The Rumor That Will Not Die: Isco to Tottenham?

It began over the summer, never rose to anything more than a rumor and seemed snubbed out by the player himself. And yet Tottenham are now being linked with Real Madrid’s Isco once again.

Marca was the latest to report that the powers that be at Tottenham are smitten on Real’s 24-year-old midfielder. A bid for the Spaniard could come as soon as the January transfer window, or so the rumor goes.

Unlike some transfer rumors out there, this one passes the smell test.

This is a midfielder who is frustrated enough with his current club to force a move, perhaps for less than his actual value. It helps also that his contract with Real expires in 2018.

What’s more, his style of play would fall right in line with what Mauricio Pochettino wants in a player. Nominally an attacking midfielder, he’s really a mix of several players in one. For Real and Malaga he’s played central midfield, on the wing, in the hole behind a center forward and even occasionally at striker.

For a manager like Pochettino who appears increasingly willing to experiment with different formations and gameplans from match to match, such versatility is a tremendous asset.

And, of course, Isco’s outrageously talented. Even if managers at Real haven’t often found a recurring role for the player in their startings XIs, when Isco has played he’s done exceptionally well. Just take a gander at this highlight real from the 2014/15 season, when Isco was just 22 years old.

That was without a doubt his most successful reason with Real Madrid. Including La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey matches, Isco made 49 appearances, scoring five goals and setting up 13 assists.

Scorelines aren’t his specialty clearly. He’s less the bullet than the cylinder spinning around the center of the revolver. It’s the shot that’s remembered, but none of it would happen without that central mechanism.

In sum, if Tottenham are aggressively looking for a long-term replacement for the 29-year-old Mousa Dembélé, then they could do far, far worse than Isco.

So it’s not a question if the player is good (he is) or if he would fit at Tottenham (he would) but rather: why Tottenham?

There are two areas that Pochettino and Tottenham as a whole will struggle to overcome if they want to tempt Isco to north London.

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The first is familiar. Tottenham’s prestige is certainly on the rise, but it remains far from elite. If the rumors are to be believed, Tottenham will be competing for Isco’s signature with the likes of Juventus and Manchester United.

Sure, Tottenham can finally offer Champions League football. Can they offer a chance to play alongside Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic like United can? Can they offer reasonable assurances that trophies are in the near future like Juventus can?

Perhaps most importantly: can they offer the same wages those clubs would offer? With Tottenham in the process of giving raises to virtually its entire first team, are they really prepared to being in Isco and his Real Madrid salary in the midst of all that?

Secondly, what promises will have to be made to bring Isco to Tottenham? If his beef with his current employer centers around lack of playing time, what more can Pochettino realistically offer him?

Perhaps, as we speculated, the Dembélé role is Isco’s in the long run. How long will he be willing to wait for Dembélé to finally run down? Seeing as how the Belgian only just hit his peak form last season, he could still yet still have years left in his legs.

Dropping Christian Eriksen or Dele Alli — Isco’s other two realistic competitors in the squad — seems like a nonstarter at this juncture as well.

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Perhaps Daniel Levy plans on moving on from Dembélé or Eriksen next summer and wants to shore up a replacement now. That’s unlikely but not impossible.

More likely, though, is that this whole Isco business remains nothing more than a rumor. Without doubt the midfielder deserves to be playing regularly somewhere. It’s as doubtful as ever that that place will be Tottenham however.