Tottenham Transfer Rumors: Linetty, Mbemba and Ayew
Another Tottenham transfer rumor round-up.
First up let’s take a look at Karol Linetty who has reportedly agreed to join Tottenham.
Unfortunately not many news has surfaced over this signing and since the main link is in Polish, there’s not much to go on.
Karol Linetty (20) – Central Midfield / Lech Poznań | Polish international
Karol Linetty has played in 28 games across all competitions, with 22 appearances coming in the Ekstralasa. In those games, he has scored 5 goals and had 4 assists.
While these are decent numbers, he hasn’t featured too much for Lech Poznań.
Even with 28 games under his belt, he’s missed 19 games because he wasn’t chosen on the squad. One of those, he was the bench as an unused substitute.
Clearly, this is a classic case of a young player not earning enough playing time.
If that Polish website is true, then getting a central midfielder who’s young with some upside is a good move. Although he likely won’t earn any playing time with Tottenham; he’d most likely go out on loan, which is fine.
He hasn’t shown enough to warrant a start over Spurs’ current starters in the midfield.
However, Karol Linetty would most likely be ready to compete with the starters in a year or two — again, if this transfer rumor is true.
Chancel Mbemba (20) – Center Back / RSC Anderlecht | DR Congo international
Up next, Chancel Mbema is interested in joining Tottenham.
The signing of Kevin Wimmer makes this unlikely to happen. Then again, why not?
In the 2014-15 season, Chancel Mbemba has appeared in 36 games in all competitions, 20 appearances in the Jupiler Pro League.
Of all the games he’s played in, Mbemba has scored 3 goals and earned 1 assist to his name. But he’s a center back so don’t expect much offense from him, let alone goals.
So why would this be a good signing? Depth.
There’s going to be some shakeup at the center back position behind Eric Dier and Federico Fazio who are competing for a spot alongside Jan Vertonghen.
With both Younes Kaboul and Vlad Chiriches possibly being on their way out, with maybe even Federico Fazio joining, it would be smart to add to this position.
Spurs right now, have one starter in Vertonghen, a young promising player in Dier and the rest as depth who aren’t getting any playing time.
Getting rid of all three: Kaboul, Chiriches and Fazio would clear up some needed space with their wages being off the book.
The only drawback from getting rid of some experienced players is what happens when Jan Vertonghen and/or Eric Dier are struggling, or worse injured. It might not be wise to throw in a 20-year old center back who’s never played in the Premier League.
Should Chancel Mbemba find himself at White Hart Lane, he too would be going out on loan, unless the depth at center back takes a massive hit and no other signings are made outside of Kevin Wimmer.
André Ayew (25) – Left Wing / Olympique Marseille | Ghana international
Lastly, André Ayew is supposedly “days away” from a deal with Tottenham.
The 25-year old Ghana international is looking to make a move to the Premier League
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One of the teams interested in him is Tottenham, where he would look to earn a spot alongside Christian Eriksen on the left side, if he plays ahead of Nacer Chadli.
He has appeared in 30 games in all competitions, 28 games playing in Ligue 1 and scoring 11 goals with 6 assists.
Ayew missed 10 games this year, half is due to injury and the other half while playing in the Africa Cup of Nations, a couple were suspensions from yellow card accumulation.
Bolstering the winger positions is a step in the right direction, even if these are only rumors. Nacer Chadli is the front runner to start next season on the left side of Pochettino’s 4-2-3-1 formation. But if André Ayew signs, then there’s a good chance that it would be a toss up as to who starts, unless Ayew moves to the right side.
In the end, more depth is always welcomed.