OPINION
Daniel Levy could hit the jackpot this summer if Tottenham manage to sign Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek after it was reported that the North London club has held talks with the player’s agent.
According to the Guardian, Spurs have been in discussions with the 22-year-old’s representatives as he fits the “young and gifted” profile that Mauricio Pochettino is looking for in his potential summer signings.
Of course, Spurs fans are bound to know a lot about van de Beek after watching him play against them in the Champions League semi-finals last season, in which he scored Ajax’s winner in their 1-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first leg.
The Netherlands international has a scintillating 2018/19 campaign with the Amsterdam giants as he scored 17 goals and supplied 13 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions, won the Eredivisie and the Dutch Cup while also coming within seconds of a Champions League final.
Spurs are likely to have a void of creativity for next season with Christian Eriksen potentially leaving North London, and van de Beek could be the perfect fit to replace the wantaway Denmark international.
According to WhoScored, van de Beek completed 79.5 per cent of his passes in the Eredivise last season while also averaging 1.2 key passes and 1.5 shots per game.
In comparison to Eriksen, the Dane had a pass success rate of 80 per cent in the Premier League in 2018/19 while averaging 2.1 key passes and 2.4 shots per game.
It is clear that Eriksen had more of an overall say in Tottenham’s play than van de Beek did at Ajax, but the Dutch giants have a massive spread of quality throughout a squad that won the league, while Spurs had to rely on their star players to stumble across the finish line to fourth place.
Also, 27-year-old Eriksen is a much more refined and experienced player than van de Beek, so the differences are to be expected.
However van de Beek is still someone who can make a team tick, who can create chances and also score his own, so it would surely be a mouthwatering prospect for Tottenham fans to see him head to their new stadium before the start of next season.
If Spurs spend £45million [Daily Mail] on the Dutchman this summer, he could easily be worth more than double that in a couple of years’ time after developing into the player that Eriksen is today.
Tottenham chairman Levy would not do many better deals than snapping up van de Beek this summer if those talks with his agent were successful.