If Cheick Doucoure was ‘disappointed’ to miss out on a move to Spurs last summer, then one of Ligue 1’s rising stars would have been devastated to learn that Rodrigo Bentancur was swapping Turin for Tottenham on the final day of the January transfer window.
“We needed a player like Rodrigo,” Antonio Conte told Football London last summer, after completing a bargain £20 million deal for the Uruguay international.
Suddenly, a Spurs midfield that looked like a case of ‘Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and one other’ during the reigns of Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo has genuine competition for places at last.
Bentancur, for now, looks a nailed-on starter, giving Spurs the graft and guile, tenacity and technique they’ve arguably lacked since Moussa Dembele’s heyday.
But Hojbjerg’s name is no longer written in indelible ink on the Tottenham Hotspur team-sheet. Conte is a huge fan of Oliver Skipp after all. And, while praising Bentancur’s impact, the former Inter Milan boss made sure to remind us all that Harry Winks too has an important part to play.
“Don’t forget Winksy because he is a reliable player,” Conte said.
Winks has two years left on his contract. A departure looked inevitable a few months ago – particularly after he questioned his role in the Spurs set-up – but feels anything but now, especially if Spurs qualify for the Champions League. Conte needs all the depth he can get.
What are Tottenham’s summer plans?
So where does this leave Doucoure?
“This summer, Tottenham seriously approached the club and his agent,” the 22-year-old’s former Lens team-mate Zakaria Diallo explains.
“Finally, Lens closed the door. They don’t need the money and know they will sell him for even more in the future. ‘Douc’ was disappointed.”
An ‘incredibly complete’, all-action midfielder – one who ‘knows how to shoot from a distance, how to pass, break the lines, dribble, defend’ – Doucoure has a lot in common with Bentancur, the man who’s January arrival could have killed off his hopes of a big-money switch to North London.
That does not mean the tough-tackling Malian won’t be coming to a stadium near you soon, however. Aston Villa made a £10 million bid for Doucoure last summer. And Steven Gerrard’s pursuit of a new number six could lead Villa back to a man who’d cost a damn sight less than Kalvin Phillips, Wilfred Ndidi and Yves Bissouma.
Doucoure could slot in nicely behind John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey in Gerrard’s midfield. But it’s not nearly as easy to see where he fits in at Tottenham these days.
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