Tottenham Hotspur have been through an awful lot of change over the last few years.
From the man in the hotseat to the players on the pitch, the team today is practically unrecognisable from the one Mauricio Pochettino left in 2019.
Well, it’s almost entirely different, as two players who started in his final game also started for Ange Postecoglou on the weekend: Ben Davis and Son Heung-min.
Both players have been incredible servants for the club over the years, but Spurs need to find long-term replacements for both, and based on recent reports, they may have found just the player for the latter, a player who’s been compared to Dele Alli and another world-class sensation.
Why Spurs need a Son replacement
So, the first thing that needs to be said is that Son is a talented footballer who has been an utterly sensational servant for Tottenham over the last decade or so, but therein lies the sole reason Postecoglou needs to find a replacement: he’s been in the team for almost ten years and is now on the wrong side of 30.
The South Korean superstar is 32 years old, and while defenders, goalkeepers and even some midfielders and strikers can maintain a high level of performance at that age, it’s incredibly rare for a touchline winger to do the same, as evidenced by research conducted by The Athletic which found the peak age for a player in his position is 26.
Moreover, while the former Bayer Leverkusen star has been able to maintain an impressive level of output this season, scoring four goals and providing four assists in 14 games, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that he appears significantly less dynamic on the pitch, and as we saw on the weekend, moving him into the striker role does not help.
On top of the simple fact that age catches up with us all, the 133-capped international has also become increasingly unlucky when it comes to injuries, as this season alone, he’s missed ten games for club and country due to thigh and hamstring issues.
In all, while Son may well be able to play a role in the squad for a few more seasons, it’s evident that he cannot be relied upon to be a regular starter for too much longer, and therefore a replacement attacker must be signed.
The good news is that Tottenham have been linked with a fascinating player capable of playing in midfield and on the wing, someone who’s been compared to Dele and Jude Bellingham, of all people.
Son's potential replacement
So, the player in question is PSV Eindhoven star Malik Tillman, who was linked to Spurs late last week, has a release clause worth up to £33m active in the summer, and has been billed as a £120m star in the making by former Ajax star Kenneth Perez.
Now, the first thing to address is the comparisons to Dele, which actually come from Pochettino himself, who said in an interview with GOAL that the USMNT international and former England star share “similar talent” and that, with the right coaching, the 22-year-old could be moulded into a game-breaker like the former Spurs ace was in his pomp.
It’s not hard to see where the Argentine’s coming from either, as in just 20 appearances this season, the Nürnberg-born gem has scored eight goals and provided four assists from attacking, central and defensive midfield, as well as from the wing, showing that he can be as versatile and as dangerously effective as Dele once was.
So, with the comparisons to the Milton Keynes-born star coming from someone who certainly knows what he’s talking about, where does this comparison to Bellingham come from?
Well, it stems from FBref, who have compared every midfielder in the Champions League this season and concluded that the Englishman is the third most similar midfielder to the PSV ace.
We can get a better understanding of how they’ve reached this conclusion by looking at the underlying metrics they rank closely for, metrics including but not limited to non-penalty expected goals plus assists, live passes, medium pass accuracy, dribblers tackled, passes blocked and attempted take-ons, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.35
0.48
Medium Passing Accuracy
92.0%
93.4%
Live Passes
43.6
41.7
Dribblers Tackled
1.40
1.28
Passes Blocked
1.60
1.49
Attempted Take-Ons
2.40
2.34
Take-Ons leading to a Shot
0.20
0.21
Shots leading to a shot
0.20
0.21
However, while being talked about in the same breath as two of the most exciting English midfielders of the last decade is great, it’s Son that Tillman may replace at Spurs.
We say this as his most played position this season has been out on the wing, and with his tally of 17 goals and 19 assists in 59 appearances for PSV, he certainly looks lethal enough to replace the South Korean’s incredible output.
Ultimately, signing Tillman could prove challenging next year, but given his incredible talent, versatility and potential, Daniel Levy and Co should be doing all they can to bring him to N17 as under Postecoglou, he could be unreal.
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