Stephen Kelly thinks new Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has missed the chance to sign Daichi Kamada from Frankfurt.
The 26-year-old is set to be a free-agent in July and former Tottenham man Kelly thinks Daichi Kamada would have been an ‘ideal’ signing for Ange Postecoglou.
After working in the J-League, as well as bringing through Japanese stars such as Kyogo, it was suggested by Kelly that Kamada was the guy for Tottenham and he would have joined if Postecoglou ‘arrived earlier’, as he told Sky Sports News (07/06/23).
There was Premier League interest in Kamada, with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool knocking on his door, but instead, he has opted to join his boyhood club AC Milan.
This is an issue Spurs will find during the coming months and that’s not being able to get deals over the line because they aren’t in Europe.
As an attacking midfielder, who has racked up 16 goals this term, Kamada would have fitted in very well in north London, but Spurs will have to lick their wounds and look elsewhere now.
“Tottenham would have been looking at the likes of Brighton that have gone and spread their net far and wide, from a scouting point of view and brought talent in at a lower price,” said Kelly. “Then they have quickly adapted.
“Tottenham have a little bit more in the kitty so they can go a little bit more to purchase those players that are of higher quality, then it’s about keeping them in the team and developing them.
“A player that jumped out to me, which was a free transfer, but I think he has gone to AC Milan, is Kamada. If Postecoglou had come in earlier, then I think it’s a deal that he could have nicked because of his links with the Japanese league.
“He is a 26-year-old attacking midfield player. Tottenham know, from their time in the Champions League this season, that he would have been an ideal attacking player to bring into that squad. That could have been an option. But I think that ship has sailed now.”
Tottenham’s midfield issues
The one relief for Spurs fans heading into next season is that they will probably no longer have to watch five at the back and a two-man midfield.
Whilst that attacking-midfield, that creative spark, will finally be added to their squad this summer.
It seems as though if that quick-thinking playmaker, such as James Maddison, signs, then it would also elevate the players around him because the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Oliver Skipp and Yves Bissouma, to name a few, haven’t been at their best.
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