Tottenham Have Better Options Than Vázquez

With a busy summer transfer window ahead of them, Tottenham should focus their attention on targets beyond Palermo’s Franco Vázquez.

Alex Balano reported yesterday that Tottenham were supposedly in talks to bring the Argentina-born Italy international to English shores, all for the low, low price of approximately £20 million.

Now, as Alex already cited in his piece, there are plenty of holes in this rumor, not least of which is the possibility that Tottenham might already be negotiating personal terms with Dutch striker Vincent Janssen. Add to that that Vázquez is 27-years-old — elderly by Mauricio Pochettino’s standards — and this is news that seems unlikely to progress beyond mere rumor.

Digging deeper into Vázquez’s career and numbers only makes a move to north London seem even more improbable, despite the fact that the player is frequently cited as one of the top transfer targets for bigger clubs this summer.

Before we get into anything material with Vázquez, it’s hard to ignore that the source of this rumor is none other than Palermo owner Maurizio Zamparini. Beyond being famously impatient with his managers, Zamparini also has a way of winding up other clubs possibly interested in his players. Over the years he’s seen and sold some serious talent for serious money, including Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani and Javier Pastore as well as Juventus’ Paolo Dybala.

He’s also been responsible for overselling relative duds, the most recent example being Hull City’s Abel Hernández. Based on what we can tell from his time in Serie A, Vázquez might be closer to Hernández than Dybala.

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It’s not that Vázquez is a bad player — far from it. After Dybala’s departure last season, he was easily Palermo’s best player. The club’s various managers this season understandably built their teams around Vázquez abilities, usually fielding him in the second striker or center forward position.

Now, of course, Palermo came within one point of being relegated from Italy’s top flight last season, and even with the club’s efforts focused around him Vázquez still only managed eight goals and seven assists this past season. He’s managed 22 of both in 109 appearances for Palermo in all competitions since he joined the first team in 2012.

As any Tottenham fan can tell you, goals and assists aren’t a measure of a player’s full worth. Érik Lamela and Mousa Dembélé are far from prolific, but it’s difficult to argue that they are not influential forces at the club. Vázquez’s strong defensive ethic and playmaking ability would make him valuable to any club he joins even if he’s not putting up traditional metrics for attackers.

The question, then, becomes simple: does Tottenham really need another hard-working, two-way attacking midfielder? Lamela and Dembélé are joined on the club’s roster by Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son, Josh Onomah and Ryan Mason (assuming the latter stays at the club beyong this summer). Adding Vázquez wouldn’t hurt matters, but it’s hard to say convincingly that he would deserve whatever minutes he gets over anyone else currently in the side.

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Moreover, that £20 million is much better spent on younger, more prolific players Tottenham actually needs if they are going to compete in both the Premier League and Champions League next season. If, say, that money would be put toward Tottenham target Michy Batshuayi, it’s easy to see it paying off in a much bigger way.

If the negotiating powers that be at Tottenham can work down Vázquez’ price, or if Mason and possibly others are sold on this summer, then perhaps it’s more conceivable that Palermo’s number 20 makes a move this summer. For the time being, however, it’s safe to label this rumor as unlikely.