Article by e-Spurs' Joe FishClick here to follow e-Spurs on Twitter for the latest Spurs news and updates!
The activity at Tottenham so far this summer suggests that Mauricio Pochettino has made improving the club’s defence his top priority in this transfer window.
All three of the players that he has signed thus far – Ben Davies, Michel Vorm and Eric Dier, for a combined £6m net – operate in one of the back five positions.
And a fourth defensive recruit could be imminent at White Hart Lane, with Villarreal’s 23-year-old Argentine Mateo Mussachio reportedly close to completing what seems to be a rather complicated switch to White Hart Lane.
This represents a similar method to how Pochettino approached his first full season as Southampton manager, with Dejan Lovren and midfield anchorman Victor Wanyama his early acquisitions in the summer of 2013.
These additions helped the Saints boast the best defensive record in the Premier League after 12 games of last season, having conceded only seven goals.
While Spurs were almost as tight under Andre Villas-Boas, our solidity came at the detriment of our attacking play, which was both narrow and predictable.
And with the defence having been an afterthought in the minds of some of our other recent managers, we may now have found some sort of middle ground, with goals proving easy to come by in most of our pre-season friendlies.
That being said, Pochettino appears again to be building from the back at Spurs, having identified someone who he hopes to be a regular partner for Jan Vertonghen in Mussachio, and a potential star of the future in 20-year-old Dier.
He has also added competition and depth to the left-back and goalkeeping departments which were/would have been exposed by injuries last campaign.
The next step in this reshuffle is to offload our two liabilities to defensive stability – the immobile Michael Dawson and the crocked Younes Kaboul.
This is an unfortunate truth despite general feelings of good will to both players.
With business seemingly going swimmingly in this area, Pochettino has now started to make moves to address another problem position – the left side.
Reports on Wednesday claimed that Spurs have lodged or are considering bids for both Marseille’s Florian Thauvin and PSV Eindhoven’s Memphis Depay.
Replacing Gareth Bale will be almost impossible and as yet we have not found a suitable filler, even since the Welshman was shifted inside while still at the club.
The now departed Gylfi Sigurdsson was a makeshift wide man on the left, but at least contributed goals, compared to Nacer Chadli, who contributes very little.
And in an age where so many attacking midfielders are comfortable all across the pitch (the old AMRLC on Football Manager), Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon have proved anything but as they fearfully hug their familiar right wing.
Christian Eriksen showed under Tim Sherwood that he is good enough to have a match-winning influence from the left, but Pochettino will probably use his most talented player centrally, as he did with Adam Lallana at Southampton.
Eriksen did lack a little in defensive awareness, anyway, and with Danny Rose’s positional struggles at the back end of last season, the left was a major weakness.
Davies should make us more secure, but the left-side makeover will not be complete until an improvement is made further up the line as well.
Pochettino would liked to have brought one of his St Mary’s favourites, Jay Rodriguez, with him from Southampton, but their insistence on not selling and his current injury mean that it is wise for Tottenham to pursue other targets.
Antoine Griezmann is also no longer an option, with Atletico Madrid having acted quickly to sign a player who had been linked with a £25m move to north London.
Thauvin and Depay now look to be top of the list, and both fit the right profile in terms of age and value to make Daniel Levy sanctioning their buys plausible.
Depay, who has scored 17 goals in 60 league appearances for PSV Eindhoven, has also been linked with Manchester United, but is not Louis van Gaal’s first-choice winger, despite him impressing for the Netherlands at the World Cup in Brazil.
He should be our first choice, though. The 20-year-old, as strong as he is quick, would provide a physical dimension missing from our behind-the-striker ranks.
Although Thauvin would almost certainly be both more effective and adaptable than Lennon and Townsend, he is more accustom to playing on the right and his lightweight frame and long contract at Marseille make Depay more favourable.
Him and a striker before the close of the window would represent a successful summer, providing the snags in the Mussachio deal do not prove unsolvable.
Perhaps get him through the door first, eh? One puzzle piece at a time…
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