After a topsy-turvy Premier League campaign that saw them ultimately qualify for the Europa League, Tottenham Hotspur must get their recruitment right this summer to help Ange Postecoglou realise his ambitions in North London.
The Australian had the Lilywhites playing some scintillating football at points last year.
Still, a cavalcade of injuries and loss of form towards the end turned what could have been a frankly unbelievable season into a promising one.
Fortunately, reports suggest Daniel Levy and Co have been hard at work in recent weeks looking for the right players to come in and help the club take the next step, and the latest name touted for a move to N17 could do precisely that – oh, and he'd been compared to Bukayo Saka.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news
According to a recent report from SportMediaset via Calcio Napoli 24, Tottenham target Federico Chiesa will join the club this summer.
The report has claimed that while there was plenty of interest in the talented winger in his homeland this summer, he has opted to move to England and is now "close to Tottenham for 30-35 million euros."
This fee converts to between £25m and £29m, which seems like value for money for a player of Chiesa's quality.
Moreover, while the Spurs' faithful might not be his biggest fans for rivalry reasons, the fact that he has been compared to Saka in the past is certainly not a bad thing.
Why Chiesa would be a great signing and his comparison to Saka
So, before we look at the main reasons why Chiesa would be an excellent signing for Spurs, let's look at his comparison to the talisman of their North London rivals, Saka.
While there are obviously some positional similarities between the two internationals, this comparison stems from FBref, which compared players in similar positions at Euro 2024, created a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and concluded that the Englishman was the ninth most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Italian at the tournament.
This was not based on the eye test but more so on how closely the pair ranked for several underlying numbers, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, progressive carries, live passes, completed long passes, touches and touches in the attacking third, and ball recoveries, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists
0.15
0.12
Progressive Carries
4.83
4.43
Live Passes
34.5
36.0
Completed Long Passes
1.72
1.43
Touches
47.6
47.6
Touches in the Attacking Third
26.9
25.1
Ball Recoveries
3.10
3.14
However, this comparison to the England international isn't the only impressive thing about the "unstoppable" wideman, as dubbed by Giorgio Chiellini.
For example, in just 37 appearances last season, the 26-year-old dynamo scored ten goals and provided three assists, which equates to an average of a goal involvement every 2.8 games and would've made him the fourth most productive Spurs player last season.
Ultimately, for the money being reported, this deal for Chiesa seems like a total no-brainer for Levy and Co, and the comparisons to the Arsenal ace reaffirm that fact.
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