The name of Radja Nainggolan will be familiar to few, unless you are a fan of the Belgian side or of Serie A team Cagliari where the 25 year old is currently playing his football. However, his name is doing the media rounds this morning with the press seemingly certain that Spurs are lining up a replacement for 32 year old Scott Parker.
It had previously been though that Tottenham were considering an approach for Inter Milan’s Fredy Guarin and in fact, reports today claim that an official bid of 20 million Euros has been made and rejected.
Colombian International Guarin had said he was happy to stay at Inter so will Spurs now turn their attention to Nainggolan? The player was born in Belgium of Indonesian descent but so far has played his entire professional career in Italy.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why he’s fallen under the radar and only featured in four full internationals since 2009 – or perhaps there are better players in the national squad.
Spurs’ current contingent of Belgians – Dembele and Vertonghen lead to strong links with any of their compatriots so is this an easy story to invent or are Spurs really looking to Radja Nainggolan as a midfield enforcer next season?
I follow Serie A, and can tell you that Nainggolan is a huge upgrade to Scotty (if he adapt to the PL..) Scotty is past it, and Nainggolan will be a superb player. With Dembele and Sandro the obvious 1st. choice, it will give Nainggolan time to adapt and ease inn to the English game. Fantastic signing should we get him.. (even at 15 mill)
Everyone forgets about sandro we dont need any midfiel players dembele and sandro / holtby / tom hud is ok bk up forget talking up any one unless its a left midfield player or a striker you cant have to many players in same position because they start crying because they wonna play
Not sure about this guy. Seen him a few times, don’t think he is a step up in quality, he doesn’t look very classy in fact he looks more like a squad player. There is much better our there to sign that this guy.
Firstly, I think those writing Scott Parker off, after half a season (following a lengthy lay off and no pre-season) are being extremely harsh.
We should remember that upon his return to the Spurs first team this season, Parker was met by a different manager, different team mates AND a different system/playing style.
He was no longer playing next to the master playmaker Modric, or behind the guile and intelligence of a VDV. Gareth Bale could no longer be found marauding down the left flank and our strike-force were largely impotent in front of goal for the WHOLE second half of the season.
Scott STILL has plenty to offer this Spurs side, both on and off the field, make no mistake about!
The biggest issue with Scott in the last campaign was his decision making, NOT his legs going!!!
And like I said, this could be largely attributed to mental fatigue (after being asked to play almost EVERY game, after nearly a year out, both at home and abroad) and the fact that he was still familiarising himself with his new team-mates in-game habits.
Scott, for me, is STILL one of the best give-and-go/pass-and- move players in the country, and when he plays in that style, he is a major to the Spurs team. However, I think Parker has been guilty of trying to overcompensate for the loss of Modric and VDV, by trying to hard to force attacks.
Whilst this may of been an unwise course of action, he should hardly be made a scapegoat because of it!
With that being said, at 32/33 Scotty isn’t going to improve greatly beyond his current level of ability. So should the chance to offload the ‘warlord’, with a view to bringing in a younger model, arise, then I could understand the decision to take it.
Personally, I would be happy to see the likes of a Diame or Wanayama come in and replace Parker, should he leave. Both have a substantial amount of experience in the British game, and you would think therefore, both would be able to hit the ground running a lot quicker than Nainggolan.
Don’t get me wrong, Radja is an extremely talented player and has the type of style that COULD make him a perfect fit for the EPL, but, personally, I think the other two offer a lower level of risk because of there experience and cost.
Assuming either/both Wanayama and Diame would cost significantly less than Nainggolan, I think the club should then pursue another central midfield player in the mould of a Pjanic/Banega/ Ander Herrera/Marvin Martin.
Yeah kiddo, keep playing FIFA2013 huh?
Come back to bed son.