Spurs hold talks to sign £86m winger

Tottenham Hotspur are a Premier League team. The fears of relegation has been extinguished and we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief. What was all the worry for?

The playing staff may well have been celebrating on Sunday evening but they should have been apologising. There should have been no party atmosphere inside the stadium a couple of days ago.

Roberto De Zerbi knows that too. “We have no time to go on holiday. We have to learn from our mistakes we have done this season,” the Italian said after the match. Quite.

It’s time to attack the transfer window hard and ensure that Spurs never finish as low as 17th again.

Where Spurs are aiming to strengthen this summer

Tottenham’s city rivals Arsenal have been brilliant on the transfer front in recent years, chiefly by using the Premier League to snap up some of the best talents around. Think Declan Rice, David Raya and Co. Spurs, however, do not have the same appeal.

Still, they should still target players from the English top-flight and if reports are to be believed, two players could be on their way already.

Andrew Robertson nearly made the move in January from Liverpool but with his contract due to expire in a matter of weeks, the Lilywhites are set to take advantage of that by signing him on a free transfer.

Likewise, they are looking to take advantage of Marcos Senesi’s situation at Bournemouth. As with Robertson, the Argentine defender’s deal expires this summer and the latest on that is that Spurs are in ‘very advanced’ talks to make him one of their first summer signings.

However, it’s not all about strengthening a simply feeble defence; they must also bolster the forward line that looked devoid of ideas and confidence throughout much of the season.

One of the most exciting additions could well be Yan Diomande, although admittedly this is one that feels extremely unlikely.

The RB Leipzig winger is one of the hottest properties on the market right now, notably taking the interest of Liverpool and Manchester United. Spurs, though, are in the running too and according to the Daily Mail, they have already opened talks and held enquiries to get a handle on the player’s situation.

He is valued at around £86m, a price tag that may take the Londoners out of the equation, not to mention the fact Champions League finalists PSG are also taking an interest.

How Diomande could be Tottenham’s new Heung-min Son

The year is 2015, the month is August. Spurs’ pursuit of new signings has taken them to a 23-year-old Heung-min Son.

He arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in a £22m deal and the rest, as they say, is history. That fee turned out to be one of the biggest bargains in Premier League history.

While Spurs struggled to really challenge for too many honours with Son at the club, between he and Harry Kane, they developed one of the best partnerships the division has ever seen.

Sonny eventually left north London behind last summer, doing so having scored 173 goals in a massive 454 appearances. He is a modern-day club legend.

Well, it’s safe to say Diomande’s potential arrival would evoke similar memories. The Ivorian may not be quite as old as Son when he made the move to Spurs but he’s still one of the Bundesliga’s finest young talents, just as the South Korean was prior to his arrival.

Aged 19, the winger has been rightly celebrated as “one of the best players in Germany” by scout Jacek Kulig but he’s not just that, he’s one of the most exciting wingers in the whole of Europe.

Why? Well, as recruitment and performance analyst Marcus Bring notes, he is a “1v1 monster”. Just like Son was in his prime, Diomande is an elite dribbler, someone who terrifies defenders once he starts running at them.

Indeed, compared to fellow wingers in Europe’s top five leagues this season, the teenager ranks among the best 1% for successful dribbles per 90 minutes with 4.29. To put that into context, Mohammed Kudus achieved 3.03 per 90.

He also ranks as highly as the top 3% of wingers on the continent for progressive actions with a whopping 9.60 per 90 minutes. Numbers like that mean statistically, he is similar to some of the best players in Europe, notably Rayan Cherki, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vinicius Junior and Lamine Yamal, according to Scout Lab.

Similarly to Son, Diomande is not just a dribble merchant. He’s got the end product to boot too, Take his age into consideration and the fact he scored as many as 13 goals and registered ten assists in 36 appearances is incredible.

Sure, fans may be worried about ‘Bundesliga tax’, but Michael Olise and Harry Kane, and of course, Son, stand proud as examples of how players can thrive in both the Premier League and in Germany’s top-flight. Perhaps the same could be said of Diomande if he moves to English shores?