kasper Schmeichel,
who is also reaching the end of his career,
so while Samper only joined Chievo permanently in 2020, a Premier League future isn’t unlikely.