Opinion: How Spurs could line up against Manchester United with Werner and Dragusin

Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester United on Sunday in a return to Premier League action, and there will very likely be two new faces in the squad. But how would Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner fit into Ange Postecoglou’s starting XI?

It has been a surprisingly swift start to the January transfer window for Tottenham this year. The club’s need for a new centre-back was well-documented, and Ange Postcoglou had been clear about his desire to add a new attacker to his side, too.

Suffice to say, both those areas have been adequately equipped now, with the arrivals of both Timo Werner and (almost) Radu Dragusin this week.

According to a report in The Athletic, Postecoglou is thought to have been impressed by the attitude and the skillset Werner possesses, and that Spurs scouts knew he would be a good fit for the Australian’s system.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has claimed the final documents have been sealed for the proposed move of Dragusin, who completed his medical yesterday.

How do Dragusin and Werner fit in at Spurs?

Both players will need to be registered with the Premier League by midday on Friday to be available to play against United on Sunday. Barring a disaster, that should happen, so here’s how Spurs could line up for the big game.

Guglielmo Vicario will start in goal, naturally, while Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie will fill the full-back roles on the right and left, respectively.

In the middle of defence, it seems Micky van de Ven is ready to come back from injury, and there is every chance he will be partnered by Dragusin. The only caveat is, the Romanian will not have trained with the team all that much, and Postecoglou might prefer to stick with Emerson Royal.

With Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr on international duty, we will see Rodrigo Bentancur paired up with either Oliver Skipp or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the middle of the park. In front of them in the 10 role, the injury to Giovani Lo Celso means Dejan Kulusevski will likely move central.

With Kulusevski’s wide role vacated, this opens the door for Werner to get his first start straight away. Brennan Johnson is arguably most effective on the right, while Werner will occupy the left winger role, with Richarlison up top.

Vicario; Porro, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Udogie; Skipp, Bentancur, Kulusevski; Johnson, Richarlison, Werner.

Spurs Web Opinion

I initially thought Werner might be left on the bench, but the injury to Lo Celso means it’s nearly impossible not to use the German from the start. Dragusin, on the other hand, might not be thrown into action immediately, and we know that Ange is very happy with Royal’s performances at centre-half.

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