One of the areas that Harry Redknapp will surely need to strengthen is in defence and with that in mind, there are a number of rumours today linking Tottenham with Elaquim Mangala. A defender of Congolese descent who current plays his football with Belgian outfit Standard Liege.
Mangala is just 20 and has so far made a dozen appearances for France at Under 21 level. He is one of many up and coming young French players, some of whom Spurs have been linked with in recent weeks, and he is tipped for a very bright future indeed.
It is believed that Mangala could be available for as little as £4m – a price that Harry could well find favourable. There would be some competition for his signature however including some French clubs such as Lille and PSG – who seem to be linked with everybody at the moment. There’s also some reported interest from Italy.
A new centre half would seem to be as much as a priority as a striker for the new season so could Mangala fit Harry’s bill?
Mangala has been erratic most of times at Standard Liege who’ve only come in second in the Belgian league after nearly losing out on our crazy play-off system (which halves points gathered after 30 games). They went on to win 8/10 in the playoffs though with Mangala performing quite reasonably! Physically he’s up there, ready for the PL but he’s still very raw technically and tactically. If you guys wish Bassong gone, I would advise not to spend on another ‘potentially good but rather not great/proven defender’.
Try Jan Vertonghen from Ajax, a left footed Centre Half with good vision and comfortable with the ball at his feet and yes he will cost big money at around 15m€ but he is about as good as SPURS can get this transferperiod imo.