Spurs could avenge Lenglet mistake in swoop for “extraordinary” £21m star

Tottenham Hotspur have less than a week to go to complete the rest of the business they want to do before the summer transfer window officially slams shut.

One of their summer signings made his debut in the 4-0 win over Everton in London on Saturday, as Wilson Odobert was handed a start on the flank.

Dominic Solanke and Archie Gray have also been brought in and made their debuts in the 1-1 draw with Leicester City in the first match of the Premier League campaign.

There could be more to come, in terms of incoming, before Friday’s deadline and they have been linked with one player who could avenge the howler they had with Clement Lenglet.

Tottenham’s howler with Clement Lenglet

Daniel Levy swooped to sign the France international on a season-long loan from Spanish giants Barcelona in the summer of 2022 in an attempt to bolster Antonio Conte’s squad.

The experienced defender came in to provide competition across the backline for the Italian head coach but endured a difficult season in England.

As you can see in the table above, he made two errors that directly led to a shot or a goal for the opposition and was dribbled past 18 times.

This suggests that he was prone to mistakes, in giving the ball away in dangerous areas and allowing players to dribble past him, at the heart of the defence, which is why the loan move did not work out in the end and they did not bring him back permanently.

Spurs could now avenge their Lenglet blunder

Levy could now avenge his blunder with Lenglet, who was far from an impressive performer for Spurs, by going back to Barcelona to sign another centre-back – Andreas Christensen.

Spanish outlet Sport recently reported that Tottenham are one of the sides interested in the Denmark international, who is available for £21m, and he could come in as a solid addition to the defensive unit.

In the 2023/24 campaign, Christensen made 30 appearances in LaLiga for Barcelona and caught the eye with his work in and out of possession.

The Danish colossus, who was once dubbed “extraordinary” by Xavi, completed 94% of his attempted passes in the league, compared to Lenglet’s 87% with Spurs in the Premier League.

Christensen was also only dribbled past 12 times and did not make a single error that led to a shot or goal for the opposition, which suggests that he is far more reliable defensively than the Frenchman.

The former Chelsea ace would also bring aerial dominance to the team, as he won 71% of his duels in the air last season, and that could help Ange Postecoglou from set-pieces and when it comes to defending crosses, which was an issue for Jamie Vardy’s goal against Leicester.

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Overall, Christensen’s form for Barcelona and his relatively cheap price tag at £21m suggests that he would be a shrewd signing to provide back-up to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, whilst avenging the Lenglet howler by coming in as an impressive defender from Barcelona.