With the transfer window not far away, teams have probably composed their list of targets to go on a spending spree in a few months. Tottenham Hotspur are likely to be quite involved despite having a pretty good squad. They are rumoured to be interested in Schalke attacker Max Meyer.
Schalke apparently wanted to keep hold of the prized asset but reports have suggested that the 21-year-old hasn’t had contract extension talks with only less than one year remaining on the current deal. Bild also reported that after the contract talks broke down, the club is willing to let go of their playmaker.
Tottenham were said to desperately want this youngster last summer but Schalke weren’t ready to budge from their €45million valuation of their player while Spurs valued him at around £30 million. With less than a year left on his contract, he is said to be available for a cut-price fee of around €20million as the German side are more than happy to cash in on their product. But is the German actually worth the hype?
After having a wonderful record last season Max Meyer has suffered a terrible decline in form. In the current season he has fallen down the pecking order and hasn’t progressed even after being lauded by Jürgen Klinsmann last year to captain any national side in the future. With formational changes made by Schalke’s new manager, Meyer hasn’t been deployed in his preferred position and has been forced to play in different positions which haven’t really suited him.
In addition, many believe that his growth has stagnated and he hasn’t been able to hit the height of the expectations of the fans and those around the club. He has found his game-time quite limited this season having played 90 minutes in 4 of the last 14 games. Also, he has only 1 assist and 1 goal to his name this season which suggests and underlines another major weakness of him which is his finishing. A major drawback of having him in your team is that he often goes missing.
It would normally be a no-brainer to buy a player whose prize has substantially gone down because of the contract situation and lack of decent performances when you have someone as good as Mauricio Pochettino who can bring the player’s development back on track. But it’s also quite understandable if Tottenham perhaps cool their interest.
The main question for Tottenham is should they be willing to shell out an enormous amount given they already have Christian Eriksen and even Harry Winks who is more than capable of deputising for the Dane.
With the new stadium coming up, Tottenham should see to it that they spend money wisely and when the aforementioned position seems to be sufficiently covered, they must invest in other departments which needs their immediate attention.
