According to a report in The Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur had serious interest in signing Monaco midfielder Youri Tielemans during the summer transfer window, and they must attempt to get him for a second time in January.
What’s the word, then?
Well, Spurs infamously failed to bring in a single new player throughout the whole summer, but manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed via The Daily Mail that it wasn’t through the want of trying.
The Daily Mail says that the north London outfit really pushed for a deal for Tielemans even though he endured a tough debut campaign with the Ligue 1 outfit following a move from Anderlecht, where he scored one goal and provided two assists in 35 appearances in all competitions.
In his final season with the Belgian side, the highly-rated 21-year-old scored an impressive 18 goals and provided a further 15 assists in 53 outings in total.
Why should Spurs try and sign him?
It is looking more and more likely that Tottenham will lose Mousa Dembele either in the New Year or next summer, and with Victor Wanyama also surplus to requirements a new central midfielder should be one of Pochettino’s priorities.
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Tielemans is certainly a good option because of the fact he can play a range of roles – defensive, central and attacking – in the middle of the park, and he has shown his goalscoring and creative exploits in the past.
While he may have generally struggled at Monaco thus far, two goals in eight games this term show he is improving, but the Belgium international would surely jump at the chance of a move to England to link up with compatriots Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld in north London – although new Monaco boss Thierry Henry may have something to say having worked with the 21-year-old when he was Roberto Martinez’s assistant.
