Spurs may yet land winger target 18 months down the line
Published:
When Basel winger Mohamed Salah came on the market last January, Tottenham and Liverpool were near the front of the queue for the livewire Egyptian only for Chelsea to muscle both clubs out of the race.
However, much like the famously extinct dodo, Salah’s Stamford Bridge career never took off and after limited exposure at Chelsea the winger went on loan to Fiorentina for the second half of last season, where he duly excelled.
Despite their £11m signing rediscovering his best form in Serie A, the arrival of Juan Cuadrado at Chelsea during the winter has ensured the Blues will listen to offers for 22-year-old.
This comes as sweet music to the ears of Spurs manager Maurico Pochettino who is thought to have been monitoring the situation closely as he looks for potential upgrades to his current stocks.
Other than Belgian winger Nacer Chadli whose smart goals return has endeared him to the Lilywhites or Christian Eriksen, whose own tally and general finesse make him a White Hart Lane favourite, the other candidates to play wide don’t appear to have consistently cut it for Pochettino.
Spurs’ record signing Erik Lamela has huffed and puffed under the strain of his mammoth price tag, supplying moments of genuine quality far too sporadically.
Meanwhile, his screamer-scoring England cameos may have swelled Andros Townsend’s stock internationally, though in north London the touchline hugger cannot shake the reputation as a one-trick pony.
In similar fashion to Lamela, his preoccupation with cutting inside and shooting, rather than supplying the service to others in the box, is a source of real frustration for manager and fans alike.
If either were regularly hitting the net their other deficiencies may not have appear so pronounced.
Salah’s arrival would seem to offer an upgrade in this department, where in the space of 10 Serie A appearances he assisted three goals directly, averaged two key passes per game and weighed in with six goals.
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