Mauricio Pochettino has come up with a novel plan to incorporate imminent new signing Davinson Sanchez into his Tottenham team, according to the Telegraph.
The newspaper claim Spurs have agreed the terms of a £42million deal with Ajax for the 21-year-old, who will fly in to complete a move and become the club’s firs summer signing.
Intriguingly, the Telegraph report that manager Pochettino will play him as one of three centre-backs in a new-look system this season alongside Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen.
The major tactical shift is designed to maximise the talents of the Colombian, who Pochettino regards as “the perfect man to strengthen his back line”.
Spurs have predominantly used a 4-2-3-1 system since the Argentine has been at White Hart Lane, although he did experiment with some success with Eric Dier in a back three for a number of matches in the second half of last season.
Opinion
Pochettino’s plan to tweak his system for Sanchez is a fascinating one. 3-4-3 is all the rage after it took Chelsea all the way to the league title last season and Spurs had some success with a similar system on a few occasions last season. For the Argentine to apparently plan to change his tactical masterplan is proof of how highly he regards his imminent new signing and also what he thinks his team must do to go one step further and win the league title. It was clear that one of Tottenham’s strengths last season was the mobility of their full-backs and their ability to provide an attacking outlet from out wide. Three centre-backs would allow Danny Rose to bomb forward and also maximise the crossing ability of Kieran Trippier, who provided six assists in the closing months of last season.