Tottenham should revive their interest in Youcef Atal after Patrick Vieira’s comments

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Tottenham can solve their right-back woes by signing Youcef Atal in January.

Nice boss Patrick Vieira spoke to Goal about Youcef Atal’s brilliant performance against Dijon at home on Saturday.

The Algerian international scored a fantastic goal for the Eaglets, playing in an unnatural left-wing position. Atal made a name for himself last season as one of Ligue 1’s best full-backs but his incredible performance higher up the pitch will see his stock rise even more.

Atal played all of his games last season on the right-hand side and scored six goals in 29 appearances. 14 of those 29 appearances came when he was deployed higher up the pitch and that was one of Nice’s biggest strengths on the attack last term.

Atal now performing well on the left-wing despite being a right-sided player for most of his career offers a lot more to his suitors than it did last summer and Nice manager Vieira was full of praises when asked about Atal’s performance in his new position.

He said: “What you need is trying to find the balance of the team. For Youcef, of course, he can play different positions. It is true that the one I prefer is also right back I’m very happy with his performances when he plays in front.”

Vieira’s fierce rivals during his time in England, Tottenham, were heavily linked with a move for Atal earlier this summer but a move failed to materialise. (DZ Football)

Spurs have really struggled at right-back so far this season with Kyle Walker-Peters not quite living up to the hype. Serge Aurier had a brilliant start to the campaign against Crystal Palace but his performance did drop against Leicester on Saturday.

Centre-half Davinson Sanchez was also used in that position but he too struggled against quality opposition. Signing someone like Atal in January would solve more than just one problem for Spurs thanks to the Algerian’s versatility.

With Lucas Moura not getting the game time that he would have liked and Son more dangerous in a central position, Atal would be a brilliant acquisition on either wing and Tottenham should seriously consider reviving their interest in him in the January transfer window.