Tottenham Eyeing S.C. Braga’s Rafa Silva
Adding some more midfield depth would be beneficial for Tottenham otherwise Mauricio Pochettino would be looking at a thin group, before counting on his academy graduates to help out.
With 11 days left before Tottenham’s season opener on August 13, Mauricio Pochettino’s squad has only added two players, Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen.
It should be noted that both Wanyama and Janssen are key acquisitions that will be counted upon early and often throughout the 2016-17 campaign to help Spurs challenge for the Premier League title again, hopefully advance into the knockout stage of the Champions League and finish in the top four for the second consecutive year.
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But, if Tottenham wants to compete in all four fronts: Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, their current squad plus two signings, might not be enough.
At most, Pochettino and Daniel Levy must secure two to three more signings.
Because Mauricio Pochettino feels confident with the players at his disposal in central defense (Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, Kevin Wimmer, Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Dominic Ball) he has removed the possibility of adding more to this stacked group.
Over at midfield, specifically attacking midfield, it’s a different story.
From the London Evening Standard’s article yesterday, Tottenham have been eyeing S.C. Braga midfielder, Rafa Silva, since last season where he helped his club win the Portuguese Cup before helping Portugal win the European Championship last month.
According to Standard Sport writers, Goncalo Lopes and Jonathan Johnson, they believe that Silva would cost around £10 million for any club interested in his services.
At the moment, Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Porto, have shown interest, but the 23-year-old prefers a switch to England instead.
When adding the two together — Tottenham needs midfield help, and Rafa Silva would like to play in England — there’s a reason why Spurs are listed as a potential suitor.
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With only three central attacking midfielders on the squad: Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Son Heung-Min, before you add in Érik Lamela as a possible option and any academy graduates, the number 10 spot is quite thin.
If Spurs are as interested in Rafa Silva as it seems they are, then £10 million would be a decent amount to pay the Portuguese side. And, by agreeing to sell Alex Pritchard for £8 million to Brighton & Hove Albion, a deal looks even more plausible.
Although Marcus Edwards signed a two-year deal earlier today, entrusting him and Josh Onomah with backup duty behind Son Heung-Min is a lot to ask for with the amount of expectations that Tottenham will be facing this season.
They could get the job done sure, but bringing them up slowly would be a wise decision.
This is why it would be beneficial for Spurs to add a couple more players before having to just simply rely on youth players to help Tottenham out.
At 23-years-old, Rafa Silva, who could also play as a winger on both sides (mainly on the left wing according to his Transfermarkt profile page), had a very solid season last year with 50 appearances, 12 goals and eight assists in all competitions.
The year before (his second season with Braga), Silva appeared in 43 games, scored five goals and had six assists in all competitions. His debut campaign back in the 2013-14 season saw a then-21-year-old finish the year off with 31 appearances, eight goals and three assists.
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In total, Rafa Silva has appeared in over 30-plus games for four consecutive seasons (including a one-year spell with C.D. Feirense before transferring to Braga). In that time frame, the Portuguese international has managed to score at least five-plus goals and add three-plus assists every single year.
Therefore, if Tottenham is able to sign the 23-year-old, for only £10 million, you could pencil in a player who can at least make 30 appearances, score five goals and tack on three assists yearly.
This would be a very solid signing if you look at him as Alex Pritchard’s (and Nacer Chadli’s) replacement and a logical rotational player behind Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min and Christian Eriksen.