Tottenham Transfer Rumors: Morata Coming to the Lane?

Though he’s been linked with a move to Arsenal in recent weeks, Tottenham now seem to be the in the running for Juventus forward Álvaro Morata.

As with any striker rumor that’s come down the wire since Tottenham failed to sign Saido Berahino at the conclusion of last summer’s transfer window, this one has to be dissected a bit.

The Evening Standard reported the rumor on Thursday, linking it in part to another rumor regarding Juventus’ interest in Paris Saint Germain striker Edinson Cavani. Fee details weren’t elaborated upon, but it’s safe to say that the Spaniard wouldn’t come cheaply.

Which again brings us back to more or less the same argument we made about Tottenham’s rumored pursuit of Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martínez: is it really in the club’s best interest to drop serious money on a striker?

Short answer: probably not.

Longer answer: yes, but maybe not right now.

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The fact remains that bringing in another member of the first team – at any position – would be unnecessarily disruptive at this point. Not only does Mauricio Pochettino likely not want to disrupt the confidence of an in-form Harry Kane, he has to also consider the fact that Heung-min Son wouldn’t prefer to have yet another player competing with him for a starting spot.

Let’s put reason aside for a moment and consider what Tottenham would be getting with Álvaro Morata.

A graduate of Real Madrid’s Castilla youth team, Morata made his way to Juventus after just one season with the first team. He played a crucial role in Juventus’ pursuit of the treble last campaign, scoring 15 goals and notching seven assists in all competitions, including one in the Champions League final against Barcelona. He’s only rumored to be on the transfer market now because Juventus brought in Paulo Dybala over the summer – a player who is better than Morata and might be the best young striker playing today.

So Morata’s credentials check out, to say the least, and he appears to be available. How well would he fit in Pochettino’s system, though?

It’s difficult to make sweeping claims, but Morata seems on the surface to be the kind of player that Pochettino would be very keen to get. He’s still only 23 years old, he can score from distance and he has absolutely no problem with tracking back and picking up some of the defensive slack. He’s also versatile, capable of playing in a wider forward role as well as a more conventional striker.

For those out there that might want to cling to some small bit of hope that Tottenham might actually make a push for the player: Morata arguably played his best football alongside Carlos Tevez in Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri’s reactive style of play last season. The skillset to play alongside a second striker is something few ‘modern’ center forwards possess these days – or at least not in quantities that Morata has – and were he to come to Spurs it’s conceivable that Pochettino would at least be tempted to see how well he’d mesh alongside Kane.

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Implementing a proper, effective two striker system would be no easy task. Allegri only managed it last season with Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal aggressively patrolling nearly half the pitch from their nominal deep midfield rolls. Tottenham might have the personnel to pull off something similar – think Eric Dier flanked on either side by Dele Alli and Mousa Dembélé with Christian Eriksen forward on a playmaking role behind the two strikers – but as of right now that’s pure fantasy.

A tempting fantasy, admittedly. Such a shift, were it to happen at all, won’t be implemented midway through a season that’s already going pretty well for Tottenham. Should Morata still be available come summertime, maybe this rumor gains more substance. But for right now there doesn’t seem to be much to it.