Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have been rumoured for the past 18 months to be interested in signing a classic central midfielder (with Victor Wanyama and Christoph Kramer often touted in the papers) but importantly with guile and fitness to match the philosophy of manager Mauricio Pochettino. With the inevitable sale of Ryan Mason, along with the possible departures of Tom Carroll and Nabil Bentaleb after poor and injury-disrupted seasons, the club is likely to focus on strengthening the midfield, due to the blatant dips in form without top performers Mousa Dembele and PFA young player of the year Dele Alli.
Victor Wanyama has been an influential player on the south coast for two seasons consecutively and has mentioned previously about his desire to play in the Champions League, the clubs participation in this competition can definitely help improve the solid foundations laid during the past two seasons at White Hart Lane. Although, with Wanyama having qualified for the Europa League in an improving Southampton side, he may see it as a chance to play in Europe as a first team guaranteed starter, rather than part of a Pochettino rotation policy.
With Christoph Kramer playing a key role at Bayer Leverkusen, who have qualified for the Champions League, it is difficult to see him wanting to make a move unless he has some sort of guarantee from the club about playing time. The world cup winner would be a fantastic coup, sending out a real message to rival Premier League teams.
Other options for Mauricio Pochettino are Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia, a 23-year-old dynamic French international, who could look to England to further his career with Inter missing out on Champions League football. In addition Ever Banega has just signed for Roberto Mancini’s side, which could be preparation for a midfield departure in Milan.
Alternatively, Cheikhou Kouyate was mentioned towards the end of the 2015 summer transfer window, but with West Ham’s upturn in form, alongside Europa League football and a new stadium, Kouyate may just stick around for another season. In recent weeks Adam Lallana has been linked with a reunion with the manager that improved his game at Southampton and arguably provided the creative midfielder with the opportunity to move to Liverpool and play regularly for England. Would the attacking midfielder want Champions League football, or to continue the project beginning at Anfield under the talismanic Jurgen Klopp?
Anderlecht midfielder Youri Tielemans seems to have been the next big thing for a few years now, but at just 19 years of age, the two-time Belgian Jupiler League player of the year has already played in the Champions League and could come in and immediately push for a starting position in the Tottenham side, which is exactly what Pochettino is looking for so the club can push on and compete across all competitions in 2016-17.
Lastly, young Croatian Ante Coric has been heavily linked with a big-money move away from his hometown club Dinamo Zagreb. Naturally fans will hope that if Coric were to sign for Tottenham, he would be able to emulate the success of former Spur and Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Luka Modric. At such a young age with so much potential and probably demanding a smaller transfer fee, this Croatian talent may well be the answer to Pochettino’s problems.
Who do you think Mauricio Pochettino will buy? Who would you like to see at White Hart Lane next season? Or should Tottenham just promote from within the academy?
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