Michel Vorm, Juan Foyth and Ryan Sessegnon were all present at Carrow Road the last time Tottenham Hotspur scored a direct free-kick in the Premier League, a Christian Eriksen rocket in a 2-2 draw with Norwich City in December 2019.
It’s no coincidence that a 19-month barren spell has coincided with Eriksen’s move to Inter Milan, either.
Harry Kane, for all his qualities, is no dead-ball specialist, while Tanguy Ndombele, Gio Lo Celso and Erik Lamela are hardly renowned for their ability to bend it like you know who.
The arrival of Miralem Pjanic, then, would give something Tottenham haven’t had since Eriksen was at the peak of his play-making powers under Mauricio Pochettino – a completely new dimension and a novel source of goals.
“(Pjanic) has a lot of quality at set pieces and he has become one of the best around these days.”
Not our words, the words of the legendary Juninho Pernambucano, arguably the greatest free-kick taker of all time (Goal).
“I’d say he is a specialist at the same level as (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Lionel) Messi and (Gareth) Bale, players who strike the ball in an excellent manner.”
Forget Bend it like Beckham – Ping it like Pjanic
Given that Pjanic has shared a dressing room with two of the aforementioned trio in recent seasons – Ronaldo at Juventus and Messi at Barcelona – the Bosnia international hasn’t had many opportunities to show off his party trick of late.
But you’d think that Kane – should he stay of course – would have no problem handing over set-piece duties to a man who has scored a remarkable 21 free-kicks since he broke the duck, all the way back in the late-2000s.
According to Sport, Tottenham have enquired about the availability of a man who has grown increasingly frustrated with his lack of game-time since joining Barcelona for £55 million last summer.
It is no coincidence that Fabio Paratici, Spurs’ new sporting director, knows the Camp Nou benchwarmer from his time in Turin either.
Should Pjanic arrive, the days of Kane firing the ball straight into the nearest defender may be gone for good – and not a moment too soon.
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