Spurs targeting £25m Son rival who’s like Martinelli

As campaigns go, last season was one full of ups and downs for Tottenham Hotspur as new boss Ange Postecoglou got to grips with life in the Premier League.

The Australian had his side playing incredible football at times, but a mixture of injuries and a collapse in form towards the back end saw the Lilywhites slip from a nailed-on Champions League place to the Europa League.

To make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again this year, Daniel Levy and Co must bring in some quality additions to the squad over the coming weeks who could come in when players start to dip or even start games at times.

The good news is that, based on recent reports, it appears they are doing just that, as the latest player heavily touted for a move to N17 would be the ideal Son Heung-min rival and, interestingly, has been compared to Gabriel Martinelli in the past.

Tottenham Hotspur transfer news

According to a recent report from Italian journalist Gianni Balzarini, Tottenham are incredibly keen on signing Juventus star Federico Chiesa this summer.

Balzarini claims that the Lilywhites are ready to make an offer in the region of €30m – £25m – for the dynamic winger, a fee that would more than please the Old Lady.

It wouldn’t be a cheap transfer, but in the modern market, it does feel like a reasonable fee for a full international.

Moreover, as the intention may well be to use him as competition or Son, Levy and Co should definitely get over the line on this transfer – his comparison to Martinelli is just a nice bonus.

How Chiesa compares to Son and Martinelli

The first thing to look at here is this comparison to Arsenal’s Martinelli. While he might not be the most popular of characters on the white side of North London, he is a talented player.

For example, even with a slightly down campaign last year, he scored eight goals and provided five assists in 44 games for the Premier League runners-up.

So, while the pair’s most apparent similarity is that they play on the wing, this comparison, in particular, stems from FBref.

They examined players in similar positions in the 2022/23 Europa League, created a list of the ten most comparable players for each position, and concluded that the Brazilian was the eighth most similar attacking midfielder or winger to Chiesa.

This conclusion was reached by looking at how closely the pair ranked in several underlying metrics, including assists, progressive carries, shots, short passing accuracy, shot and goal-creating actions and carries, all per 90.

With all that said, how well does the Genova-born “wizard”, as dubbed by football media personality Roger Bennett, stack up to the player he’ll be tasked with rivaling?

Well, unsurprisingly, the Lilywhites’ captain does come out on top when it comes to output, but that isn’t to say the Juve ace is an unproductive player.

In 36 appearances last season, the South Korean superstar scored 17 goals and provided ten assists, whereas the Italian scored ten goals and provided three assists in 37 games, which would’ve been enough to make him the joint-fourth most effective attacking player at Spurs last season.

Ultimately, for the reported fee, signing Chiesa to provide some more competition for Son feels like a no-brainer, and while the Spurs faithful don’t particularly like, the comparison to Martinelli is a positive sign.