Calm down, it’s not Dele Alli.
Tottenham Hotspur have accepted a £4.5m (BBC) bid from Swansea City for Tom Carroll. The former England Under-21 captain completed a medical at South Wales on Monday. The 24-year-old has fallen down the pecking order this campaign at White Hart Lane, after only playing a single minute of Premier League action and starting twice in the EFL Cup.
On the other hand, he is just too good to be shackled onto the bench. He was under the limelight to fill Luka Modric’s void and many individuals within the north London club showered him with praises. For the uninitiated, the Swans aren’t star-struck with a benchwarmer but a reliable player who could turn their fortunes around as Carroll spent the 2014-15 season on loan at the Liberty Stadium. He racked up 18 appearances and returned to his parent club with greater hopes of first-team football.
However, things haven’t gone according to plan for Carroll and another academy graduate Harry Winks leapt above him in Mauricio Pochettino’s midfield trump cards. It’s pretty common these days where home-grown talents are struggling to seize playing minutes, particularly in well-oiled sides like Spurs.
Swansea City are in the basement of England’s top flight with 6 defeats in their last 8 matches. The deep-lying midfielder certainly has the quality to help his side crawl up the table but may need some time to regain his sharpness. Dictating from deep with an ability to unleash inch-perfect passes to set the tone for the attack, he certainly offers a whole new dimension to Paul Clement. Besides that, Gylfi Sigurdsson will have a license to roam forward more often as the holding duties are in proper hands.
Carroll will link up with two former Tottenham coaches at his new home as earlier this month, the former Derby County manager brought in Nigel Gibbs and Karl Halabi to his backroom team. The struggling side are not showing any signs of slowing down in the winter window as they have also secured the services of Dutch winger Luciano Narsingh from PSV Eindhoven and have also knitted a deal with Norwich City’s Martin Olsson to bolster their defensive line.
Similar to the top 6 of the table, it’s a tense and tight affair in the relegation battle. If the Swans could defy the odds by beating Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, they could sneak out of the drop zone if Hull City, Sunderland and Crystal Palace all drop points. It does sound like a fantastical figment but anything is possible in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the Lilywhites will be looking to extend their rich vein of form when they take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
