Spurs Blogsville

Why Spurs Shouldn’t Be Tempted By £19.5m Breakout World Cup Star

|

Ole in Argentina are reporting that Mauricio Pochettino is a big fan of Colombia’s Juan Fernando Quintero. Of course, we should treat any speculation such as this with a great deal of scepticism.

The attacking midfielder is flavour of the month due to his high profile displays at the World Cup, and it is inevitable that transfer talk will surround him.

However, in some ways, there is some sense in Poch being interested in the 25-year-old. The playmaker has been playing for River Plate, and it’s logical to assume that the manager keeps a close eye on the Argentine Primeira Division.

With the player’s release clause set at £19.5m, it could be something that would present a calculated gamble due to his talent. As anyone that has watched his performances in Russia, it’s hard not to have been impressed by the midfielder’s displays. The fact that he can play on the wing or as a number ten would also fit the profile that the club are looking for to strengthen our attacking options. There a though a number of major concerns:

World Cup Flops

Historically, signing players off the back of one major international tournament isn’t a smart move. They have performed on the biggest stage of all, but you get a very small sample size of matches to watch how they perform.

You would think that if our interest was genuine, we would have already scouted him heavily while playing for his club, and if we had done that, I can’t see why we would have stayed interested.

Failures at club level

Quintero has been at Porto since 2013 when the Portuguese club spent £9m on the player. He never established himself in the first team despite making 64 appearances for them.

His best campaign came in 2014/15 when he played 30 matches in all competitions. However, he was loaned out to Rennes after that season, where he again failed to impress. He then returned to his native Colombia before his loan switch to River Plate in January, who have a £3m purchase option on the midfielder.

Lack of end product

Despite scoring a goal and providing an assist in his 2 games at the World Cup so far, he struggles to make an impact at club level.

His best scoring season came in 2013/14 when he scored four goals for Porto. His highest number of assists (7) came in the following campaign.

Personally, I don’t think there is much to this rumour at this point, but you never know. If Colombia get through the group stage, and Quintero continues to impress in the knockout rounds, interest will no doubt grow and grow despite his poor record in club football.

Share this article