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Tottenham should consider Jean-Philippe Mateta if not Olivier Giroud or Arek Milik

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If Tottenham don’t turn Carlos Vincius’ loan move permanent next summer, they’ll need to sign another striker to accompany Harry Kane. And personally, I believe we should make a move for a centre-forward that can double up as a mobile target man – somebody who can hold up the ball, run the channels when necessary, create chances and get goals themselves.

We were linked with Olivier Giroud, Mario Mandzukic, Moussa Dembele, Danny Ings, Loren Moron, Wout Weghorst, Callum Wilson, Troy Deeney, Vedat Muriqi, Patrik Schick, Arkadiusz Milik, Robin Quaison, Rhian Brewster, Habib Diallo, Josh King, Ollie Watkins, Haris Seferovic, Alexander Sørloth, Bas Dost, Willian Jose and Christian Benteke over the summer, but Calciomercato say we’ve turned our attentions to Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Who is he?

A 23-year-old striker who has made 63 appearances in all competitions since joining 1.FSV Mainz 05 from Olympique Lyonnais in 2018, scoring 27 goals with five assists. Mateta has been prolific in Germany as he was in France and has been on fire this season.

The French centre-forward boasts 10 goals and one assist in nine games across the board for Mainz. In eight Bundesliga appearances, he’s created nine chances, made eight successful dribbles, won 17/35 aerial duels, had 20 shots with 55% hitting the target, won six freekicks, made five tackles and made three interceptions.

Only Heung-min Son (9) has scored more domestic goals for Tottenham than Mateta (7) this season, so we could do a lot worse. And considering he plays for a Mainz side currently just one place above the relegation zone and with only one league win in 2020/21, a move to Spurs may be attractive.

How much could he cost?

CIES Football Observatory say the 23-year-old has a market value of €10m-€15m (£8.95m-£13.42m) and Transfermarkt believe his valuation is £13.5m. Mainz’s most expensive sale is Abdou Diallo (£25.2m to Borussia Dortmund in 2018/19), so Mateta might be worth a similar price if they were to sell him.

He’s got three years on his existing deal and finds his stock higher than it’s ever been, so I don’t think he’ll be cheap. That being said, if we don’t sign Giroud in January or Vinicius next summer, I do think Mateta should be considered.

In other news, here’s why Tottenham should sign Olivier Giroud from Chelsea in January

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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.