Tottenham Hotspur had a pretty descent outing in the market last winter. While three players were traded, two fresh purchases were made with odds from online casino covering them..
Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele departed albeit only the Englishman left on a permanent deal. Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur reunite in North London after years in Turin.
Although not regulars in Max Allegri’s Juventus squad,the pair are important additions to the squad. Kulusevski (21) and Bentancur (24) are on the young side and have extremely high work-rates. Additionally, Spurs are adding two players with big game experience who have played roles in winning leagues, cups and Champions League games.
Of the pair, the Swede is expected to make an instant impact and all things being equal, he could compete with Lucas Moura for the final spot in attack. Harry Kane and Son Heung-min’s places are not in doubt.
Tall, physically strong, and versatile, Kulusevski is capable of playing in several midfield and attacking roles. He has been deployed as an attacking midfielder, as a box-to-box midfielder, as a winger on either flank, or even as an offensive-minded central midfielder.
He’s a big dribbler who’s already close to average in ground duels. Despite his height of 1.86m, he isn’t very active in the air,m. He gets into the box a lot, but he’s more likely to look for a teammate than to shoot himself. Throughout his career, he’s had about twice as many assists as goals.
In attack, Kulusevski tends to use longer passes at RW and more link-up play at CAM, where his ball retention and his attacking output are higher.
Kulusevski’s directional control with the ball is good: his agility and touches aren’t excellent, but he’s skilled enough to consistently get past opponents when pressured on the ball, either with dribbles or body feints.
Kulusevski’s mobility allows him to cover a lot of ground: he’s more comfortable moving vertically rather than horizontally and his off-ball offence as a 10 is questionable (he failed to recognize the space ahead of him in this situation against Lecce), although his scanning is good enough for him to play there in the future.
How does he compare with Moura?
Kulusevski (£6.0m) and Moura (£6.5m) should compete for a role on the right of Conte’s front three. The Swede made just five Serie A starts for Juventus, featuring 15 times off the bench. He also made five substitute appearances in the Champions League.
However, the 21-year-old, who loves machines a sous, found the target once and laced three assists for his teammates in the league. He notched a goal in just 80 minutes in Europe.
Moura, on the other hand, made 15 starts with two goals and three assists to show. In Europe, he buried one effort in four appearances. Based on this season, the youngster appears to be more productive in attack.
Kulusevski managed 18 shots in Serie A albeit just three were from outside the penalty area. He manages a shot in almost every 43 seconds. Indeed, his average of 50.8 minutes per shot in the box is quicker than Lucas’s 74.4 minutes in Fantasy this season.
But the Brazilian has racked more attempts with 30 and understandably so due to more game time. His shot per minute is nowhere the Swede.
