In contact: Spurs make first move to sign brilliant little talent, it’s Dragusin 2.0

Another move to strengthen Ange Postecoglou’s defence could be on the cards this month. By the time the January transfer window opened, Tottenham Hotspur knew that failure to add a few key players to strengthen the team could hurt them before the end of the season.

After 21 games, they are tied for fifth place in the Premier League with Arsenal (fourth), though Arsenal has a game in hand. Ange Postecoglou should be praised for the work he has done in north London since he took over in the summer.

With Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin adding depth to the front line and central defence, respectively, there is hope that Spurs can get back to playing their best and stay in the top four. They are also still in the FA Cup, having beat Burnley earlier this month to move on to the fourth round.

Since Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma will be at the African Cup of Nations for the next month or so, the team has been looking for a new player this month. While they are away, Postecoglou seems to be getting ready to make a move for another centre back.

At the beginning of the month, it was said that Tottenham was focusing on a deal for OGC Nice back Jean-Clair Todibo. However, that deal quickly fell through because the talks seemed to take a long time, and the attention turned to Dragusin.

Spurs quickly agreed to a deal and announced last week that they had signed the 21-year-old Romanian star for around £27m. Another player is set to be transferred, even though Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero both got back to full health last time out.

Indeed, Italian news source Il Resto Del Carlino (via Sport Witness) says that Tottenham have talked to Bologna about defender Riccardo Calafiori. Calafiori just joined Bologna from FC Basel for €4m (£3m), and Juventus, AC Milan, and Napoli are also said to be interested.

It wouldn’t be easy to make a deal, and a summer move might be more possible if a breakthrough can’t be found soon, but the Lilywhites are really interested.

Riccardo Calafiori profile

Italian Calfiori, who is 21 years old, came up through the youth ranks at AS Roma but didn’t make an impact. He only played 18 times before he was sold to Basel in Switzerland to improve his skills.

Calafiori only stayed with the club for one full season before going back to his home country last year. Since then, he has become an important part of Thiago Motta’s team, starting the last 15 straight Serie A games.

According to Sofascore, he has shown off his impressive skills in those games by completing 90% of his passes, making 1.9 interceptions, 1.5 tackles, and a whopping 6.9 ball recoveries per game, as well as winning 71% of his aerial duels. The 6-foot titan is back with a vengeance after failing to get a spot in his old club.

Antonio Mango, a journalist and U23 scout, called Calafiori a “brilliant little player.” He may only be just starting out in his senior career, but he is already showing that he can deal with problems, bounce back from setbacks, and perform at a level that draws some of Europe’s best teams.

There’s a reason for this: despite his inner doubt, Calafiori has all the skills of a complete modern centre back in the future. According to FBref, over the past year, he was in the top 4% of centre backs in Europe’s top five leagues for creating shots, the top 16% for completing passes, the top 15% for progressive carries, and the top 3% for interceptions per 90.

These numbers show how many tools he has as a professional, and it’s clear that Postecoglou is going after players who play in this way, which is why the Dragusin story ended so quickly.

Why Tottenham should sign Calafiori: Talent scout Jacek Kulig called Dragusin’s style “complete and dominant.” He brings both energy and skill to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The 13-cap Romanian international has had a similar career path to Calafiori so far, having played 62 times for Genoa since leaving Juventus with only four senior games to his name. This is assuming that the Lilywhites are able to sign Calafiori this year.

Both of them failed to get important roles in their famous Italian teams after coming up through the youth ranks, which shows how smart and accurate Postecoglou’s talent sense is once again.

In 19 Serie A games this season, Dragusin only finished 83% of his passes, but he won 67% of his duels, showing how strong and confident he is as a defender both in the air and on the ground.

He also scores more goals than 10% of his positional peers and takes more shots than 9% of them every 90 minutes. This shows that he is a good attacker who will add something new to the Tottenham team.

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