While Tottenham were labouring to the most forgettable of 1-0 wins at Burnley on Monday night, Spurs fans could be forgiven for casting their minds back to the days when Christian Eriksen was carving apart Premier League defences while hardly breaking sweat.
It took until the 76th minute for Spurs to muster a shot on target at Turf Moor.
And while goals haven’t exactly been in short supply in recent weeks, those rampant wins over Manchester United, Maccabi Haifa, LASK Linz and Southampton arguably owe more to their opposition’s defensive dereliction rather than any real cutting edge or creativity.
Both Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso are capable of moments of Eriksen-esque class but neither the Frenchman nor the Argentine share the Dane’s goalscoring capabilities from midfield.
In 79 games, Ndombele and Lo Celso have scored four times between them since moving to England.
So if Tottenham feel the need to add a more prolific presence in Jose Mourinho’s midfield, with Harry Kane and Heung Min Son contributing 13 of Spurs’ 16 league goals this season, then maybe it’s already time to revisit one of their summer targets.
According to FC Inter News, Tottenham were one of many clubs sending scouts to Florence – when attending live matches was a genuine possibility, of course – with Gaetano Castrovilli the object of their affections.
The £42 million-rated Fiorentina talisman models himself on none other than Kevin de Bruyne and Castrovilli’s latest match-winning display on Sunday was one Manchester City’s brilliant Belgian himself would have been proud of.
Not only did the fleet-footed 23-year-old take his tally to four goals in five Serie A games with two clinical finishes, he also set up the other in Fiorentina’s 3-2 victory over Udinese, serving up the easiest of chances on a silver platter for Nikola Milenkovic.
There’s certainly a touch of Eriksen about the way Castrovilli makes half a yard for himself before striking the ball with speed, dip and fearsome accuracy.
And if Mourinho is to add a fourth Premier League winners’ medal to his enviable collection, a midfielder with the scoring rate of a striker would come in handy.
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