Mauricio Pochettino has shown time and time again that he is the perfect man to be in the dugout at Tottenham Hotspur. The Argentine understands the club and has implemented his own philosophy that has turned the club into a consistent Champions League side. However, if Daniel Levy gave him a late Christmas present in January and signed Declan Rice, silverware could be a real possibility.
Declan Rice was just your average run of the mill ‘potential wonderkid’ central defender when he broke through at West Ham last season. This season, though, has seen the versatile, defensive-minded star up his game ten-fold. Under Manuel Pellegrini, the 19-year-old has been one of the best holding midfielders in the Premier League and has done a superb job in keeping the likes of Mark Noble and new signing Carlos Sanchez out of the side.
It looks like Rice will be making the move to a top club and it will be a matter of when he moves as opposed to if he moves. That’s where Daniel Levy will have to be extremely coy with his transfer business. It’s a given by now that Tottenham love to sign versatile, homegrown players, and there’s no doubting that Rice fits that mould, with the added bonus that he’s easily good enough to slot into The Lilywhites’ midfield already and would give them and edge in the Premier League this season.
Tottenham have been linked with a plethora of central midfielders, but the one that would make the most sense would be signing the West Ham man. Instead of forking out on a flashy European signing like Napoli’s Allan, Lyon’s Tanguy Ndombele or Hector Herrera from Porto, throwing a lump sum at The Hammers in the hope that David Sullivan and David Gold will release their prize asset seems like the smartest thing for Levy to do.
At the moment, Tottenham have got a few different options in the middle of the park. Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko and Eric Dier have played the lions share of the minutes available this season but to have just three available players in central midfield simply isn’t enough, especially seeing as the likes of Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama can’t stay fit long enough to do anything meaningful for the club at the moment.
That’s where West Ham’s teenage sensation would thrive. He’d be able to provide a more defensive-minded option to anchor the club’s midfield and allow those further up the pitch to do their thing. Adding another midfielder to Pochettino’s squad would also prevent the Argentine having to drop someone like Dele Alli or Christian Eriksen into a deeper role when the squad is thin on the ground, making this potential transfer one that would surely see Pochettino get a foot-up in the title race alongside Man City and Liverpool.
