Erik Lamela is a luxury player Tottenham can no longer afford
Erik Lamela gives Tottenham important production when he’s on the pitch, but that simply doesn’t happen often enough to justify his place at Spurs.
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son weren’t the only Tottenham attackers missing from the lineup against Wolves on Sunday. Erik Lamela also missed the match due to injury. His body’s fragility is going to put him on the wrong side of Jose Mourinho when the summer transfer window begins.
The Argentine attacker can at least be lauded for his honesty. According to Football London, he informed Mourinho that he wasn’t capable of helping the club against Wolves before his team’s 3-2 defeat on the weekend. It’s good that he didn’t take up a valuable place in the squad if he truly didn’t believe he could play effective football.
That honesty won’t prevent the transfer axe from crashing down on his neck this summer. Mourinho is a manager who places a great deal of importance on the talent of availability. In other words, he wants players he can count on week in and week out. That description doesn’t describe Lamela in the slightest.
The great tragedy is that Lamela’s style of play would fit Mourinho perfectly. He’s just the sort of agitating attacking midfielder that has thrived under the Portuguese gaffter in the past. At his best, Lamela does a wonderful impersonation of Ivan Perisic for Spurs. Perisic, of course, is a player that Mourinho has coveted for the better part of a decade.
The suspectibility of both Kane and Son to fall victim to injury for extended period of time will place a great importance on Tottenham buying durable attackers this summer. Fans are often guilty of evaluating players purely based on their best and brightest moments. Mourinho and his coaching staff won’t fall victim to that temptation. They will evaluate Lamela based on his contributions over the entire season. It will be easy to find an attacker who can outperform him just by providing adequate performances on a regular basis.
Next. Jose Mourinho needs to save Harry Kane from himself. dark
To put it plainly, Spurs fans who are interested in seeing Lamela ply his trade for Tottenham should make it a point to do so before the current campaign ends. He’s on borrowed time in North London. Mourinho will sell him this summer in an effort to acquire a player who at least stands a chance to stay healthy for a full season.