Paratici now plotting Spurs bid for "immense" £53m talent, he'd be "unreal" for Conte - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Marcus Edwards back to the Premier League in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to Portuguese publication A Bola (via Sport Witness), who claim that, after turning in two highly impressive performances against Spurs in the Champions League earlier this season, Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte are now ‘taking the first steps’ in a move to bring the Sporting Lisbon forward back to north London this winter.

The report goes on to state that, while the Liga Portugal side are unwilling to sanction the sale of the 24-year-old for anything less than his €60m (£53m) release clause this January, with Tottenham possessing a 50% sell-on clause for the former England U20 international, Edwards would only cost the club a much more affordable €30m (£26.5m).

“Unreal”

Considering the astronomical rise to stardom Edwards has been on since leaving Spurs on a free transfer back in 2019, it is not difficult to understand why both Paratici and Conte would be interested in a deal to bring the forward back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this winter – especially for a figure in the region of just £26.5m.

Indeed, over his 14 Liga Portugal appearances so far this season, the £22m-rated talent has been in sensational attacking form, having already scored five goals, registered four assists and created four big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.6 shots – 0.7 of which have been on target – making 1.7 key passes and completing 1.7 dribbles per game.

These returns have seen the player who Andy Lapthorne dubbed “unreal” average a quite breathtaking Sofascore match rating of 7.20, not only ranking him as Ruben Amorim’s fifth-best performer in the league but also as the joint 20th-best player in the top flight of Portuguese football as a whole thus far in 2022/23.

The £23k-per-week attacker was in similarly fine form over his six outings in the Champions League, scoring two goals – one of which came against Spurs – providing two assists and creating two big chances, as well as taking an average of 1.2 shots – 0.8 of which hit the target – making one key pass and completing 1.7 dribbles per match.

These metrics saw the player who journalist Brian Fonseca labelled “immense” average an astonishing Sofascore match rating of 7.02, ranking him as Sporting’s second-best performer in European football’s most prestigious club competition.

Furthermore, with Edwards boasting extremely impressive positional versatility – being able to operate on either wing, as an attacking midfielder and even as an out-and-out number nine – the 24-year-old would have no trouble fitting into either of Conte’s preferred 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 tactical set-ups in north London.

As such, considering just how exciting a talent the Spurs academy graduate very much looks to be, it is indeed easy to see why Paratici and Conte would be keen on a deal to bring the forward back to the club in January, as Edwards would undoubtedly represent an unreal addition to the 53-year-old manager’s current attacking arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Source

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