After Gareth Bale’s interview two days ago where he explained he was planning on returning to Real Madrid at the end of his loan spell with Tottenham, many fans probably weren’t expecting replacements already to have been lined up.
Paulo Dybala is one man who could join Spurs in the summer, but Sky Sports have reported that Stuttgart forward Nicolas Gonzalez is a candidate to replace the Wales captain for next season.
get him please
— Jonatan🇸🇪 (@JonatanThfc) March 25, 2021
He’s a must buy an actual RW/RM. can beat a player and will only improve.
— 🙌🏻 Billy.R 🙌🏻 (@BillyATRoss) March 25, 2021
At just the age of 22, Gonzalez has already been capped five times by the Argentina national team, scoring twice, while in the Bundesliga for Stuttgart he has got six goals and two assists to his name in 15 appearances so far the season.
The 5ft11 forward is versatile and can play as a striker or on the left wing where his tricky dribbling and crossing could be utilised well – but Spurs may look to use him on the right-hand side where he could cut in on to his favoured left foot and strike from distance or arrive late at the back-post.
Gonzalez is very strong in the air too, which would be a huge threat if he was utilised on the right flank, thanks to Sergio Reguilon’s immense crossing ability, as well as Son’s ability to get to the by-line and either pull the ball back or lift the ball to the back-post.
Nicolás González makes Bundesliga 2 history with the fastest ever substitute goal 🇦🇷⚡⏱️ pic.twitter.com/OYhUcU2HQK
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) December 27, 2019
With just £27 million needed to acquire the 22-year-old, Daniel Levy may be feeling in the mood to negotiate that fee down even more and potentially even add in a player like Cameron Carter-Vickers for example to go to Stuttgart on a season-long loan or potentially even permanently to sweeten the deal.
Back in November, the Argentine told Bild that there was a 50% chance he would stay at Stuttgart, and now there are options in
It’s unlikely that Gonzalez would link up with compatriot Erik Lamela, who also looks like he is on the way out the exit door at Spurs, with Italian club Bologna interested in signing him up.
As the Stuttgart man is also a left-footer, the move makes complete sense for Spurs who could lose both Bale and Lamela who are also left-footed, so if an attacker does come in during the summer transfer window, it is likely he will fit the same profile as Gonzalez.
The replacement will also need to be able to link-up with Kane and Son or Carlos Vinicius or Troy Parrott and Lucas Moura or Dane Scarlett in Europa League games too, so good teamwork is imperative, and Gonzalez fits that profile perfectly – and he probably won’t expect to start every single game either.