Soulihou Meite’s Serie A displays for Torino saw him linked with a £17 million move to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Premier League transfer window might have slammed shut two weeks ago but Soualiho Meite still had a real chance to capture the imagination of some of England’s biggest clubs on Thursday night.
The Parisian-born midfielder spent much of the last few months being linked with a big-money move to London after all. According to La Stampa, Tottenham Hotspur were mulling over a £17 million deal for a player who has caught the eye not at Juventus but in the famous maroon shirt of the Italian champions’ gutsy neighbours Torino.
Crystal Palace, too, were interested in Meite if L’Equipe is to be believed.
But while representing Torino against English opposition for the first time, has the 25-year-old missed a golden opportunity to make a name for himself?
Meite provided 47 passes with an 83 per cent accuracy as Torino lost 3-2 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers to leave their Europa League qualification hopes hanging by a thread. But there is more to a game than raw statistics.
If you look beyond the numbers, it is fair to say he failed to produce the sort of combative midfield performance that had scouts from all over flocking to the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino since the turn of the year.
Meite took the easy option far too often, passing the buck with a meek, sidewards ball rather than attempting to open up Wolves’ packed defence with anything more adventurous. He was outshone by his midfield partner Daniele Baselli, who ended the game with a 91 per cent completion rate despite attempting some far more ambitious, forward-thinking passes.
In fact, Meite’s performance was reminiscent somewhat of a Tottenham-era Etienne Capoue; stable, solid but lacking the kind of dynamic spark that allows a player to really put his stamp on the game. He’s not a 2016-era Mousa Dembele yet. There were a few flashes of star quality but no where near enough.
So if Meite is dreaming of a future on UK shores, and put himself in the shop window before the New Year, he will need to produce far better when Torino travel to Molineux in next week’s second leg.
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