Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has recently stated that he wants to make a few signings in order to form a respectable squad with options to rotate them regularly.
So far, the manager has completed two signings and just before the squad was about to leave England for the pre-season tour, the manager omitted four players, namely, Alex Pritchard, Federico Fazio, Nabil Bentaleb and Clinton N’jie. Now, it is understood that N’jie will be heading to France, and when asked about the other names, the manager strictly stated that they do not have any roles in his plan:
“The situation of the other three players — Bentaleb, Fazio and Pritchard — is very clear. They are not in my plans and they know. I have communicated with them and it was made very clear. It’s not a problem. They know the situation and we’ll see what happens.”
Now, the current report from Daily Mail has stated that Brighton and Hove Albion have agreed a club-record fee with Tottenham Hotspur for Alex Pritchard. No personal terms have been finalized, but it is understood that this is surely not the thing that will concern Pochettino.
On the other hand, Federico Fazio, who spent his second half of the last season with Sevilla on loan has attracted the interest from the Italian side AS Roma and their manager Luciano Spalletti has confirmed that he wants to sign the Argentine defender:
“We follow Fazio and we would like to complete his purchase even if it is not official. He has important characteristics, he has won the Europa League,” Spalletti told a press conference, Calcio Mercato report.
“In England he did not play consistently, but he has experience. He is a strong player with a strong mentality. We are curious to see him at work consistently.”
Now, it was understood that neither Fazio nor Pritchard had any role in Pochettino’s script, hence, they were allowed to leave on loan last season and very recently, after the narrow defeat against Atletico Madrid, the manager himself stated that he was really impressed with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anton Walkes, hence, he does not really feel like buying another centre back.
Well, that might be true, but we all are aware of the fact that the team will be battling in the Champions League next season and if they really tend to succeed in the competition, they need a strong centre back. Last season, the manager bought Kevin Wimmer to provide backup for Vertonghen and the defender definitely proved his worth in front of the spectators.
Now, let’s hope not, but if Toby Alderweireld missed some games, then the side will be left with Vertonghen and Wimmer, and in the cautious situations, the manager might use Eric Dier as a centre back, but what besides that? Yes, they do have Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anton Walkes, but can the manager trust them on the bigger stage?
Looking at this current situation, we really feel that the manager needs to buy a right footed centre back, who can act as a senior figure in the current squad. Besides that, Alex Pritchard, never really had the impact on the side, and was more of a loanee, so in that scenario, we believe that if the team signs N’Koudou, then this will be more than enough.
While Fazio too never made any impact, but only due to the shortage of the players and the excessive fixture pile-up, we think otherwise than what Pochettino said. Trusting the young guns will always help them to improve, but the manager cannot really deploy them on the big stage instantly. So, as stated earlier, we believe that even if they do not need an alternative for Pritchard, they do need it for Fazio.
