Tottenham: Pereira and Eze should be Spurs transfer targets
By Aaron Coe
While no links to Tottenham Hotspur exist, Matheus Pereira and Eberechi Eze were two of the top attacking midfield performers in the Championship last season and are priced right for Spurs.
Tottenham Hotspur was lacking something offensively this past season and need some attacking reinforcements. Add to that Spurs are known to look for young players at a lower transfer fee on smaller wages they can develop and eventually move on.
Sometimes that talent can exist in the Championship and Eberechi Eze and Matheus Pereira are two players who each check a lot of the boxes sought in some attacking reinforcements.
Why might these two be a good option for Tottenham Hotspur, and why not?
Matheus Pereira
Matheus Pereira is a 24-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder and wing, who scored eight goals and laid on between 16 to 20 assists (depending on where you look) for West Bromwich Albion this past season.
While one might think that means he is likely on for the promotion journey, Pereira was on loan from Sporting CP in Portugal and is now back with his parent club. While he still has two years left on his contract, he has also been on loan for the last two years, so it seems like some decisions are coming.
Pereira is built in the mold of Lucas Moura, in that he is small, fast, and likes to dribble and shoot. However, he does have a bit more of an eye for the pass than his fellow Brazilian Moura. Effective from either wing, he is particularly adept at playing through balls from the center-attacking midfield position. Pereira’s ability on the ball was good enough to take over games at the Championship level.
Pereira had two different matches where he laid on three assists during the campaign. One of which was a dominating one-goal, three-assist, perfect 10 rating performance in a 5-1 win over Swansea. That performance most highlighted his ability as he won seven Man of the Match awards for West Brom.
As a player who takes more than 2.5 shots, lays on more than 2.5 key passes, and gets fouled more than 2.5 times, per match, Pereira is the kind of all-action attacking player that could help bolster Spurs’ attack and provide depth across the middle of the pitch.
Eberechi Eze
Eberechi Eze is probably a more familiar name to Spurs fans, particularly those on the island, as the 22-year-old London born Nigerian attacker, has played for England at the U-20 and U-21 level. Further featuring for Queens Park Rangers the last two years brings some local attention. Whereas Pereira has a bit more of an eye for that key pass, Eze has a bit more of an eye for the goal in him.
Eze averaged fewer shots per game than Pereira, 2.2 compared to Pereira’s 2.6, but Eze scored six more goals on the campaign as he netted 14 times and assisted a further eight goals for QPR. Eze is a smaller attacker who is most effective out on the left flank and he loves to dribble, averaging three successful dribbles per game in the Championship.
While Eze can seemingly dominate matches at times, winning Man of the Match an impressive 10 times for QPR, he is also very hot and cold, as he had a player rating below seven on 17 different occasions on the season.
Alternatively, Eze had six different occasions on the year where he contributed to at least two goals, either by scoring twice (two times) or scoring and assisting both on four other occasions. Beyond seemingly disappearing in some matches, the other knock on Eze is his lack of defensive desire, which would not go over well with Jose Mourinho, but then again, he is only 22.
Young affordable sssets
Tottenham are known as a team that likes to buy young and sell older, ideally at a profit or at least at above market rate. When it comes to finding young attacking talent, the price can often come at a premium. Last season Spurs spent a club record, 60 million Euros for Tanguy Ndombele and Arsenal spent 80 million Euros on Nicolas Pepe.
Eze has only one-year left on his contract, while Pereira has two, but still, the table is set if Tottenham are interested. According to transfermarkt.com, both Eze and Pereira are currently valued at less than 10 million Euros, making them seem like a steal in comparison to Ndombele or Pepe.
Even affordable compared to the 30 million Euros for Steven Bergwijn. Of course, both Ndombele and Pepe were performing in Ligue 1 the previous season, where huge fees can be demanded, versus the Championship, but that also keeps the price in Tottenham’s realistic range. Bergwijn was playing the Eredivisie, so it is all relative.
What do you think Spurs fans, are either Eberechi Eze or Matheus Pereira worth looking at for about £10 million? Can they help bolster the attack?