Friday, March 29, 2024

Tottenham reportedly interested in 28-year-old Bundesliga star as agent lauds ‘legend’ Mourinho

According to the Express, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing 28-year-old RB Leipzig and Sweden star Emil Forsberg. The player’s agent has spoken out on the reported interest from around Europe, singling out Spurs boss Jose Mourinho for praise.

Agent comments

Forsberg’s agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, spoke of how Mourinho is a “legend” of the game before going on to say how he is not at all surprised that the Portuguese is interested in signing his client.

“It’s nothing that surprises me at all,” said Cetinkaya, when asked about Tottenham’s rumoured interest.

He went on to tell Swedish media: “Mourinho is a great legend who has worked with Victor Lindelöf as well. Together with Victor, Forsberg is the biggest star in the national team and has caused total chaos in Leipzig.

“I’m not surprised. I can say this; everyone will soon see what will happen to Emil Forsberg.”

Forsberg and his season so far

Forsberg plays mostly off the left wing for RB Leipzig, but has the ability to play on the right wing as well as through the middle. He has made a total of 24 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit this season, 16 of which were in the league.

In a team that boasts attacking talent such as Timo Werner, Christopher Nkunku, Patrick Schick and Marcel Sabitzer – game time is not easy to come by, even for a player of Forsberg’s quality.

He has been a part of 21 of Leipzig’s 23 match-day squads in Bundesliga this season (missed two through injury). Of those 21 matches, he was an unused sub five times, he came off the bench six times and he was in the starting line up 10 times. All-in-all, he’s a key part of a pretty successful rotation system at Leipzig.

In terms of his output, he has managed nine goals and four assists in all competitions with five goals and two assists coming in the Bundesliga.

Tottenham eager to sign Emil Forsberg
Tottenham eager to sign Emil Forsberg

Where will he fit in at Tottenham?

In all honesty, if Tottenham have a fully fit squad with the likes of Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, Son Heung-Min, Erik Lamala, Dele Alli AND Giovani Lo Celso able to play, Forsberg is going to struggle to get into the team.

However, for all the talent they have, Spurs also have a bloody terrible injury record. Harry Kane gets one big injury per season, Son seems to get a few here and there, as does Erik Lamela.

Therefore, there is still purpose to Forsberg signing for Tottenham. While I’m not so sure he’d be first choice, I can definitely see him having a major role to play from the bench in the league.

Playing at the top level in England means you will play significantly more games than you will in say, Germany, where Forsberg resides currently. Over in Deutschland, they have the league, the DFB-Pokal, which lasts the whole season (if you get to the final), as well as whatever European competition you’re in.

In England there are two more teams in the Premier League than there are in Bundesliga, so that’s another four games already.

Add on to that a second cup competition and the end result is a lot of opportunities to play, and a lot more need for teams like Tottenham, who tend to do well in most competitions, to have a larger squad.

Ergo, if Tottenham do go ahead and sign Emil Forsberg, I probably wouldn’t rush to put him in your fantasy team on the basis that he’s likely going to be one of a number of players who are rotated in and out of the squad when necessary.

Having said that, I wouldn’t mind my team having a player of Forsberg’s quite immense quality to come off the bench. As it is, I guess we’ll have to make do with Christian Atsu as our impact sub…

If Jose Mourinho wants to scout the Swede further, he’ll have the perfect opportunity to do so in two weeks time when the North Londoners travel to Germany for their second leg Champions League tie against Forsberg’s Leipzig side. Spurs currently trail 1-0 on aggregate in that tie…

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