the Athletic - Spurs' LCB Shortlist

Lads

The Athletic published a story today about our summer plans for the LCB position, revealing a four man shortlist. Thought I would copy and paste the interesting sections, for anyone interested. Also provided the fbref pages for the four players, for anyone interested in seeing the numbers. Preprare for a longer piece

"Fabio Paratici is trying to build a better team for Antonio Conte next season, and they have decided on this summer’s priority: a left-sided centre-back. Davies has performed incredibly well, but this summer Tottenham want more competition in that position and are ready to pay for it."

JOŠKO GVARDIOL [RB LEIPZIG] - 20

https://fbref.com/en/players/5ad50391/Josko-Gvardiol

"Last summer, Gvardiol broke into the Croatia senior team, starting all four games at the European Championship for Zlatko Dalic’s team. He played left-back in those games but is just as happy playing on the left of a three, the role he has been playing for Leipzig this season, and the role Tottenham have targeted him for. "

"Even though this is just his first season in the Bundesliga, he has become an integral part of the team. Gvardiol has played 2,107 minutes so far — only Christopher Nkunku and Peter Gulacsi have played more."

"Spurs want to spend big on this position - as much as they spent on Romero - but Gvardiol would be much more expensive than that. "He is extremely highly rated at Leipzig, so much so that if Tottenham wanted him they would likely have to pay a club-record fee to sign him."

"On the pitch, what stands out most about Gvardiol is how comfortable he is on the ball. he loves to bring the ball out of defence. When it comes to defending, Gvardiol looks to be well-trained in the aggressive Leipzig way. He is always active in getting tight to his man. If he has a weakness it is that he struggles in aerial duels."

ALESSANDRO BASTONI [INTER MILAN] - 23

https://fbref.com/en/players/75b86fb3/Alessandro-Bastoni

"Bastoni, like Gvardiol, is a defender who shines in his use of the ball from the back. Like Gvardiol, when watching Bastoni it is obvious how active he is in his defensive approach — but he is not especially dominant in the air."

"Inter would be reluctant to sell Bastoni but they are not awash with money, and they may even need to sacrifice him this summer if an offer of at least £50 million came in."

SVEN BOTMAN [LILLE] - 22

https://fbref.com/en/players/ccce7025/Sven-Botman

"Botman is seemingly less aggressive in his defensive actions than Gvardiol and Bastoni. With this, his volume of defensive actions (eg, tackles, blocks, clearances) is much lower. This does not mean Botman is worse defensively, it just suggests his approach is less interventionist. Although Gvardiol and Bastoni stand out for their use of the ball, but are not so towering in the air, Botman is a more physically-imposing centre-back who is stronger in the air than those two."

"Another difference between Botman and the first two options is that Botman is more of a conventional centre-back in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, which is where he played for Lille as they won the Ligue 1 title last season. He does not have the same week-in-week-out experience of playing on the left of a three that Gvardiol and Bastoni have."

"AC Milan are big admirers of Botman too and have already made progress in discussing personal terms with him. Milan are at the front of the queue for Botman so that one looking least likely at this stage."

NICO SCHLOTTERBECK [FREIBURG] - 22

https://fbref.com/en/players/34e12499/Nico-Schlotterbeck

"He has forced his way into Hansi Flick’s Germany team, starting both of their March friendlies, putting him in line to play at the World Cup this November."

"Schlotterbeck is stylistically more similar to Gvardiol and Bastoni, an aggressive front-foot defender who would naturally fit with how Conte wants to play."

"His carry and dribble volume is the highest of the four in this particular area, and shows how much he looks to bring the ball out from the back. While Gvardiol and Bastoni may not be so dominant in the air, Schlotterbeck — who is 6ft 3in — is the best of the four in aerial duels. This reflects his strength from set pieces, having scored four goals already for Freiburg this season."

"At Freiburg, Schlotterbeck has had to play in a back three and a back four, meaning he should be able to slot into the Tottenham system next year."

"But the issue is that Paratici is not the only one to have noticed how good he is. There is interest in him too from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund."