With the European Championships shortly approaching and a huge summer rebuild needed for Spurs, there are certainly a few players Steve Hitchen and Daniel Levy should be looking at during the tournament.
Let’s take a look at a few of my favourites:
Manuel Locatelli and Nicolo Barella (Italy)
I’ll start with two Italian midfielders. For me, Manuel Locatelli is the next big thing in European football. The 23-year-old defensive midfielder registered 3 goals and 4 assists in Serie A (TransferMarkt) and he’s become a central figure for the Italians and Sassuolo in recent times. Locatelli combines physical strength with excellent passing ability.
Another Italian similar to Locatelli is Nicolo Barella who’s previously been linked to a switch to N17. Inter Milan are in a poor financial position with vice president Javier Zanetti saying they have ‘serious problems.’ This means that some of their top players may have to leave, one of them potentially being Nicolo Barella.
The 24-year-old managed to score 3 and assist 9 from central midfield last season (TransferMarkt). During the 20/21 campaign, he established himself as one of the best in the league and gave another creative dimension to Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan. He’s also not too bad defensively making 1.7 tackles on average per game (SofaScore).
In terms of game time at the Euros, these two playing together relies on the fitness of Marco Veratti but I can assure you that at least one of these two will get considerable game time with both definitely featuring.
Donyell Malen (Netherlands)
Spurs are always on the hunt for strikers as we are constantly getting it wrong, with failures coming with Carlos Vinicius, Roberto Soldado and Vincent Janssen in recent times.
Well, even if Harry Kane ends up staying we need a striker regardless. Some have suggested this could be Donyell Malen. Malen struck 19 goals in the Eredivisie last season (TransferMarkt) which was the second-most in the league.
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The 22-year-old also registered 8 assists with Voetbal International claiming he wants a move away from PSV. A figure quoted for Malen is around £25 million which seems like a bargain for the young man however Spurs wouldn’t be the only club in Europe looking at this deal.
Pedro Gonçalves (Portugal)
Pedro Gonçalves was signed for Sporting to replace Bruno Fernandes and in his first season outscored (23) Bruno’s highest ever Liga Nos goal tally (20).
The young man has been a sensation in Portugal leading Sporting Lisbon to their first Liga Nos since 2002. Goncalves has significant potential and should be a target that we snap up before his price rockets up and other top clubs come in for him.
His preferred position is in attacking midfield which has been a position of need for Spurs ever since Christian Eriksen left.
Pau Torres (Spain)
Pau Torres, of recent Europa League winners Villarreal, is a top talent and has caught the eye of many. The left-footed centre half prefers the left-hand side which is something Spurs are desperately missing. He’s a ball-playing centre back with an excellent passing range and loves to dribble out the back with an 83% successful dribble rate (SofaScore).
Due to the exclusion of Sergio Ramos, Pau Torres could be seeing quite a lot of game time so I would advise that Spurs give him a look as I think he fits the bill perfectly.
Milan Skriniar (Slovakia)
Tottenham really missed a chance last summer with Skriniar as he’s gone to have an immense season under Conte, starting 31 of their games in their title-winning campaign (SofaScore).
Skriniar is a top player who could easily be leaving Inter Milan due to their financial state maybe we could finally see him making the switch to North London after the Euros.
The Euros is a good opportunity for Spurs fans to get a look at him for those who don’t get the chance to watch much Serie A.
Marcel Sabitzer (Austria)
Last but not least is Marcel Sabitzer.
Spurs have been linked to Sabitzer for a while now and the 27-year-old has had another impressive season as the captain of Julian Naglesmann’s RB Leipzig.
He scored 8 and registered 4 assists (TransferMarkt) but what’s really impressive about Marcel is his intelligence from the middle of the park, he dictates play brilliantly well.
His contract expires in 2022 (TransferMarkt) and the Euros will be a good chance for Spurs to have a good look at him.
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