Tottenham Hotspur managed to pick up a much-needed and hard-fought win in the Europa League on Thursday night, but any hope of an uptick in form was quickly squashed on Sunday afternoon.
Ange Postecoglou’s side played out a dismal 2-1 defeat to the relegation-threatened Leicester City in the Premier League, and it’s starting to look like the club could genuinely be pulled into a relegation battle.
In the manager’s defence, he has been forced to play a makeshift backline consisting of a young midfielder in Archie Gray, an ageing full-back in Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin, who is now clearly below the standard required to even be a backup for the Lilywhites.
Fortunately, recent reports have touted a far more accomplished centre-back for a move to the club, a centre-back who could send the Romanian international packing.
Tottenham target defensive titan
According to a recent report from Caught Offside, Tottenham are one of several teams to have registered their interest in Feyenoord star David Hancko.
Alongside the Lilywhites, the report has revealed that fellow Premier League side Chelsea have also asked the Dutch side for information on the Slovakian, while Juventus and Atlético Madrid are also mooted as potential suitors.
However, the report explains that the Eredivisie outfit are adamant that their defender is not for sale this month but is expected to have an asking price of around €50m for him in the summer, which is about £42m.
It could be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but given how well Hancko has played in recent seasons and the dismal form of Dragusin, it’s one well worth pursuing.
How Hancko compares to Dragusin
So, the first thing to say is that, when fit, the starting centre-back pairing for Tottenham next season will almost certainly still be Cristan Romero and Micky van de Ven, as the nous and leadership of the former and the breathtaking speed and athleticism of the latter make them a truly formidable partnership.
However, with both of them being somewhat injury-prone and playing an incredibly intense style of football under Postecoglou, the need for a reliable and skilful backup who does not drop the level too much is a necessity, and we have seen over the last year or so that Dragusin is most certainly not that.
Therefore, should Daniel Levy and Co sanction the signing of Hancko in the summer, he’d initially come in to challenge and hopefully usurp the Romanian as that first-choice backup, but how do the two centre-backs stack up when we take a look under the hood and compare their underlying numbers?
Unsurprisingly, it’s the Feyenoord star who comes out victorious and, unfortunately for the Spurs man, it’s not even close.
For example, the Slovakian titan comes out ahead in almost every metric, including, but not limited to, actual and expected non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, passing accuracy, key passes, passes into the penalty area and final third, shot and goal-creating actions, tackles won, interceptions, clearances and more, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.20
0.03
Actual Non-Penalty G+As
0.19
0.03
Progressive Passes
5.71
2.53
Progressive Carries
1.71
0.37
Passing Accuracy
86.9%
85.8%
Key Passes
0.57
0.21
Passes into the Penalty Area
0.43
0.16
Passes into the Final Third
4.14
3.26
Live Passes
51.9
57.3
Shot-Creating Actions
1.43
0.53
Goal-Creating Actions
0.14
0.05
Tackles Won
0.94
0.41
Interceptions
1.06
1.01
Clearances
5.14
4.16
Blocks
1.43
1.79
Errors Leading to a shot
0.00
0.32
Successful Take-Ons
0.57
0.05
Ball Recoveries
2.71
3.47
Aerial Duels Won
0.71
2.21
Moreover, while the 27-year-old has the height to be a central defender, coming in at 6 foot 2, he’s no slouch with the ball at his feet, with respected analyst Ben Mattinson describing him as a “freak technician” who’s no stranger to “carrying the ball from deep,” “interchanging with midfielders,” and “driving into the box,” which makes him sound like the perfect player for Postecoglou.
Finally, he has worn the captain’s armband a number of times for Feyenoord this season, and with 48 senior caps to his name as well, he’s no stranger to the biggest stages.
Ultimately, while Dragusin has put in some reasonable performances for Spurs over the last year, they have been far and few between, and if the club want to progress, they’ll need stronger options at the back.
Therefore, while it would represent a significant investment, Levy and Co should do what they can to sign Hancko this year.
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