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Tottenham Hotspur: Athletic journalists discuss Celik

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On the latest episode of the View from the Lane podcast for The Athletic, Jack Pitt-Brooke and James Maw have been answering questions from Spurs fans regarding the upcoming season for Tottenham Hotspur. 

One topic of discussion on the recent episode, which was titled: ‘Is Dele the odd one out?‘, was Spurs’ right-back situation and who Jose Mourinho could look to sign as a replacement for Serge Aurier, who has been heavily linked with a move to the likes of AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen in recent weeks. One of the players who has been linked with a move to the North London club is Lille right-back Mehmet Zeki Celik, and Pitt-Brooke seems to confirm Spurs’ interest during the podcast.

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Here’s what the Athletic journalist had to say about the club’s interest in Celik:

“Mehmet Zeki Celik, the Turkish right-back at Lille, I think is the favoured one of Mourinho but they can’t really do anything until they can move Aurier.”

TIF Thoughts…

During the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season, Celik made 23 appearances in the French top-flight, contributing no goals and two assists, averaging a solid, if unspectacular, 6.73 rating (per Whoscored), whereas Aurier enjoyed a much more fruitful campaign; contributing one goal and five assists in the Premier League; averaging a strong 7.06 rating (per WhoScored), which suggests that Spurs would be downgrading somewhat if they replaced the Ivorian with the Lille man.

Who would you rather have at right-back?

Aurier

Aurier

Celik

Celik

It will be interesting to see if Aurier does depart the North London club this summer and who the Lilywhites opt to bring in as his replacement. It is perhaps understandable why Celik might be Mourinho’s favoured option, considering the Portuguese manager’s links with current Lille sporting director Luis Campos, as well as the fact that Spurs’ assistant manager Joao Sacramento made the move to North London from the French side when Mourinho was appointed.

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