Tottenham Hotspur supporters will typically be happy with their group’s progress this season, fifth-placed within the Premier League with ten matches left to play.
The continuing worldwide break permits golf equipment to pause and recalibrate, and this can probably have been welcomed by Ange Postecoglou given the chastening 3-0 defeat away to Fulham final day trip.
Postecoglou stated that qualifying for subsequent season’s Champions League group section is just not the be-all and end-all for his squad, as a substitute prioritising development and collective improvement.
That is an admirable and prudent strategy, however a spot in Europe’s elite membership competitors would definitely be a carry and a mark of progress for supporters and gamers, additionally enhancing the probabilities of touchdown the most effective expertise in the summertime switch window.
Spurs’ summer season switch targets
Based on distinguished German outlet BILD – through Sport Witness – Tottenham are set to wage switch battle with London rivals Chelsea for the switch of Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah, having already made an strategy previous to the winter window.
Each Premier League golf equipment ‘knocked’ for the 28-year-old again in December however there was nothing doing, nonetheless, Tah is known to be intrigued by the potential for a transfer to England, ought to a suitor provide Champions League soccer.
Spurs are nicely in competition to realize simply that, and provided that Chelsea are at the moment eleventh within the league desk heading into the enterprise finish, 14 factors behind Tottenham, Daniel Levy might be assured of profitable any race for Tah’s signature.
Tah is out of contract in 2025 and, as such, Leverkusen will welcome low-cost bids for the participant’s signature, with Kicker revealing earlier within the marketing campaign {that a} bid approaching €18m (£15m) may do the trick.
Jonathan Tah’s season in numbers
Tah has been an integral member of a Bayer Leverkusen facet working absolute wonders underneath the tutelage of Xabi Alonso this season, undefeated in all competitions, prime of the German Bundesliga, into the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal and awaiting West Ham United within the Europa League last-eight.
As per Sofascore, the £46k-per-week titan has began 23 Bundesliga matches this season, maintaining 9 clear sheets, scoring 4 objectives, finishing 97% of his passes, averaging 5.5 ball recoveries and three.3 clearances per sport and succeeding with 70% of his aerial battles.
Thought-about to be a monstrous bodily presence and a assured participant with the ball at his toes, the 6 foot 4 star has been described as a “bodily robust and really fast” centre-half by former Germany Males’s supervisor Joachim Löw, with this supreme athleticism talking of shades of Micky van de Ven, who additionally made the transfer from Germany to the Premier League final season.
Tah usually performs in a back-three for Die Werkself however is a confirmed participant in a extra conventional defence, highlighting the flexibility that could possibly be tailored for a spot in Postecoglou’s interchangeable, multi-functioning Lilywhites system.
He’d be excellent for Tottenham, augmenting a defensive group consisting of star defensive axis Van de Ven and Cristian Romero but additionally nurturing £27m January acquisition Radu Dragusin, aged 21.
With a return to continental competitors on the playing cards subsequent time period and a need to wade deep into the home cup competitions, depth is paramount and Tah could be the proper match.
Why Jonathan Tah could be excellent for Spurs
Tah has the very best passing accuracy from open play of any athlete within the German top-flight this time period at 97%, inserting him above even Van de Ven within the Premier League, with the Dutchman finishing 95% of his balls for Postecoglou’s facet.
As per FBref, Tah ranks among the many prime 10% of centre-backs throughout Europe’s prime 5 leagues over the previous yr for objectives scored, the highest 13% for passes tried per 90 and the highest 1% for go completion, along with his elite technical management and pure knack for goalscoring instruments that may be well-wielded inside Postecoglou’s tactical set-up.
Jonathan Tah: Comparable Premier League Gamers
#
Participant
Membership
1.
Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool
2.
Pau Torres
Aston Villa
3.
Ibrahima Konate
Liverpool
4.
Nathan Ake
Manchester Metropolis
5.
Levi Colwill
Chelsea
Sourced through Soccer Transfers
Furthermore, Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk is taken into account Tah’s most comparable Premier League participant, as per Soccer Transfers, with such a ability set hardly unlikely to succeed down the N17.
Van Dijk has been close to indomitable at instances this season for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, thriving on the coronary heart of a resurgent, title-chasing facet and restoring a backline that welcomed no switch additions final summer season regardless of a dismal 2022/23 marketing campaign, additionally contending with accidents to Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and shot-stopper Alisson Becker this season.
As per Sofascore, the 32-year-old colossus has been breathtaking within the league, finishing 91% of his passes, scoring two objectives and supplying two assists, averaging 5.1 ball recoveries and 4.3 clearances per sport and popping out on prime in a staggering 84% of his aerial battles.
He additionally ranks among the many prime 8% of positional friends throughout Europe’s prime 5 leagues over the previous yr for assists, the highest 4% for shot-creating actions, the highest 4% for passes tried, the highest 10% for go completion, the highest 17% for progressive passes and the highest 2% for aerial wins per 90.
Fairly merely, Van Dijk is without doubt one of the greatest within the enterprise, and whereas Klopp and Postecoglou implement completely different types of play, each are reliant on innate understanding, development and fluency.
That is evidenced by the turnaround in fortunes on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season since Van de Ven arrived and settled the equilibrium subsequent to Romero.
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Nevertheless, each stars have been sidelined at completely different intervals this time period and this has laid the Lilywhites’ fragility naked. This can’t be allowed to resurface and pull the squad again in regression after such promise all through Postecoglou’s maiden marketing campaign.
As soon as described as a “defensive battleship” by former teammate Christoph Kramer, Tah have to be signed, becoming a member of the fold and providing his ability set in what would add one other layer to the constructing Spurs machine.