After a quiet period in the market following the arrivals of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Matt Doherty and Joe Hart, Tottenham Hotspur appear to have woken up.
According to the BBC, Jose Mourinho’s side are in talks with Real Madrid over a return to north London for Gareth Bale. They also say that left-back Sergio Reguilon is expected to join Spurs.
While the Welshman will grab most of the headlines given the romance over his potential return, the Spanish left-back is the topic of our discussion.
When writing a detailed report on the 23-year-old – who spent last season on loan at Sevilla – the Guardian revealed an eye-opening statistic.
It reads: ‘Reguilon completed more dribbles in La Liga last season (49) than Davies has managed in his entire 129-game Premier League career at Spurs (45).’
Given the importance of full-backs in the modern game, the arrival of a completely different type of left-back will hand Mourinho a new attacking dimension that he has not yet had at Spurs.
You only need to look at the likes of Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold to see how important the wide-defensive areas are nowadays.
Significantly, Spurs now also have Doherty on the other flank; a man who grabbed seven goals and five assists from full-back last term.
As the Guardian’s statistic proves, Davies is a highly conservative option at left-back and rarely pushes forward.
This means the likes of Son Heung-min are not getting the support that rival forwards such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are getting from Kieran Tierney.
Duos such as Lucas Digne and Richarlison also come into that category, while it is interesting to wonder how many goals Sadio Mane would have if he didn’t have the aforementioned Robertson creating space for him.
Attacking full-backs are vital in the modern game, and Tottenham now look to have finally secured a left-sided one of their own.
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