Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte wants an upgrade to the right wing-back role and he’s demanded one name in particular, according to reports…
What’s the word?
Italian newspaper Tuttosport (via Sport Witness), the 52-year-old is pushing to sign defender Wilfried Singo from Torino this summer but the Serie A outfit are holding out for more money despite two approaches from sporting director Fabio Paratici, the latest of which was in the region of €25m (£21.5m).
Torino president Urban Cairo is thought to have ruled out any potential sale this off-season but you’d imagine they would be tempted if a viable offer came in.
CIES Football Observatory, who assess the transfer value of professional footballers on a scientific basis, currently value him at €30m (£25m).
Emerson upgrade
Capped twice by the Ivory Coast, Singo would be something of a major upgrade to Conte’s right wing-back position, where he has summer signing Emerson Royal and the injured Matt Doherty.
The 21-year-old has been in immense form for Il Toro this campaign, having registered three goals and four assists, via Transfermarkt. Such performances have seen him rated amongst Ivan Jurić’s top five performers in Serie A.
Emerson has only offered up two direct contributions all season, by comparison.
Would Singo be an upgrade on Emerson?
Singo has offered just as much defensively as he has done in the final third, also averaging 1.6 tackles and 1.2 dribbles per game, the second-highest in Torino’s squad for both metrics, via WhoScored.
It’s no wonder CBS Sports journalist Matteo Bonetti dubbed him a “revelation” back in January 2021.
Conte was eager to sign Adama Traore for the very same role in January as he simply does not trust the Brazilian to execute the job expected of him and that’s easy to see why considering ex-Lilywhites defender Jonathan Woodgate dubbed him “horrendous”.
It’s Singo’s attacking exploits which make him more appealing, though. He accounts for 14.6% of Torino’s penalty box entries this season, and that also sees him sit amongst the top 12% of his positional peers across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, as per FBRef.
Evidently, he is solid enough at the back and can cause plenty of trouble in the opposition’s third, making him an obvious target for Conte, who is longing for someone in this mould.
The Torino wing-back is a far greater talent than Emerson, so the Spurs hierarchy needs to pay whatever they can to seal him this off-season.
AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops Pau Torres-Spurs transfer update…
