Tottenham were heavily linked with a move for Krzysztof Piatek in the January transfer window but did not sign a striker. Supporters wanted Piatek at the time, and in the last few weeks supporters have fumed at Daniel Levy and the club for the lack of investment in the squad. However, Piatek’s performances since his January move to Hertha Berlin suggest this is one transfer call that Levy got absolutely spot on.
1. A striker who doesn’t score… A month into Piatek’s time in Berlin, the Poland international has only found one Bundesliga goal, and it came from the penalty spot. Per Whoscored, he has taken 18 shots in 465 minutes of action, totalling out at one every 26 minutes with a 0% conversion rate from open play. This isn’t drastically worse than his performances in Serie A this term either, where he scored four times from 48 shots, a success rate of just 8%. To put that into perspective, Harry Kane’s 11 goals from 56 top-flight shots this season comes out at nearly 20%, while Steven Bergwijn is converting 28.5% of his Premier League shots into goals and even Erik Lamela converts just over 8%.
2. Wasteful, thy name is… Piatek has also been extremely wasteful in possession since his January move, completing just 68% of his passes and taking 3.5 unsuccessful touches per game. By comparison, Lamela, perhaps Spurs’ most enigmatic and erratic player, takes just 1.2 unsuccessful touches per match and completes 83% of his passes. Jose Mourinho’s style demands a front man with the ability to hold the ball and bring others into play, and Piatek simply isn’t doing that this season.
3. Target man? Not so much… Finally, the 24 year-old has won 2.5 aerial duels per game in the Bundesliga, a competition he will face far less physical defenders in than he would in the Premier League. Mourinho has complained about missing a target man without Kane in the team, so a player who barely wins more aerial duels per game than 5 foot 8 winger Lucas Moura (1.7) was hardly going to be the solution.
ENIC and Levy get their fair share of stick from Tottenham supporters for their lack of spending in the transfer market, but after reports claimed they were in advanced talks for Piatek, the decision to dump the chase for the struggling striker was absolutely the right one. While they are struggling for attacking depth right now, the last thing they needed was an extremely out-of-form player offering nothing of what Mourinho demands.
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Spurs fans, do you think it was the right decision to avoid Piatek? Join the discussion in the comments below!
