What Tottenham Hotspur should do in the coming January transfer window

VERONA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 08:Fabio Paratici of Juventus looks on during the Serie A match between Hellas Verona and Juventus at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on February 8, 2020 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
VERONA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 08:Fabio Paratici of Juventus looks on during the Serie A match between Hellas Verona and Juventus at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on February 8, 2020 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) /
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Tottenham Hotspur's Dutch midfielder Steven Bergwijn celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the English League Cup quarter-final football match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on December 22, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
Tottenham Hotspur’s Dutch midfielder Steven Bergwijn celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the English League Cup quarter-final football match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on December 22, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images) /

Tottenham has attacking needs

There are really two needs for Tottenham Hotspur as it comes to the offense. One is obvious, a back-up for Harry Kane – although Steven Bergwijn may be it. The other of course is a creative attacking midfielder to help fill the void left when Christian Eriksen went to Italy.

These are two needs Spurs have had for some time now and despite efforts to bring in players, things have not materialized within the squad.

It is sincerely possible that Bergwijn could be the understudy Spurs lack for Kane, and he displayed some excellent in-the-box skills against West Ham. However, Bergwijn has yet to feature in place of Harry Kane, making it a bit difficult to envision him truly leading the line.

If Bergwijn can do the job the creative midfielder may be more important anyway, as it is unlikely Spurs will sign both – although the signing of Dušan Vlahović and Franck Kessié would make for the greatest window ever. Even signing either would make for a great window as the need is obvious and real, but to bring one or two in, someone must leave.

Spurs need to move at least one if not two of these three

To bring in more attacking players at this point, Tottenham must sell some attacking players. While the squad is not deep much of that is due to injuries and poor fit between player and task. Given the double need of a striker and a creative player, Spurs need to move one or even two of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, and Dele Alli.

At this point all three players play the same role in Conte’s system, serving as a creative and attacking outlet in front of a deeper-lying midfielder. We have seen Ndombele start to show signs of having an eye for the forward pass in this role and have seen Dele making the runs and getting in the places he needs to be – just not finishing. With Lo Celso, we just have not seen him at all as he recovers from injury.

Who among the three is still at the club at the end of the window and who could be sold – or loaned in the case of Dele – it will be interesting but expect at least one if not two will be gone?

So those are a few of the needs as we see them, a striker, a creative attacking midfielder, depth at both wingback slots, and another left-sided defender. What do you all think, what will Tottenham address if anything in the coming January market and who might Spurs look to sign?

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