Tottenham Hotspur have made remarkable progress on and off the pitch in the last couple of seasons. The construction of new stadium is in progress and is expected to be ready by the start of 2018/19 season. On the pitch, they have become strong title contenders and to be fair enough, they have been playing much better football than their North London rivals Arsenal.
The fact that a majority of Tottenham players have signed a contract extension with the club suggests that an interesting project is on at White Hart Lane and the club are keen to hold on to their core team. The likes of Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Kyle Walker, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose have all committed their future to the club. This indicates that the club might enter a phase of financial restriction because of the stadium construction.
Hence, Tottenham are in a great position going forward. Now all they have to do is to buy few players next summer, who are young and talented. A lot of names have been linked with Spurs and one name that has caught everyone’s attention is Kylian Mbappe. The Frenchman is young, extremely talented, and has been sizzling for Monaco this season. He has become an important part of the club’s core team and even scored against Manchester City in their Champions League round of 16 2nd leg tie.
Mbappe was reportedly being chased by Arsenal and Tottenham and the fans seemed excited by the news. However, there is someone much better available at Monaco than Mbappe.
The young midfielder, who plays alongside Mbappe and who is equally as important as Mbappe for the French side is Thomas Lemar. He is only 21-years old and moved to Monaco ahead of the 2015/16 season and has been mighty impressive since then. He has shown massive improvement in his game and has become a vital cog in Leonardo Jardim’s set-up at Monaco.
Lemar scored 5 goals and 5 assists in 34 appearances last season and for a player who was 20-years old, it was impressive numbers. This season, though, Lemar has already made 41 appearances this season and has scored 10 goals and provided 11 assists. He has literally doubled his tally this season. Talk about progress!
It is not just about the goals and assists that he provides. He adds much more to the team than that. Lemar is a natural playmaker. He likes to hold on to the ball and play the killer passes. He can dribble brilliantly, extremely good at taking set-pieces. He is also capable of testing the goalkeeper from distance and is so dangerous when he is on the ball. Lemar can play on both the wings and is a versatile player.
His performance against Manchester City last night reveals why he would be a perfect fit for Tottenham.
Lemar played a total of 38 passes in the game against City, with a success rate of 87%. He also attempted 5 dribbles in the game, just one less than Bernardo Silva who attempted 6.
Apart from his contribution in the build-up play, he put in the crucial delivery for Tiemoue Bakayoko’s header which put them through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. This exactly shows why he is so good at taking set-pieces. The delivery was spot on, and in the right area for Bakayoko to head home. It was a brilliant cross.
Tottenham must consider buying Lemar instead of Mbappe and the reasons are plenty. Spurs have lacked a proper winger this season as Moussa Sissoko has struggled to settle down. Apart from this, the striking department is well stocked, as Harry Kane is virtually irremovable from the team. They only bought Vincent Janssen last summer and though the Dutchman hasn’t had a great season, he is expected to get better as he is young and is a talented lad. Hence Mbappe would only serve as a luxury and not a necessity.
Spurs have been linked with Riyad Mahrez for a while now and instead of going for a player who hasn’t reproduced his previous season’s title-winning exploits this season, Spurs can try and sign an improving and upcoming talent like Thomas Lemar, who has a bright future ahead of him. He would also cost much lesser than Mbappe and Mahrez, who are both valued very highly.
We are sure Pochettino might be evaluating the prospect of signing the young winger from Monaco in the summer.
Do you think Lemar would lift Tottenham up?
