Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly set their sights on West Ham United left-back Arthur Masuaku, who is also said to be courting interest from Chelsea.
According to a report in The Sun, Tottenham are preparing a £20 million summer bid for the former Olympiacos defender, as they prepare for life after Danny Rose, who has been widely tipped to swap London for Manchester in the summer and join Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
The report goes onto state that both Manchester United and Chelsea have watched the 24-year-old Masuaku in action, but it is Tottenham who have shown the most interest. Masuaku had a decent outing against Chelsea in last week’s 1-1 draw, so Antonio Conte will know first hand what he can bring to the table.
? | West Ham manager David Moyes has called on defender Arthur Masuaku to up his game ahead of Monday night’s clash against Stoke City.#WHUFC | https://t.co/nb2OZuC1BI pic.twitter.com/jqVEIzJtus
— Read West Ham (@ReadWestHam) April 13, 2018
Masuaku is a product of the Valenciennes FC youth system and he made his debut for them back in 2013, when they were still in the French top flight. 29 appearances later, he moved to Greek giants Olympiacos in 2014, where he went on to make 74 appearances and helped them win two Super League titles and 1 Greek Cup.
West Ham then brought the Masuaku to English shores in the summer of 2016 for a reported £6.2 million fee. He took some time to get used to the travails of the Premier League and was sidelined for a large part of the due to a knee injury.
The 2017-18 season though, has been better for the French-born Masuaku, who has slowly established himself in the starting XI over the course of the current campaign. He received the first ever red card of his career this season, when he spat on Wigan Atheltic midfielder Nick Powell during an FA Cup game.
He was subsequently banned for 6 games and David Moyes had stated that West Ham would dish out their own punishment. This incident and injuries aside, whether Masuaku could be a good replacement for Rose is debatable.
While he is fairly quick and has a good physical presence, he is no Rose, who has established himself as as one of the Premier League’s best full-backs in the last two seasons and it is highly unlikely that he will be able to replace Marcos Alonso on Chelsea’s left flank either.
Should Rose leave in the summer, he would have to come up against Ben Davies, who himself has been a key figure for Tottenham this season. At Chelsea, he would have to battle it out with Alonso and Emerson Palmieri week in and week out and that isn’t an attractive prospect.
Based on current form, he would at best be a second or third choice left-back at both clubs and perhaps, it isn’t the right move for him at this stage of his career. However, he is said to want to play Champions League football, so if there is a race for his signature in the summer, Tottenham are likelier to come out on top.
