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Gareth Bale’s arrival will be bad news for Erik Lamela

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Everyone associated with Tottenham Hotspur will be excited about Gareth Bale’s impending arrival… everyone except Erik Lamela…

The 28-year-old was signed in 2013 after Bale went to Real Madrid, but now Tottenham are bringing the Welshman back seven years later.

He operates in Lamela’s preferred position and is expected to be a regular when fit, so is the Argentine finished in North London?

Decline

Lamela has made 222 appearances in all competitions since joining from AS Roma, scoring 33 goals with 47 assists. Unfortunately, his seven years at Tottenham have been characterised by inconsistency and injuries.

  • 2013/14 (Premier League): 9 appearances, 0 goals, 1 assist
  • 2014/15 (Premier League): 33 appearances, 2 goals, 7 assists
  • 2015/16 (Premier League): 34 appearances, 5 goals, 9 assists
  • 2016/17 (Premier League): 9 appearances, 1 goal, 1 assist
  • 2017/18 (Premier League): 25 appearances, 2 goals, 4 assists
  • 2018/19 (Premier League): 19 appearances, 4 goals, 2 assists
  • 2019/20 (Premier League): 25 appearances, 2 goals, 3 assists

Lamela is averaging only 22 league appearances, two goals and four assists a season. He’s only played in 154/266 league games (57.8%) and amassed 8616/23940 minutes (36%) due to problems with his back, calf, hip and hamstring in the past.

Fallen down the pecking order

As things stand, Lamela finds himself behind Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn in the pecking order, so Bale’s arrival could push him out the matchday squad. The 28-year-old has two years remaining on his deal, but he may not see out his contract if he’s not playing semi-regularly. It remains to be seen where he’d end up, however, as his stock will be low right now.

Lamela has been short of form, fitness and playing time, so clubs aren’t going to be queuing up for him this summer. We paid £27m for the Argentine in 2013, but Transfermarkt say his valuation has fallen to £14.4m while CIES Football Observatory believe he’s now worth €7m-€10m (£6.4m-£9.14m).

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of merit in signing Lamela given his fitness woes and inconsistency, so we might be stuck with him. That being said, he won’t be happy not featuring this season, so it’s a difficult situation. The summer transfer window shuts on October 5, but I don’t believe he’ll go permanently. There is a slim chance of a loan move.

In other news, Tottenham should not sign Christian Benteke from Crystal Palace

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.