Tottenham Might Be About to Sell Federico Fazio
By Ryan Wrenn
Tottenham’s summer house cleaning continues with Federico Fazio rumored to be on the verge of signing with West Bromwich Albion.
The centre-back was only purchased from Sevilla last summer for a fee rumored to be about £8 million. Were he to move to the Baggies, Tottenham would recoup £5 million of that fee.
Fazio is the latest of a purge of players evidently deemed unfit for Mauricio Pochettino’s evolving squad. That he was only given a year to prove his mettle is unusual, but reflects a change in the club’s attitude about sunk costs. The Argentina international joins Benjamin Stambouli – who moved to Paris Saint Germain earlier in the summer – on the list of players to only feature for Tottenham for a single season.
Originally brought in after Tottenham failed in their attempts for their first choice centre-back target, Villarreal’s Mateo Musacchio, Fazio never seemed like he was entirely comfortable in the team’s style. While dominant in the air, he was slow in transition and often got caught out by pacey forwards or clever balls in behind the defense.
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He has had his moments, of course. Against Manchester United late last December, Fazio was massive. His aerial ability and physicality nullified United’s attempts to get Robin Van Persie and Radamel Falcao into the game. The game ended 0-0, an unflashy but vital draw during the busy holiday schedule.
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That anecdote should be tempered by who exactly Fazio was besting on the day. Neither Van Persie nor Falcao turned in vintage performances – that day or all season – and Fazio’s job was thereby made all the easier as a result.
That match also came only two days after Boxing Day and three days before Tottenham’s now-legendary 5-3 win over Chelsea. Both Spurs and United, whether due to tired legs or simply awareness that the next fixture wasn’t too far off, seemed to implicitly agree to tone down their efforts for the match. The match consequently felt split down the middle, with United only stopped from scoring in the first half by some heroic efforts from Hugo Lloris and Tottenham attempting to capture some – albeit relatively weak – momentum in the second. Taken as a whole it felt like a game that was a designed draw, each team willing to sacrifice two points in what would otherwise be a hard fought, exhausting match. That Fazio thrived in such a game tells us a lot about his own skill set.
It could be that West Brom’s scouts – and Tony Pulis itself – had this December performance in mind when they began considering a move for Fazio. He’s the type of player that fits supremely well into Pulis’ rugged take on the game. The chances of him being asked to hold a high line or tightly mark the opposition’s attackers are effectively nil. Instead he’ll be asked to win balls in the air, either in defense or on the end of a set piece. He’ll be less a moat – designed to keep the enemy far enough away to not cause any trouble – than he will be a wall.
With the addition of Kevin Wimmer earlier this summer and the ever-versatile Eric Dier always willing to do a job wherever you ask him to, Tottenham won’t hurt too much if Fazio were to go. They might even benefit in an unexpected way if his departure could somehow be worked into a deal involving Saido Berahino coming the opposite way.