According to a recent report coming from the Spanish outlet, El Desmarque, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in acquiring the services of Barcelona’s full-back, Nelson Semedo.
The only issue right now, however, might be the fact that the Catalans value their player at around €50m (£42.4m), which is, at least for the time being, too much for the English outfit who would only be willing to spend about €36m (£30.5m) to land their man.
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Still, El Desmarque claim Semedo is a fan of Mourinho’s defensive style and the Portuguese manager sees the player as someone who could aid his project in London.
But if we delve into the numbers a bit more and compare the Portuguese international to the Special One’s current right-back, Serge Aurier, we can see that the Blaugrana’s man wouldn’t necessarily be an upgrade on the divisive man.
Firstly, it’s important to note that the stats were taken prior to the weekend’s clashes and could, therefore, look slightly different at the time of publishing.
Secondly, Aurier has tallied 1359 minutes in the current campaign, as opposed to Semedo’s 936, as the Portuguese full-back has been a starter in 11 of the overall 16 games, while also missing three due to an injury.
With that being said, however, Spurs’ man is still statistically a better overall player – his 3.3 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game trump Semedo’s 1.6 tackles and 0.7 interceptions, while the 27-year-old is also better at clearing the ball with 2.9 per game compared to 0.7.
It has to be noted that their respective teams’ style of play differs and Barcelona are somewhat safer in possession, averaging 61.1% possession in La Liga vs Spurs’ 53% in the Premier League, which makes Semedo less exposed and in need of tackling and clearing the ball.
But even with Barcelona being the more attacking-minded of the two, Aurier is better going forward as well, registering three assists vs his counterpart’s two and tallying one key pass and 1.6 dribbles per game.
Semedo’s output, meanwhile, is slightly less impressive as he’s managed to contribute just two assists, 0.2 key passes and 1.4 dribbles per game.
The only category that favours the Portuguese international is one v one defending.
The former Benfica man has only been dribbled past 0.4 times per game as opposed to Aurier’s one per game, but that can also be explained by the contrasting styles of the two clubs.
When everything is said and done, however, it still feels like Mourinho wouldn’t really get an improvement on his current personnel by snatching away Barcelona’s full-back.
Maybe he should think twice before splashing the cash on a potential downgrade.
