It has been a while since Tottenham brought in a highly rated youngster from South American football. The likes of Sandro and Gomes are the names that would instantly bounce off the mind when thinking of South Americans who were reasonably good at White Hart Lane. Buoyed by the presence of Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino, the club have made River Plate’s Sebastian Driussi as one of the main transfer targets in this January window – as per the reports from Independent.
Driussi is one of the highly rated talents at River Plate. Spurs are aware that they would need to come up with a lot of convincing elements in order to sign the player from the 36-time champions of Argentina. Driussi has had a spectacular first half of the campaign after scoring 10 goals in just 14 league outings. At just 20 years of age, he is just starting to blossom at the club. The striker made his debut for River Plate back in 2013, but he has had only 53 league appearances under his belt so far.
Spurs appear to have been convinced enough by the talent that they are willing to sign a player who is yet to make his debut for the national team. Sebastian Driussi has featured in the Argentine under 17 and under 20 teams. He is yet to make an appearance for the senior team, and it could be a problem when it comes to getting a work permit for the player. Yet, he has been part of the sensational River Plate team that has been highly successful in the last three years. The team has lifted titles like the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana with Driussi in the team.
Driussi won the South American Youth Football Championship with the Argentine u-20 national team in 2015. He has a contract with the club until the summer of 2019, and it fits perfectly into Spurs’ interest. Since he has less than 18 months left on his deal, Spurs will be aware that not a lot of money may be required to persuade River Plate. The player’s value is at around £7 million, but the Argentine club could easily demand twice the figure.
Even though he is a forward by classification, Driussi is more of a Neymar-like player. He likes to play on the left wing with very rare forays in the centre. Since he is extremely adept with both feet, he becomes a nightmare for defenders. It has been one of the primary reasons behind Driussi scoring as many goals as he has done from this left-wing position. The 20-year-old will certainly find it hard to score goals in European football with very little space available for the attacking players.Yet, he seems to have shown enough promise for Spurs to make a move this January.
