Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham Hotspur reportedly want to bring Zakaria to the Premier League from Bundesliga leaders Borussia Monchengladbach.
Christian Eriksen would surely give Denis Zakaria’s move to Tottenham Hotspur his seal of approval. After all, the play-maker knows first hand just what a nightmare opponent the Borussia Monchengladbach enforcer can be.
Eriksen might have had the last laugh as Denmark snatched the most smash-and-grab of 1-0 wins against Switzerland during a Euro 2020 qualifier earlier this month but, up until his dramatic late assist for Yussuf Poulsen’s winner, he was barely given a kick by the outstanding Zakaria.
The 22-year-old swarmed all over Eriksen in the first half, marking him out of the game and snapping into challenges. It was the sort of tenacious, tireless performance that has made Zakaria, who averages over 2 and a half tackles per game, one of the most stand-out midfielders in the Bundesliga.
No wonder Tottenham want him.
The former Young Boys starlet has been linked with a move to North London for over a year now and SportBild breathed fresh life into the speculation this month. Today, Sky Germany has claimed that Zakara is ‘very likely’ to move on after leading Borussia Monchengladbach to the top of the Bundesliga, so long as someone meets his £43 million price-tag.
As Tottenham fans everywhere will tell you, their team just hasn’t had the same energy and control since Mousa Dembele was at his string-pulling peak, the veteran playmaker having departed for China a year ago, but Zakaria is perhaps the closest thing they can get to replicating the influence of the once brilliant Belgian.
Zakaria is not just a ball-winner, he is a ball-player too, the kind of all-action enforcer who can bully an opposition midfielder out of possession before starting attacks himself. At his best, Zakaria slaloms away from challenges like a gazelle on the African plains and, with six goals to his name since the start of last season, he knows where the net is too.
And if Pochettino asks Eriksen for his opinion, Zakaria should receive a glowing reference.
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