Tottenham are now being linked with a talented youngster as they look to continue their bold summer transfer window. Spurs have already put together a record spend this window, splashing out more than £235million, with Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali taking up the bulk of that spending.
Roberto De Zerbi is being handed a huge budget, but it will come with the expectation of leading Spurs into Europe next season despite the club finishing firmly in the bottom half for the last two campaigns. That's going to be a big challenge, but the resources have been committed, and there is more spending expected before the summer is out.
Spurs now chasing young talent
According to TeamTalk, Tottenham are now eyeing young midfield talent Ousmane Diabate, who is currently with Turkish SuperLig side Genclerbirligi. The 18-year-old is a defensive midfielder who broke into the first team last season, albeit he only made four league appearances, but he has been impressing in the youth ranks.
That has been enough to draw the attention of numerous Premier League clubs, according to the report, with Aston Villa, Brighton and Brentford also said to be interested. Spurs and Brentford are said to have made advances at this stage.
The Guinea senior international has been compared to N'Golo Kante by some, according to the report, and a move within the next 12 months is said to be likely, even if it doesn't come this summer. It's claimed the player's contract allows for a cheap deal, at least by Premier League standards. But Diabate will want to play, and it will be interesting to see which of the Premier League clubs can convince the youngster of whatever path they are offering to their first team.
Tottenham need to keep up young recruitment
Summers like this one highlight why Spurs are going to need to keep recruiting young. Under Profit and Sustainability rules, clubs are rarely able to keep up hundreds of millions worth of spending summer after summer. It's for that reason why young recruitment is a wise move, as we have seen with Tottenham's rivals Chelsea.
At Chelsea, they have signed young players they can develop, and even if they end up selling those players, they contribute to the profit equation of PSR in a major way. Spurs have done a good job overall, with players like Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray likely to prove wise investments, but even younger and even cheaper is where the true return lies.