Tottenham Hotspur admire Marc Guehi…
What’s the word?
That’s according to Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas, who revealed that the Crystal Palace defender is highly thought of at Spurs and could be a potential replacement should Japhet Tanganga leave this summer transfer window.
He told the ‘Last Word On Spurs’ YouTube channel:
“One they really like, at Crystal Palace, is Marc Guehi but he is fundamental to Palace.
“They love him there. He plays every week there. Is he going to play every week if he comes in at Tottenham? He’s not going to play ahead of [Cristian] Romero or [Eric] Dier or [Ben] Davies/[Clement] Lenglet.”
Do you want Guehi at Spurs?
Dier-like gem
If Taganga does depart Hotspur Way before the deadline next week, then it would make sense to target a homegrown talent to replace his void, having come through the academy system in N17.
Guehi was raised through the famed Chelsea youth system and has gone on to be a solid option for the Eagles under Patrick Vieira.
Last season, for example, he was their third-best performer per WhoScored ratings of all players to start 20 or more matches. It’s with the ball at his feet where he most excelled, leading the squad for average passing accuracy (87.4%).
That would, therefore, make him an ideal fit to one day take the reins from Spurs’ pass-master at the back, Eric Dier, who averaged an accuracy rate of 88.1% in 2021/22, which saw him rank as the top defender in Antonio Conte’s squad for this metric.
Dier, who was once dubbed a “beast” by his teammate Harry Kane in the past, has emerged as an unsung hero under the Italian but it’s clear that no other defender can live up to the £92k-per-week star’s ball-playing abilities.
He may still only be 28, some way off a respectable ‘prime’ age for a central defender but he has very little backup or even a true alternative, particularly if Tanganga were to depart.
Guehi, lauded as an “absolute tank” and “massive” by his former England U21 teammate Josef Bursik, could be that final piece of the puzzle for sporting director Fabio Paratici.
The Italian supremo is running out of time, though, and the Palace sensation will not come cheap. CIES Football Observatory value him at an eye-watering €70m (£59m), having cost just £18m last summer.
A move before this summer’s deadline would be huge for the club, albeit unlikely. But Guehi is a player that Spurs should continue to monitor in the coming months as they look to bolster Conte’s backline with even more talent.
AND in other news, Paratici could secure Conte his next Vidal in Spurs swoop for “complete” £50m machine…
