Each fashionable Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is more likely to be measured in opposition to Mousa Dembele, the Belgian having been such a pressure on the coronary heart of Mauricio Pochettino’s beloved facet.
The ‘Participant’s Participant’, he was all the things a central midfielder ought to be. A powerhouse presence, but with the guile and charm to have the ability to glide his manner up the pitch with ease, such a sight in full circulate.
Within the wake of his exit in 2019, there have been far too many who’ve underwhelmed in that function, be it Tanguy Ndombele, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg or Yves Bissouma, amongst others.
Hope rests on the £185m pairing of Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali to buck the pattern this season, though the brand new duo won’t truly be Tottenham’s modern-day model of Dembele.
Assessing Tonali and Fernandes’ begins to life at Spurs
Beginning with Tonali, there have been shiny sparks in pre-season for the Italian, not least his purpose in opposition to rivals Chelsea, but the return to Premier League motion hasn’t been type to the £100m man.
In opposition to Brentford on the opening weekend, Tonali and co had been no match for the ability and relentlessness of Keith Andrews’ facet, together with club-record Bees signing, Mamadou Sangare.
That was adopted by a tough journey on his aggressive residence debut in opposition to former membership Newcastle United, the 26-year-old changed late on following a muted show, having recorded solely 41 touches all night.
As for Fernandes, the Portuguese solely entered the fray off the bench in west London, but his high quality instantly shone by means of, recording a 92% cross accuracy charge because the guests managed to cease the bleeding within the second half.
Nonetheless solely 22, there is a feeling that the ex-West Ham United man may even show the higher pick-up than Tonali, having once more been on the coronary heart of issues in opposition to Newcastle.
|
Fernandes & Tonali – vs Newcastle |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Fernandes |
Stat |
Tonali |
|
90 |
Minutes |
75 |
|
69 |
Touches |
41 |
|
98% |
Cross accuracy |
81% |
|
3 |
Key passes |
2 |
|
1 |
Huge possibilities created |
1 |
|
7 |
Ball misplaced |
8 |
|
0/0 |
Succ. dribbles |
0/0 |
|
1 |
Photographs |
1 |
|
11.1 |
Distance lined |
9.2 |
|
3/6 |
Floor duels received |
2/3 |
|
0 |
Dribbled previous |
1 |
Working in a extra superior function, he recorded a ridiculous 98% cross charge, together with a 100% cross success within the opposition half, all whereas nonetheless supplying three key passes.
There is a zip and vitality to Fernandes’ recreation that has already caught the attention, with Spurs’ capacity to beat Manchester United to his signature already wanting like a masterstroke.
Is he the second coming of Dembele, nonetheless? Effectively, that honour may lie elsewhere in Roberto De Zerbi’s ranks.
Why Spurs star could be the “closest” factor to Dembele
Followers and pundits alike shall be fast to leap to conclusions following a disappointing begin to the marketing campaign for the Lilywhites, however De Zerbi continues to be placing the items collectively after a lot upheaval this summer season.
There stays a raft of latest signings to mattress, whereas after the harm chaos of 2025/26, a string of returnees will even should get again match and firing once more and discover their place below this new regime.
Amongst those that Spurs may definitely do with getting again to his greatest is Mohammed Kudus, the Ghanaian returning to motion off the bench in opposition to Newcastle, having been sidelined since January.
A participant whom Brighton and Hove Albion beforehand tried to signal whereas De Zerbi was in cost, Kudus confirmed flashes of what he can do within the first-half of final time period, scoring and helping seven targets regardless of solely beginning 19 instances.
Such a flexible, versatile asset too, whereas he is not naturally deployed as a central midfielder like Dembele, his mixture of tempo, energy and dribbling prowess definitely shares similarities to the Belgian genius.
Certainly, that’s the view of pundit John Wenham, the Spurs professional suggesting final season that Kudus is the “closest” factor the membership has seen to Dembele in his pomp.
“Kudus is like having two gamers rolled into one,” Wenham stated. “On one hand, he’s this tough, skilful right-winger that will get a great deal of targets and assists. However, he’s like a massively highly effective central midfield participant.
He’s the closest equal we’ve needed to Mousa Dembele, when it comes to the power that he’s acquired and the way in which he holds gamers off, though they’re utterly totally different gamers. Having these two skills in a single participant could be very, very harmful.”
That comparability is not with out advantage, with a lot of Kudus’ recreation, like Dembele, centred round his ball-carrying capacity, rating within the high 5% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s huge 5 leagues final time period for profitable dribbles per 90.
When in full circulate, be it as a quantity ten, a box-to-box quantity eight, a winger and even as a false 9, the one-time Ajax star is so explosive, the kind of participant who can flip defence into assault right away.
His high quality, because it did for Dembele, merely shines by means of, with 2026/27 hopefully set to be Kudus’ season as he seeks to make up for misplaced time after his injury-hit begin this 12 months.
