Mahrez Might Not Be the Upgrade Spurs Need
By Ryan Wrenn
As Spurs’ season winds down, the transfer rumors get more speculative and titillating, with Riyad Mahrez as their latest subject.
Both the Guardian and Daily Mirror report on Thursday that Spurs have joined the running for Leicester City’s star winger in hopes of acquiring his signature during this summer’s transfer window.
It’s not hard to see why Spurs – and everyone else – might be intrigued by the prospect of recruiting the 25-year-old. His promising run through Leicester’s first year back in the Premier League last term turned into an outright blossoming this season. In 31 matches this season, Mahrez has scored 16 goals and set up 11 others – making him one of the most crucial components of Leicester’s shock title run. When he’s not scoring or setting up goals, he’s an endless menace on the wing and through the middle. His presence alone reshapes opposition defenses and often breaks them outright.
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Together with Jamie Vardy, Leicester have the most potent offensive duo this side of Harry Kane and Dele Alli. That’s no idle comparison, either. Though the two teams play in meaningfully different styles – Spurs play a sophisticated pressing game compared to Leicester’s more distilled reactive one – the pivot around which both club turn is high up the pitch, embodied in the creative vortexes of Alli amd Mahrez and the lethality of Kane and Vardy. The relationship of Leicester’s duo might be more robust than Spurs’ pair, with Mahrez and Vardy combining for 64% of Leicester’s goals this season while Alli and Kane have combined for a “mere” 51% of Spurs’.
It’s clear that both of these pairs of players are crucial components of each clubs’ success this season. It’s borderline absurd to think that Leicester City would be willing to part with either component of such a marvelous weapon, any more than Spurs would be willing to part with either Alli or Kane. Especially if they manage a most improbable Premier League title, Leicester have close to zero reason to part ways with a player like Mahrez.
Stranger things have happened, of course. Perhaps the lure of millions would be enough to provoke Leicester’s powers-that-be into selling high. Their success in recruiting on the cheap over the last two or three seasons has been considerable, and perhaps they are of the belief that another Mahrez is just a phone call away.
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This isn’t a Leicester City blog though, so let’s focus on Spurs. Assuming such a deal were possible, how would Spurs benefit from the presence of Mahrez?
It’s too easy to say that it would be a boon. It would, of course, but that’s not the entire story. Bringing a player in would mean sacrificing a current starter, and at this juncture that player would most likely be Érik Lamela. While Mahrez is clearly the more productive player and would almost without doubt score at a more remarkable rate than the Argentine, one gets the impression that a lot would be lost by removing Lamela from this Spurs side.
Lamela’s place at the right side of attacking midfield is atypical but crucial. It’s about controlling the rhythm of play high up the pitch, about retrieving the ball when it’s lost in the attack and about keeping the ball funneled toward the middle for the likes of Alli and Kane to work their magic. Lamela does all of these things better than arguably better than anyone at Spurs with the possible exception of Mousa Dembélé. Removing him from the equation might seem like it would add more goals to Spurs’ game, but that’s no guarantee. It’s tricky to quantify Lamela’s efforts, which makes it difficult to see how much he actually contributes to Spurs’ potency without actually scoring all that often.
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Mahrez and what he brings is all fine and good for a team like Leicester who relies on an attack that needs range and pace. Spurs, however, need more control from any players they bring in this summer. The hypothetical arrival of Mahrez would upset the vital balance in Spurs’ attack, leaving Mauricio Pochettino with a sword that’s more blade than hilt.