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Why Selling Mousa Dembélé Won’t Help Tottenham

By Alexander Balano

Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele (19) controls the ball against MLS All Star defender DeMarcus Beasley (16) of the Houston Dynamo during the first half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele (19) controls the ball against MLS All Star defender DeMarcus Beasley (16) of the Houston Dynamo during the first half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tottenham Hotspur won’t buy a striker if Dembélé is sold.

Two days ago the London Evening Standard reported that Tottenham are prepared to let Mousa Dembélé leave in January to help fund a striker move. This £10 million move to Napoli wouldn’t be a surprise if it happened. As is, Mauricio Pochettino has a crowded central midfield to work with: Dele Alli, Tom Carroll, Ryan Mason and Harry Winks are four names already before Mousa Dembélé is brought up. Having five central midfielders isn’t a bad thing, this gives Tottenham plenty of depth in case of injury — which already happened to both Mason and Dembélé this season.

However, there are three questions that Tottenham must ask themselves regarding this possible sale that will impact the team moving forward.

  • Will the money from Dembélé’s sale bring back a starting caliber striker to help Harry Kane up top in a two striker formation?
  • Or will Tottenham find a young prospect to become Kane’s backup and come in as a second half substitute?
  • Lastly, do Spurs’ young central midfielders: Alli (19), Carroll (23), Mason (24) and Winks (19) not need a veteran to help them out and learn the position better while also perfecting Mauricio Pochettino’s high-press effectively?

Based on whichever answer the team goes with, there’s bound to be some repercussions if the team decides to sell Mousa Dembélé this January.

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With the sale of Roberto Soldado and release of Emmanuel Adebayor which, coincidentally the two former Spurs strikers were veterans, this affects the 28-year-old Mousa Dembélé. It’s important to note that Pochettino’s ethos of going younger is prevalent up and down the current 24-man squad — Michel Vorm is the only one over 30-years-old. That means everyone else is under 30.

View image | gettyimages.com

Based on the amount of young talent ahead of Mousa Dembélé in the pecking order at central midfield and them improving as the season continues. It would seem that selling the Belgium midfielder is the right choice, correct? But in actuality this would be a bad sale for Tottenham to make.

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When Harry Kane became Tottenham’s new striker, it was going to happen eventually after good results in domestic cups and the Europa League.

Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor struggling also helped out. Since last November and until now, Kane is the team’s starting striker.

This means that no one is going to start over him anymore unless Kane needs to rest. But starting around him is a different story. Clinton N’Jie and Heung-Min Son can already fill in as a viable replacements for Harry Kane but are playing alongside him instead. Because Pochettino relies on a 4-2-3-1 formation it’s unlikely that he changes it to involve two strikers up top. He tried it a couple of times last season and earlier this year with terrible results.

With all of that said, is there a reason why Tottenham still needs a striker? Other than getting at least £10 million from a possible sale to Napoli and letting four young players run around as Tottenham’s central midfielders this would be a bad move. Tottenham doesn’t need to sell Mousa Dembélé if they’ll only get a backup striker who won’t see the pitch that much.

If Tottenham had gotten Saido Berahino, would he have started over Érik Lamela from the very beginning? Would Christian Benteke start over Harry Kane? It’s doubtful that a possible sale of the Belgium midfielder works out in Spurs’ favor. Until the team figures out a way to incorporate two strikers up top to take the pressure off of Harry Kane. Or Tottenham decides to drop Kane into the central attacking midfield position instead, Mousa Dembélé will remain in Lilywhite.

Next: How Will Tottenham Line Up Against Liverpool?

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