Tottenham Hotspur's astute acquisition of Kevin Danso has gone under the radar, and the Austrian is proving to be an excellent piece of business.
Danso arrived at Spurs initially on loan last January before making a permanent £21m move from Lens and has served as backup to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. He has come into Thomas Frank's starting lineup over the past week after an injury to Romero.
The 27-year-old impressed in a 3-0 win away to Everton on Sunday (October 26), rarely putting a foot wrong as Frank's men moved up to third in the table. Van de Ven's brace means the Dutchman will get all the plaudits, but his defensive partner was just as influential.
Everton 0-3 Tottenham: Danso Deserves His Flowers
Spurs have now won five of their nine opening league games and the victory over the Toffees was a statement of intent. Van de Ven grabbed himself a delightful first-half double before Pape Matar Sarr struck late on.
It wasn't the quietest of afternoons for Guglielmo Vicario, and he was kept busy, at the other end of the pitch, building on his man-of-the-match performance midweek against AS Monaco. But the Italian goalkeeper was helped out by a dogged display from his defenders, including Danso, whose showing didn't go unnoticed.
Jamie Redknapp spoke highly of the Austrian when asked whether Spurs have themselves a bargain. He told Sky Sports: "When you look at the current market, £20m from Lens is not that expensive. He's quick, he's aggressive. He's coming in, not always going to start games... but he adds so much to the team."
Danso made his 10th appearance of the season, just his second as a starter in the league, and was faultless, giving Frank a happy headache ahead of Romero's return from injury. Even if he does head back to the bench for his skipper, he'll have shown his manager he can be relied upon and even turned to if one of his favoured defensive duo loses form or fitness.
Spurs relied on the former Southampton man to throw himself in the way of a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall effort, one of two blocks he made. He also made 18 clearances while completing both of his ground duels and all four of his aerial duels.
Frank will want to see him continue giving him food for thought when his side takes on Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday (October 29). It's then the biggest match of the season thus far when they host Chelsea on November 1 where the Lilywhites could pour more misery on Enzo Maresca's beleaguered Blues.