Why are Spurs being linked with Mehmet Topal?

A rumor began to build up steam on Wednesday linking Spurs with a move for Fenerbahçe’s Mehmet Topal. Let’s flesh this out.

First, the basics. Topal is a 30-year-old Turkish defensive midfielder who, prior to playing for Fenerbahçe, also plied his trade with Valencia in La Liga and Fenerbahçe rivals Galatasaray. With his contract at Fenerbahçe running out in the summer, he will be available on a free Bosman transfer for any club that might want him.

According to multiple sources, Spurs are well past interested and might have already signed the player to a contract.

All of which sounds made up at first glance. Why would Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs – a club that has consciously built itself around youth and Premier League experience – raise their eyebrows at the fact that Topal is available on the open market, much less make him their first move of the summer transfer window?

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Assuming for a moment that this rumor is true, there is some logic in a Spurs and Topal coupling. While youth and Premier League experience are both pillars of the current transfer policy of the club, they are balanced out in equal measure by another emphasis: frugality. Spurs are, after all, the only Premier League club to actually turn a profit from player transfers over the last five seasons, so getting a veteran player (albeit not one from the Premier League) for nothing but his salary makes this move, above all else, practical.

Should he arrive at the club, Topal would fill a hole that’s been left gaping all season. While Eric Dier proved himself to be an absolute tank at the base of midfield, there hasn’t been a clear plan in place in regard to what would happen if the 22-year-old were forced to miss a run of matches.

Yes, Mousa Dembélé and Nabil Bentaleb have come in to fill that role a couple of times this season, but those were never going to be long term solutions. Dembélé’s considerable ability is best utilized elsewhere on the pitch, and Bentaleb looks like a shadow of the promising youngster who first appeared for Spurs two seasons ago. It would only make sense, given those limitations, for Spurs to look for defensive midfield cover for Dier.

Prior rumors linking the club with the likes of Victor Wanyama, Cheikhou Kouyaté or any number of German midfielders all always felt unlikely. The transfer fees involved were exceedingly high and the players themselves would expect to get substaintial minutes were they to make the move. With Dier is such fine form, there just didn’t seem to be any reason to spend big money on a player who might be bitter to be sitting on the bench.

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Topal, then, represents something of compromise. He would presumably be the oldest player on the matchday squad, yes, and has spent the bulk of his career in the relatively low quality Turkish league, but he’s a Champions League veteran with experience in adapting to different teams’ systems. There’s a good chance that, at this stage of his career, he won’t make too much of a stink if he’s kept on the bench.

So, no, this wouldn’t exactly be a coup for Spurs. They aren’t yet making moves for the next Dele Alli. What they are doing, though, is fortifying their ranks in anticipation for the rigors of the Champions League and another run at the Premier League title.