Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has hailed Matt Doherty as the “perfect” defensive target for Tottenham Hotspur, as the Wolverhampton Wanderers ace closes in on a summer move to north London.
Tottenham have reportedly agreed a £14.7million fee with Wolves for the services of their long-time right-back, who has already settled on personal terms to join Jose Mourinho’s side.
Doherty has been a fixture of the line-up at Molineux for much of his time at the Black Country side following his arrival there in 2010, with a particularly prevalent place in the XI under Nuno Espirito Santo that secured promotion out of the Championship and thereafter in the Premier League.
The 28-year-old will leave Wolves after 302 first-team games for the club, in which he has scored 28 times and provided 41 assists including seven goals and five assists across 50 outings in all competitions last season.
He will arrive at Tottenham after the departures of Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker-Peters in the last year, while Serge Aurier could soon depart too with the Ivory Coast international being pushed out the door amid interest from AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen.
Whelan is adamant that Mourinho would only have targeted Doherty as his new right-back had the Portuguese tactician done adequate scouting, which would have revealed the nine-time international to be the “perfect” option.
“I think everybody has admired Doherty over the seasons since he’s been at Wolves,” Whelan told Football Insider. “[He’s] an absolute professional, he’s like your perfect wing-back these days and that’s what you’re looking for.
“He’s competitive, aggressive, defensively very good, he knows how to get forward, he can put a great ball into the box. I don’t think Jose Mourinho would be going out there trying to buy this player if he didn’t admire him and hadn’t been watching him over the seasons.”
Whelan went on to add how he believes Spurs have targeted Doherty this summer as the right-back spot has been a problem position in north London for some time, and that the soon-to-be-former Wolves ace will finally offer Tottenham the answer they have been craving.
“It’s been a big problem for Tottenham, absolutely, because they’ve sold all their right-backs and you can already see they’re negotiating with Aurier to get him out the club.
“I think he’s looking to bring people in with the right character, the right attitude and the right attributes and I think Doherty fits that bill.”
Is Doherty the perfect RB target for Mourinho?
Yes
No
Doherty, who earns just £10,000-per-week with Wolves, will certainly give Mourinho all those attributes that Whelan lauds him for, but those can only be best benefitted from should the Tottenham head coach persist with a five-at-the-back formation like Espirito Santo favours.
Mourinho switching Doherty from a right-wing-back to a right-back would vastly reduce the offensive threat the Republic of Ireland international can offer, by instead requesting him to aid the two centre-backs more.
Wolves have yet to open a fixture in any competition under Espirito Santo with a four-man defence, whereas Mourinho has only set Tottenham out to play with three centre-halves on the field on six occasions over his 35 matches at the helm to date.
Should Mourinho further add to that tally now that Doherty is set to join his squad, the Portuguese would stand to benefit from a wing-back who averaged 0.6 key balls, 0.2 accurate crosses, 0.8 successful dribbles, 2.8 ground duels won and 0.7 shots taken a game in the Premier League last term, per SofaScore data.