There’s no escaping it now: this season has been dreadful for Tottenham Hotspur.
In fact, the one thing preventing it from being a full-blown disaster is the fact that the club have a League Cup semi-final to look forward to.
However, when it comes to their Premier League form, Ange Posetcoglou’s side have been dire, and while some blame must fall at the feet of the manager, he has been dealt a lousy hand in the form of an injury crisis at the back.
So, recent reports linking the club with someone who could solve the manager’s biggest problem and serve as an upgrade on Radu Dragusin should excite fans.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news
According to a recent report from Caught Offside, Tottenham are one of around 11 sides interested in Paris Saint-Germain defender Milan Skriniar.
Alongside the Lilywhites, the report claims that Napoli, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, and Atlético Madrid are all keen on the experienced defender.
However, while this level of outside interest is far from ideal for the North Londoners, the good news is that he may not cost an arm and a leg to sign, as the story has revealed that PSG will make him available for around €35m – £29m – next month, and could be willing to go as low as €25m – £21m – in negotiations.
In all, it could be an incredibly complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Skriniar’s ability and experience, it’s one worth pursuing, especially as he’d be an upgrade on Dragusin and help solve Ange’s biggest problem.
How Skriniar compares to Dragusin
So, of all the issues Postecoglou has faced at Spurs this season, the defensive injury crisis has been the most significant.
Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies have all missed a sizable portion of the season thus far, which has meant that 18-year-old Archie Gray and the error-prone Dragusin have had to form a makeshift and rather flimsy centre-back partnership, and now it looks like the latter will be out for a little while as well.
So, in signing a new defender, the club will be addressing, and hopefully solving, the Australian’s most significant pressing this season.
Moreover, if the centre-back they sign ends up being Skriniar, then that would also see Dragusin fall further down the pecking order, as while he’s had some decent performances, he’s also had too many dire ones.
For example, he picked up a red card on his European debut for the side, gifted Victor Osimhen a goal against Galatasaray and looked utterly clueless against Rangers.
However, the “incredible” PSG gem, as dubbed by journalist Jerry Mancini, would be a brilliant addition to the squad in his own right and not just as an upgrade on the Romanian.
For example, he has bags and bags of experience, making 246 appearances for Inter Milan and winning the league in Italy and France while also making 77 appearances for Slovakia.
Moreover, on top of being a 6 foot 2 titan who certainly wouldn’t be bullied in the Premier League, he’s no slouch with the ball at his feet, as FBref, which compares players in similar positions across Europe’s top five leagues, places him in the top 1% of centre-backs for passes attempted and passes completed, per 90.
Ultimately, Spurs are in desperate need of new defenders, as not only are their starting centre-backs seemingly injury-prone, but their replacements aren’t good enough.
Therefore, the North Londoners should do all they can to sign Skriniar next month, as he’d be the perfect solution to this problem.
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