Tottenham have reportedly identified Southampton striker Danny Ings as a top transfer target this summer as the club begins the process of moulding a team in new manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s image.
Ings, 28, turned down the offer of a four-year contract extension with Southampton last week and as his existing deal is set to expire in 2022, he could be available for just £20m this summer.
A rebuild is required at Spurs after the club slumped to its lowest Premier League finish in 12 years, ending a tumultuous campaign both on and off the pitch in seventh position.
Tottenham’s interest in Ings will only fuel speculation that Harry Kane could leave the club after expressing a desire to move on to club chairman Daniel Levy before the end of last season.
Kane, who will be 28 by the end of July, is desperate to start winning major honours and lost the fourth final of his career during Sunday’s Euro 2020 defeat to Italy.
Spurs are insistent that the Premier League’s top goalscorer and assister in 2020-21 is going nowhere given he has three years left to run on a £200,000 per week deal signed in 2018.
Rather than signing Ings to replace Kane, Spurs apparently want him to partner the England captain instead.
How Spurs could line up with Ings and Kane
Manchester City appear to be the front-runners to sign Kane this summer but they will have to obliterate their transfer record – £65m paid for Ruben Dias last September – in order to get him.
The Premier League champions reportedly had a £100m bid for Kane turned down towards the end of June and it would take at least an extra £50m on top to even tempt Levy into entering negotiations.
If City back down in their Kane pursuit and Spurs manage to prise Ings away from Southampton, it would leave Espirito Santo with two of the Premier League’s top four goalscorers since the start of the 2019-20 season – Kane has scored 41 goals in that time, level with Mo Salah, while only Jamie Vardy on 38 has netted more than Ings’ 34.
Considering Spurs also have the joint-ninth highest goalscorer in that chart in Son Heung-min, they would arguably have the most formidable frontline in the division. It would then be up to Espirito Santo to put the pieces of the jigsaw together.
Player sales and injuries contributed to Espirito Santo chopping and changing his tactics and team selection at Wolves last season, but in the two campaigns prior they had one of the most settled XIs in the Premier League. According to Whoscored, Wolves used a 3-5-2 (or 3-4-1-2) 20 times in the 2018-19 season and 15 times in 2019-20.
The two strikers tended to be Raul Jimenez, an intelligent link forward who posed the biggest penalty box threat, and Diogo Jota, whose pace and directness stretched opposition defences. In Kane and Ings (as well as Son), Spurs would have a combination of players extremely well-suited to reprising the roles of Jimenez and Jota in Espirito Santo’s most successful Wolves team.
How Spurs could line up with Ings if Kane leaves
If Kane does engineer an exit from Spurs, though, Ings could be bumped up from support striker to main man, a role that he has been accustomed to playing for Burnley and Southampton.
Espirito Santo would still have the option of playing two strikers by pairing Ings together with Son, but their similarities in playing style may not be conducive to an effective partnership. Although Ings has struck up a good understanding with Che Adams in recent seasons, he plays closer to the box with the Scotland international dropping deeper.
Son had his most productive Premier League campaign last season, scoring 17 goals, and a large chunk of his goals came from latching onto through balls played by Kane. Kane assisted Son on nine separate occasions – including four times against Southampton at St Mary’s last September.
Although Ings has recorded nine assists in 91 league games for Southampton – he is not as creative as Kane. There is no reason why he and Son couldn’t flourish together in a different system, though. When Nuno didn’t play with a front two in Wolves’ first two seasons in the Premier League, he instead relied upon a 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1) system instead, with Jota and Adama Traore tending to take up the wide roles.
Spurs have an abundance of wingers besides Son with Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura and the returning Ryan Sessegnon, all offering quick options on the flanks. Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela and Moussa Sissoko have also been used in wide roles previously too.
Playing that system would alleviate the creative responsibilities on Ings and instead push him closer to the opposition goal. Given his form over the past couple of years, that would suit him down to the ground.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3i8iYm3
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