da gbg bet： Tottenham Hotspur are a couple of signings short of what would be a perfect summer of transfer activity, although one of their confirmed moves is already looking like a masterstroke from Daniel Levy.
da pinnacle： Jose Mourinho has brought in three new players; former Southampton skipper Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, free-agent veteran Joe Hart and right wing-back Matt Doherty from Wolves.
And it’s the latter that has already shown his class in just his second game post-transfer, albeit for his national side, Ireland.
Stephen Kenny’s side were disappointingly defeated 1-0 by Finland at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday evening but Doherty played a starring role at the back despite the loss.
Per SofaScore, the 28-year-old picked up a match-high rating of 7.8 after recording four clearances, three tackles and one interception. He also only lost possession five times from 84 touches, had a 100% long ball accuracy rate from seven attempts and 94% passing accuracy.
The Ireland squad isn’t brimming with the same sort of quality as what Mourinho has at his disposal in north London, so you can already picture that sort of display but with Harry Kane making an impact in attack instead of Adam Idah.
Serge Aurier has been woefully inconsistent as Spurs’ first-choice right-back, leading to the Portuguese boss hilariously questioning him in Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing‘ series, so it’s no wonder the club have pressed with an addition in this position.
For just £15m, this looks an absolute steal, particularly as Doherty was one of Wolves’ standout performers last term.
The long-serving Irishman provided six goals and four assists across the Premier League and the Europa League whilst also averaging 1.7 tackles, 0.9 dribbles and 0.8 key passes, via WhoScored.
Doherty will surely be given the freedom to attack down that right-flank with Ben Davies on the other side the more defensively-minded player, so it’s a signing that really could turn out to be a bargain.
Former Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas has lauded his performances in the past as “absolutely sensational” whilst his old skipper Conor Coady believes Doherty is “phenomenal,” so Spurs will be hoping that’s continued into this term.
His display over the weekend is the perfect sign of things to come and if he does turn out to be a good signing, then Levy should absolutely be praised for sanctioning the deal.
AND in other news, Spurs should look to replace Vertonghen with Serie A monster – it’s not Skriniar either…