With most eyes this week on Tottenham Hotspur’s first game at our new White Hart Lane Stadium against Crystal Palace yesterday evening after the unfortunate delays we saw on the project, the club have been tipped to make a move for Juventus winger Douglas Costa.
This one isn’t actually new in terms of the rumour mill, but it has gained some traction this week on social media in particular, and ESPN pundit Chris Nicol was quoted by the Express giving his thoughts on the potential move.
The 28-year-old Brazilian has had his injury problems at Juventus this season and he hasn’t featured since February given a hamstring complaint, but looking around it seems he’s just had one of those years with niggly injury issues and Nicol feels that there are similarities in his situation to that of Lucas Moura when we brought him in from Paris Saint-Germain, so he feels it would be a typical type of Mauricio Pochettino deal.
“It’s kind of a Spurs signing isn’t it. Somebody who has never quite fulfilled their potential, whether it was at Bayern or even now at Juventus. You just need to look at Lucas Moura at Tottenham now, how well he’s doing under Pochettino. So this kind of smells and looks a little bit like a Spurs signing. Somebody who has unquestionable ability, just hasn’t quite produced it. Whether that’s to do with his injury situation, we’re not really sure. But it definitely smells like a Tottenham signing. So I’m going to say this is a hit. I think it’s got Spurs written all over it.”
I’m not so sure myself on this one really. Poch’s stock in trade is getting more out of players in many ways, so although he falls into that bracket, I’m not sure Pochettino would want a 28-year-old project really. Lucas Moura had a couple of extra years in the tank.