Dean Jones insists Aston Villa box-to-box poacher Jacob Ramsey could be a “better fit” than Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher at Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs were the most active Premier League club this transfer window. While the rest of his Premier League managerial counterparts were scrabbling around in the bargain chips in January, the lovable Ange Postecoglou was gifted not one, but two decently-sized acquisitions by Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer chiefs.
Spurs were able to bring in forward Timo Werner for an initial €6m loan deal from RB Leipzig, and also splashing out a fee that could top €30m for Genoa defender Radu Dragusin. That could go some way towards solving pressing issues in Postecoglou’s squad. But not even Spurs could get all of their desired business done last month.
Alongside Dragusin and Werner, it was widely reported that the North London club were interested in capturing a highly-rated young central midfielder, with Chelsea star Conor Gallagher frequently mentioned as one prospective target.
In the end, of course, the Blues made the decision to keep the 24-year-old at Stamford Bridge, and Spurs’ pursuit ultimately came up fruitless. In the dying embers of the transfer window, Spurs were being tipped to switch their focus towards Villa midfielder Ramsey instead.
The Athletic claimed at the time that Villa are teetering dangerously close to FFP limitations and will likely need to make a big sale in the near future to ensure they do not breach those regulations. With Ramsey being an academy graduate at Villa Park, he will count as pure profit on the books if sold.
Although Spurs never actually made a deadline day move for Ramsey, Jones believes that Tottenham should “have a level of interest” in the player come summer, but believes the price tag will be similar to Gallagher’s £50 million price tag. The transfer guru also added the England Under-21 midfielder potentially being a better fit for Postecoglou than his Chelsea peer.
Jones said to GMS: “I think Tottenham should have a level of interest in Ramsey. I think when you consider what he’s brought so far to the Premier League with Aston Villa compared to what Gallagher would have brought, I think there would be a definite argument you could put up that Ramsey could be as good a fit, if not a better fit for Tottenham. The problem you’ve got is that the starting price will be pretty similar to where you’re at with Gallagher anyway if you’re looking at the £50m mark. That was off-putting to Tottenham across the winter transfer window.”
The 22-year-old is regarded as one of the best young midfielders in the country, having made 115 appearances for the Villains since making his debut back in the 2018/19 season while still a teenager.
Although injuries have limited his playing time this season—as of this writing, he has only made 14 appearances—the player is still highly-regarded by everyone at the Midlands club.
One would imagine that midfield reinforcements will remain high on their list of priorities for Spurs in the summer transfer window, and with reports that they could look to once again revive Gallagher pursuit, Ramsey could well serve as a viable candidate, provided Chelsea dig their heels in once more.
