There’s no disputing that Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer window in January was underwhelming in some respects. They brought in Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski and moved on the surplus Tanguy Ndombele and Dele Alli, but it still wasn’t ideal.
Antonio Conte missed out on main targets Luis Diaz and Adama Traore to Liverpool and Barcelona respectively towards the end of the window. A deal for Franck Kessie couldn’t be struck, but the Spurs board are still trying to make something happen.
Kessie has been branded ‘invaluable‘ by AC Milan given his importance to the side and ability.
Last Word on Spurs on Twitter have relayed Sports’ news that the north London club are the front runners as things stand to sign the Ivorian midfielder and are prepared to pay more than Barcelona.
Have you been impressed with Skipp?Yes
No
|
Daniel Levy finally answers Antonio Conte’s prayers?
As we mentioned before, Conte missed out on his top targets in the January window for whatever reason, summing up a painful and frustrating month for the Italian. Darren Lewis even said at the time there’s a worry he may walk.
However, Kessie is out of contract in the summer so can be signed to a pre-contract right now and Spurs could get the Ivorian on a free transfer. That’s a win win for Levy and Conte.
There hasn’t been any news about Conte since missing out on Diaz and Traore so we don’t know how much the transfer dealings in the closing stages of the window appeased him, but getting Kessie, who he did want in January, would certainly help that.
|
|
Huge Oliver Skipp upgrade?
Bringing in Bentancur in January highlighted how desperate Conte was for midfield reinforcements, the fact he is still after Kessie shows us what he thinks of his current midfield options.
Would he be an upgrade on Skipp? The stats can help suggest that. We don’t know how a player will adapt to a new league and surroundings. We do know he’s much more involved in the attacks than Skipp. He has six goals and an assist this season whereas Skipp has none. He does make 1 key pass a game to Skipp’s 0.4 according to whoscored.com.
Looking closer at the stats, Kessie averages more interceptions, clearances and blocks a game too so shows he can perform defensively better than Skipp as well as offer that attacking threat as well.
In other news, Rodrigo Bentancur lauded by pundit