Tottenham have been linked with a £30m move for Roma forward Erik Lamela, who is highly rated by their new technical director Franco Baldini. The Italian will have a great knowledge of the Argentine due to his last role in football, which happened to be at Roma as a director. As Gareth Bale looks more and more likely to leave White Hart Lane, the club will need to find somebody to play behind Roberto Soldado, a role in which the Welshman flourished in last season.  Lamela could be the perfect fit as he can be a huge threat to opposition’s defences with his direct running and his eye for goal. Furthermore, at 21, he has huge potential to develop further which could eventually lead to him being one of the best players in the world.
In 33 Serie A matches last season, the Roma attacker scored 15 goals and also chipped in with 5 assists. His 15 goals came from 86 shots which led to an average of 2.6 shots per game. The 21-year-old had 99 successful dribbles last season which meant he had an average of 3 per game showing his dribbling prowess. Furthermore, he averaged 1.7 key passes a match with 56 over the whole season. These attacking stats show that Lamela is very dangerous in the final third, both creatively and scoring himself. Moreover, he could turn out to be Spurs’ attacking play-maker, a role made popular in England by the likes of Juan Mata and David Silva.
Lamela also excels in passing which will fit in well with Andre Villas-Boas’ fluid style of play. His passing accuracy of 81.9% is good for a player of his age. He averages 29.8 passes a game which is quite low but his tendency to dribble could lead to selfish play at times. In addition, as he is used as a forward at Roma, he may be played deeper at Spurs, so his passing would grow in importance. The Argentine is quite strong at through balls as he was successful with 17 in the last campaign.
With time running out in the window, the North London side may be forced to rush their spending of the Bale money if he does leave as expected. With Baldini’s links at Roma and his inside knowledge of the fee required, Lamela could be a player they could get quickly. They will struggle to sign players with the required ability for the money they are willing to pay this late in the window. Spurs have been linked with Anzhi midfielder Willian, but Liverpool look more serious in their bid to sign the star after they were linked to a £30m bid this morning.
After the signings of Paulinho, Soldado, Nacer Chadli and Etienne Capoue, Tottenham look very strong going into the new season. Even with the likely departure of Bale, the signing of Lamela would leave the club with a stronger squad than the one that narrowly missed out on Champions League last season. These transfer dealings make Spurs favourites for the top four in my eyes, with Liverpool also moving closer to the North London clubs, especially if Willian joins and Luis Suarez stays. Arsenal need to do some buying otherwise they could fall out of the top four as the competition gets stronger.
The race for the fourth spot could be even more exciting than the title race this campaign.
