Georges-Kévin N’Koudou Passes Tottenham Medical
Tottenham are closing in on their third summer signing with Marseille winger, Georges-Kévin N’Koudou, completing his medical on Tuesday.
Sky Sports have reported that Georges-Kévin N’Koudou underwent a medical yesterday and passed it ahead of his £10.8 million move to join Tottenham.
What appears to be a signing that has taken everyone completely by surprise, isn’t actually that surprising to begin with. According to Sky Sports, Spurs took notice of the France Under-21 winger while they were monitoring Michy Batshuayi last month.
Related Story: Tottenham Wants to Keep N'Jie and Sign N'Koudou
It’s not uncommon for teams to scout one player but be interested in someone else at the same time. In this case, Tottenham were looking to sign Batshuayi before Olympique Marseille needed to recoup a lot of money that forced the Belgian striker out of their price range.
With Tottenham slowly moving on from the 22-year-old center-forward, and news picking up on Vincent Janssen’s arrival, it’s possible that Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy kept in contact with the Ligue 1 side this entire time and were looking to sign N’Koudou if a deal was possible.
Which is where we’re at right now. At just £10.8 million, Tottenham’s third signing (once it’s completed and announced) will see Spurs spend nearly £39 million (£38.8 million to be exact) to help bolster their squad by adding some much needed depth at central midfield, striker and now possibly at winger.
The impending arrival of the Frenchman should “technically” see the end of Clinton N’Jie’s tenure with Spurs after joining the north London club last summer in a £12.2 million transfer because they’re both wingers.
Although what they do is actually different. The Cameroon international is known more as an inverted winger who can double down as an inside forward. Strictly speaking, N’Jie is more flexible position-wise and can line up in different spots on Pochettino’s starting XI.
He’s spent some time being Harry Kane’s understudy and even lined up as the lone striker during the Europa League last year.
Because N’Jie missed a considerable amount of time this past season due to a MCL injury (damaged ligaments), it’s confusing as to why a club would decide to move on from a player who is still 22-years-old and can work in tandem with N’Koudou.
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Speaking of the France Under-21 international, he is an out-and-out winger.
An Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend-type of player who’s main purpose is to take-on defenders and stretch the defense with blistering pace and reach the end line before sending in a cross at the last second towards the penalty box.
There was no one who could do this well at the winger position (or if they even tried it). Instead, it was left up to the full-backs: Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies. And at times it worked, other times it didn’t.
So despite having two players who could offer some width to Tottenham’s offense, in Lennon and Townsend, apparently they weren’t good fits for Mauricio Pochettino.
Perhaps it wasn’t necessarily their offensive abilities, but maybe how they responded to defending — especially high-pressing their opponents.
Georges-Kévin N’Koudou who worked under Marcelo Biesla, the former Marseille manager and Mauricio Pochettino’s inspiration when the 44-year-old became a coach himself, already fits into his system.
The Argentine manager asks that his players continually press the opposition to get the ball back which will start up a counterattack. Because this is something that N’Koudou does, why not sign a winger who can help out on both offense and defense?
The only learning curve for the French Under-21 international is to adapt to the physical style of the Premier League and Mauricio Pochettino’s two-a-day training sessions.
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Now even though N’Koudou passed his medical yesterday, due to formalities with new signings, the 21-year-old won’t be officially announced for a couple of days.
It’s unknown why these things tend to happen, and why it takes a bit long, but maybe it has to do with N’Koudou and Tottenham finalizing personal terms on a four-year deal. Seeing as how negotiations always take forever.
Whatever it is, usually when a player passes a medical, unless something drastic happens, it’s almost a done deal even if nothing has been announced just yet.