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Tottenham must snub one Bayern Munich star, purchase another

By Rucker Haringey

MUNICH, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 17: Jerome Boateng (L) of Muenchen is substituted by his team mate Douglas Costa during the Bundesliga match between Bayern Muenchen and FC Ingolstadt 04 at Allianz Arena on September 17, 2016 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)
MUNICH, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 17: Jerome Boateng (L) of Muenchen is substituted by his team mate Douglas Costa during the Bundesliga match between Bayern Muenchen and FC Ingolstadt 04 at Allianz Arena on September 17, 2016 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images) /
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Tottenham must be careful dealing with Bayern Munich

It isn’t often that multiple Bayern Munich players express interest in moving to Tottenham in the same summer, but Mauricio Pochettino has changed things in North London. The real question is whether or not Spurs should want to sign the intriguing duo of Douglas Costa and Jerome Boateng.

Both men have fallen slightly out of favour with Carlo Ancelotti. As the German giants look to integrate a few more young stars into the side next season, both will find themselves on the fringes of the squad. As a result, both will evaluate their options this summer. Each star has expressed a great deal of interest in joining Pochettino’s project at Spurs.

Boateng is the more recent of the two to inform Tottenham of his interest. The classy defender clashed with Ancelotti after being left out of Bayern’s recent derby against Dortmund. In fairness, his manager has regularly rotated his centre back trio of Boateng, Mats Hummels and Javi Martinez for much of the campaign.

Even so, it’s easy to see why the proud defender took umbrage to being dropped. He’s something of a legend at Bayern. Being left out of such a big match was surely a stinging blow to his pride.

The truth is Boateng just hasn’t been very consistent for Ancelotti this season. His Whoscored.com player rating average of 6.77 in 12 Bundesliga matches isn’t up to the Bayern standard. It’s fair to wonder whether or not Boateng is still capable of being a world-class defender.

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Having watched a lot of him this season, I believe the answer to that question as no. He seems to have lost a step and that’s really hurt his game. He can still be an adequate Premier League defender, but he’s going to demand star wages. At the price he’d surely require, Spurs would be wise to pursue Harry Maguire instead.

In sharp contrast, Tottenham would be well-advised to take a long look at signing Douglas Costa. He’s two years younger than Boateng and his Whoscored.com rating of 7.17 in 23 league matches shows he still has the ability to positively influence Premier League matches.

He wouldn’t be a cheap purchase either, but attacking midfielder is inherently a more expensive position to address than centre back. It also is a more pronounced need for Spurs. Pochettino would love to add one more versatile attacker to round out his corp of goal scorers.

Next: 5 reasons Tottenham should sign Ross Barkley

Tottenham are heading into a very interesting summer transfer window. Douglas Costa would be an excellent addition to the squad, but Jerome Boateng will cost more than he’s worth. As such it should be one Bayern star in, and one out for Pochettino.

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