Tottenham Hotspur have been ravaged by injuries this season to an extent that nobody could perform for - and that could doom them to relegation to the EFL Championship - but there are also areas of the squad in which they could use more depth. One of those is the right back position, where Pedro Porro has been run into the ground and Djed Spence has proven to be far from the ideal option behind him.
Spurs need to sign a player who is good enough not only to back Porro up, but they also need to sign someone young with upside who can progress the ball forward, not embarrass themselves defensively, and have the quality to both actually rotate with the Spanish internatioanl and even compete with him for starts.
Enter another underrated Serie A game who could follow in the foot steps of Destiny Udogie, albeit hopefully less prone to injury, in Marco Palestra. The 21 year old Italian international has been a revelation for Cagliari this season, thriving in that wing back role that has become so important to the islanders.
Marco Palestra is one to watch
Although Porro is also a wing back and Spurs maybe want to diverge from that profile, Palestra's also been better than his more well known counterpart. He is averaging an insane 5.3 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game as one of the elite wide progressors in European football despite his lack of name recognition, and he is winning 1.5 tackles per game with 0.5 dribbles completed allowd per match, which is a good ratio for a wing back.
While Marco Palestra is outplaying Pedro Porro this season, it is hard to say that he is a better player in a vacuum. But he is also a few years younger and doesn't have to be as good as Porro. He just has to be a strong enough alternative that if Tottenham Hotspur were to sign him, they would be getting someone who can legitimately spell the overworked starter and eventually displace him.
The one issue is that Palestra may not be as cheap as most Cagliari players. See, he is on loan from Atalanta, and La Dea have designs on him, given how much more they love wing backs, finding the ideal place to groom one in Cagliari. But Atalanta are a Champions League club and the sort of developmental Serie A side Tottenham, under Roberto De Zerbi, should be recruiting from. And Palestra, moreso than other players like the less exciting left back Andrew Robertson, may be willing to give it a go in the EFL Championship before coming up to the big time in England. He is a name to watch.
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