European football expert Lars Sivertsen has warned Tottenham that AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek could turn out to be another flop in North London, just like former striker Vincent Janssen, if the club pushes ahead with a deal for him.
There have been contrasting reports over the past week regarding Tottenham’s pursuit of Piatek with a report in the Sun claiming a few days ago that Spurs had agreed a deal with Milan for the Polish international.
However, Sky Sports Germany have claimed that the Lilywhites are unlikely to complete a deal for the 24-year-old this month.
The Polish international had a decent start to life at Milan after moving to the Italian giants last January but like the rest of the Rossoneri side, has been in poor form so far this campaign.
Assessing Piatek’s career as a whole, Sivertsen warned Spurs that the Milan striker may not be good enough to produce the goods in the Premier League.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Trans Europe Express, he said, “The Piatek story is interesting. He initially went under everyone’s radar and when he turned up at Genoa banging in goals left, right, and centre people were a little bit nonplussed.
“There were probably a lot of scouting departments around Europe who had angry phone calls from their club presidents saying, ‘how did we miss this guy?’
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“He was not heralded at all before he started scoring at Genoa, and then he got his big move to Milan and it has not worked out as well.
“But Milan are in a dreadful state as a club and as a team, so you maybe shouldn’t hold that against him completely.
“As a player he’s a bit of an old-fashioned penalty box forward. If you watch his highlights reel you will notice that all of his goals are finishes from within the box; no long shots, none of him dribbling past loads of players…
“But at Genoa when they got him the ball in the box he can produce a number of smart finishes, and maybe the case at Milan has been that he hasn’t got as many chances because they’re a malfunctioning team.
“I do wonder about him going to Tottenham and going to the Premier League, though. He had an extraordinary burst of form at Genoa but then moved up a level and has struggled to replicate it.
“If you then move him up another level to Tottenham, I would be very surprised if he responds to that by scoring a bunch of goals. I would say the potential for the second coming of Vincent Janssen there is quite high.”
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While Sivertsen is correct in pointing out how most of Piatek’s goals are one or two touch penalty box finishes, I do feel he is underestimating the Polish international’s ability to hold up the ball. He is a decent physical presence up front and might be the right foil for the likes of Dele, Son and Lo Celso to play of. A loan deal with an option to buy would be ideal as we can cut our losses if he does turn out to be a flop like Janssen.
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