Spurs could have the next Van der Vaart in their sights - if they beat Man City to the signing

Although Tottenham Hotspur probably won’t be as active in the transfer window as some of the other teams with Champions League ambitions, there’s no doubt that Ange Postecoglou is looking for more attacking firepower this summer – and one rumour that’s crept around a couple of times sees Spurs linked with a move for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze.

On the one hand, it looks like a strange fit – Spurs spent big money to sign James Maddison as their long-term number ten last year, and while he hasn’t been as productive in terms of goals or assists since returning from injury he’s still created more shooting opportunities per game than any other Premier League player.

But then again, while Eze is a natural number ten, he’s a different type of player than Maddison. Where the former Leicester City man is a playmaker, picking passes and finding half-spaces around the final third, Eze is a more direct kind of threat, typically operating in the channels between the left wing and the number ten region and looking to get into the box. Could both play alongside each other, or one move out to the wing? Perhaps.

Looking back at some of Spurs’ most effective attacking players in recent years, Maddison is more of Luka Modrić – not quite as good, admittedly, but then few are – while Eze is something a little closer to Rafael van der Vaart, a ten who scores more than he provides and who looks to get on the end of the final ball rather than producing it himself. Van de Vaart had a broader passing range than Eze, but Eze is better with the ball at his feet – and remember that Van der Vaart and Modrić played quite happily alongside each other for two years. There is a precedent.

It certainly wouldn’t be a major shock if Eze moved on from Selhurst Park this summer. He will have two years left on his current contract, and Palace will either need to tie him down to a new deal or move him on to avoid losing him for a knock-down fee in the future. For any interested clubs, this is the time to strike.

The Independent first reported Spurs’ interest in Eze back in February, also stating that Manchester City are interested as well – but a recent report from The Hard Tackle claims that Eze may actually prefer a move across the capital to be closer to his family. City have no shortage of sway and will certainly be able to offer Champions League football, but Spurs are holding some cards of their own.

If Spurs were debating a bid already, Eze’s recent form won’t have discouraged them from trying their luck. He has five goals and two assists in Palace’s last nine Premier League matches and was simply sublime last weekend against West Ham United, running rings around both midfield and defence. He’s playing some of the best football of his career, could hit double figures for the second consecutive season, and at 25 seems to be hitting his peak with plenty left in the tank.

There’s no question that Eze would bring quality and threat to the Spurs attack – his xG comfortably outstrips Maddison’s and he generates, on average, one more shooting chances than Son per game even playing at a club who don’t create as many chances overall. It’s just a matter of where Postecoglou envisages him fitting in. Taking one of the more defensive midfielders out from the double pivot might work but that doesn’t fit with the Australian’s usual tactical philosophy and might make them vulnerable on the counter and less able to control possession, so it’s more likely that Postecoglou either sticks with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

He could play with a more narrow set-up, with players like Son Heung-Min and Dejan Kulusevski operating either side of Maddison with the wing-backs overlapping even more frequently than they do now, which would offer an obvious slot for Eze on the left and tie in with Postecoglou’s broader strategic brush-strokes, or he could simply go back to playing Son as a centre-forward and play Eze on the left. Or perhaps Postecoglou wouldn’t make any concessions to Eze whatsoever, and would simply include him as a rotational option alongside Maddison. That would give Spurs tremendous depth but might make the signing a harder sell if Manchester City got involved as well.

And there’s no doubt that Eze is precisely the kind of player that Pep Guardiola seems to love moulding to his team’s requirements – a tricky dribbler with good passing and ball control who can play his role both in slower build-ups and on faster breaks, where he would provide some pretty strong support for Erling Haaland in the penalty area. There are other targets at the Etihad such as Lucas Paquetá, but if they do decide to go in for Eze then Spurs may still have a tough time persuading him to stay in the capital.

But there’s no doubt that Eze would be a superb signing for Spurs on paper, even if they have to move things around a little bit up front to fit all their best players in the team at any one time. Whether they can persuade him that they’re the right club for him to play his peak years at remains to be seen.