Tottenham Hotspur suffered a defeat at the hands of Watford last weekend and the manner of the defeat once again raised a few questions that the manager and the fans will be familiar with. The team took the lead but failed to deal with a Watford onslaught late in the game.
I get the feeling that every time Spurs have a negative result this season, the lack of mental toughness to close out games and the fact that they didn’t sign anyone in the summer will inevitably be brought up this season.
Reports from Corriere dello Sport, via Calcio Mercato, reveal that Tottenham were interested in signing Napoli defensive midfielder Amadou Diawara and were even willing to pay a fee of €40 million. The Italian side had lost key midfielder Jorginho and Diawara could have followed the Italian to the Premier League as well.
Diawara could have made a big impact
Mauricio Pochettino’s side tend to start slowly in the league before putting the foot down in the final few months. Before last weekend’s defeat to Watford, however, Spurs managed to pick up three wins from three games despite not signing anyone in the market.
Diawara is still only 21 and has been developing pretty well in the Serie A. He moved to Napoli in the summer of 2015 but because of the presence of established starts at the club, he has had to wait for his chances.
The upcoming season is where he could show why he is a potential star in the making. Diawara has already started one game and made two substitute appearances in the Serie A so far.
Diawara is an all-action midfielder and is pretty similar to Mousa Dembele in terms of his style of play. It’s hard to knock the midfielder off the ball and like Dembele, he’s pretty impressive on the ball and can dribble his way out of a tight situation.
Dembele is a pretty disciplined midfielder and doesn’t get forward that often, which isn’t the case with Diawara. When he gets the chance, Diawara doesn’t shy away from making those slalom runs using his drive and Spurs could have done with that this season.
In games like the one against Watford, the North Londoners needed a bit more steel at the back. An authoritative presence like Diawara could also have taken the pressure off the team with his distribution.
