Tottenham Hotspur haven’t had a summer season to recollect since Ange Postecoglou lifted the Europa League after beating Manchester United on the finish of final season.
The Lilywhites have solely introduced in two new senior gamers to bolster the squad, on prime of Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel signing completely, as Joao Palhinha and Mohammed Kudus have each been snapped up, from Bayern Munich and West Ham United respectively.
Thomas Frank has, due to this fact, not had many reinforcements come by way of the door to bolster a squad that completed one place above the relegation zone within the Premier League within the 2024/25 marketing campaign.
On prime of the dearth of recruits coming in, the brand new head coach has additionally misplaced James Maddison for almost all of subsequent season after he suffered an ACL damage.
The England worldwide is just not the one participant who’s at the moment out injured, although, as Dejan Kulusevski is about to overlook the primary month of the brand new season after present process patella surgical procedure.
Why Kulusevski’s damage is a blow for Spurs
While the Sweden worldwide won’t be out for anyplace close to so long as Maddison will likely be, the left-footed star’s absence for the subsequent 4 weeks or so will nonetheless be a blow for Frank.
The previous Juventus winger is a top quality operator on the wing and within the quantity ten place, which signifies that Spurs have misplaced a flexible, in addition to a top quality, choice within the quick time period.
Kulusevski made 43 appearances within the Premier League and the Europa League mixed final season, and showcased his capacity on the ball in each competitions.
The 25-year-old magician has the standard to carve open opposition defences to create high-quality alternatives for his teammates regularly, significantly within the Premier League.
Dejan Kulusevski (24/25) | Premier League | Europa League |
|---|---|---|
Appearances | 32 | 11 |
xG | 4.23 | 0.87 |
Targets | 7 | 1 |
Huge probabilities created | 9 | 2 |
Key passes per sport | 2.1 | 1.1 |
Assists | 4 | 3 |
Stats through Sofascore | ||
As you may see within the desk above, Kulusevski created simply over two probabilities per sport on common for the group within the top-flight, however was solely rewarded with 4 assists.
In the meantime, no different Spurs participant created greater than 1.7 probabilities per sport on common within the Premier League final season, which speaks to how necessary the Swedish star was as a inventive pressure on the prime finish of the pitch.
That’s the reason dropping him to an damage is a blow for Frank heading into the opening month of the season, and in addition why the membership should be available in the market for extra attacking gamers.
Spurs place Ligue 1 star on their radar
Tottenham Hotspur followers ought to be happy to learn that the membership are reportedly trying to usher in a participant who might be a Kulusevski clone this summer season.
In response to journalist Sebastien Vidal, Spurs have positioned Monaco winger Maghnes Akliouche on their radar as they give the impression of being to bolster their squad earlier than the top of the switch window.
The reporter claims that the Europa League champions wish to add extra creativity to the group within the coming weeks due to the damage to Maddison, which is able to see him miss most of subsequent season.
Vidal provides that Akliouche is seen as a flexible and high quality attacking choice and that the membership are monitoring his state of affairs, however they haven’t submitted an official supply for his providers as of but.
It has beforehand been reported that Arsenal are additionally within the 23-year-old expertise, who’s valued at round £60m by Monaco, which exhibits that there might be some competitors for his providers.
Why Spurs ought to signal Akliouche
The Lilywhites ought to formalise their curiosity with an official bid for the French whiz as a result of he may are available as a Kulusevski clone to ease the blow of dropping him to damage, and to compete with the previous Juventus man when he’s match.
Just like the Swedish maestro, Akliouche is a flexible attacking participant who can play centrally as a quantity ten or out broad on the fitting, drifting infield onto his favoured left foot.
As partially evidenced by his unbelievable overhead kick within the clip above, the £60m-rated star additionally brings excellent technical high quality on the prime finish of the pitch, very like Kulusevski does.
Akliouche, whose technical abilities have been hailed as “majestic” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, scored 5 targets and created a whopping 15 ‘massive probabilities’ in 27 begins in Ligue 1 for Monaco final season, which signifies that he created six extra ‘massive probabilities’ than the Spurs man did within the Premier League.
24/25 Ligue 1 | Maghnes Akliouche | Percentile rank vs wingers |
|---|---|---|
Targets | 5 | High 30% |
Possibilities created | 49 | High 10% |
xA | 7.85 | High 5% |
Cross accuracy | 84.9% | High 20% |
Profitable dribbles | 50 | High 9% |
Assists | 10 | High 5% |
Stats through FotMob | ||
As you may see within the desk above, the Spurs goal was one of the crucial inventive gamers within the French top-flight final season, as he ranked extremely amongst his positional friends in a bunch of inventive metrics.
These statistics recommend that Tottenham could be signing a participant who can unlock opposition defences regularly to create high-quality probabilities for the likes of Dominic Solanke, Kudus, Richarlison, and Tel to stay at the back of the online.
Akliouche seems to have the potential to fill the inventive hole left by the accidents to Maddison and Kuluveski, while being a clone of the latter for Frank to name upon all through the season.
When each are match, Akliouche and Kulusevski may combat for a similar place and push one another to enhance in coaching, creating actual competitions for locations throughout the squad to make sure that there is no such thing as a complacency within the XI.
It’s now right down to Spurs to behave upon their curiosity by swooping in with a proposal to signal the French expertise earlier than the top of the summer season switch window.
