Tottenham should ditch Barkley for Inter midfielder

The murkier corners of the internet’s rumor mill spat out a curious tidbit this weekend: Tottenham is evidently trailing Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia.

It’s one of those stories that could very well have simply snowballed from a simple, misguided tweet, and then eventually gets re-printed everywhere. And yet it’s difficult to say that Tottenham shouldn’t make this become a reality.

Spurs’ transfer window threatens to be consumed entirely by Ross Barkley. The young Everton midfielder only has one year left on his contract and wants away from Merseyside. Mauricio Pochettino reportedly is keen on a move, though it appears unlikely to happen for the amount Everton want for him.

We here at HotspurHQ are no fans of any move for Barkely, as we have made plain before. The 23-year-old appears streaky and doesn’t fill any of the voids in the first team that Tottenham need filled.

More from Tottenham Transfer Rumours

Which, on the surface, should serve as convenient arguments against a player like Kondogbia as well. The Frenchman is a very different player to Barkley — he’s more defensive, featuring in a deeper role than Barkley’s preferred attacking position — but he would not bring anything new to Spurs.

He is an aggressive, mobile presence off the ball, and is technically proficient when in possession. In essence, Kondogbia is a cross between current Spurs starters Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembélé.

The difference here though is in quality. Perhaps Barkley is worth £35 million in today’s inflated market, but he’s never been truly great. Whereever he ends up, he will be merely an above average option, which might be enough for a game with slim margins.

There was a time not too long ago though where Kondogbia’s name was said in the same breath as Paul Pogba — much to the player’s chagrin. They are both the kinds of players that teams at any level can use as a fulcrum as they simultaneously create and destroy from the center of the park.

Spurs continue to rely on Dembélé to fill this role for them. The Belgian leans heavily on the support of either Wanyama or Eric Dier beside him, but he is the dynamo in Spurs’ engine. Without his canny pressing, movement and skill with the ball at this feet, Pochettino’s game plan might not have fully taken root in north London.

Dembélé is aging though, and it is clear that Pochettino needs to find his replacement soon. Harry Winks is being tailored to do just that, but Spurs might understandably think twice if Kondogbia is available.

Still, even if the rumors of Kondogbia filing a transfer request are true, he would not come cheap. Inter have the former Monaco man under contract until 2020, and they will heartily encourage a biding war if Liverpool or another Premier League club competes with Spurs for the signing.

Next: Tottenham win won't slow down transfer speculation

Spurs would do well, though, to drop their interest in Barkley and turn those resources toward Kondogbia if, of course, any of these whispers are at all based on fact.