It has actually happened. Jose Mourinho has been appointed the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, replacing the sacked Mauricio Pochettino in the process.
And there is little doubt Mourinho’s footballing philosophy differs from that of the man he replaced, which could well see him look to remould Tottenham’s squad when the January transfer window comes around.
With that in mind, here are three players the Portuguese should look to sign to implement his ideas at his new club.
Alex Telles – FC Porto
We’ll start off with FC Porto’s prolific left-back, the 26-year-old Telles.
While Danny Rose has said that he has no intention of leaving the club before his contract expires in 2021, it would be no surprise to see Spurs strengthen in the left-back area to find an upgrade on the England international and Ben Davies, and the Brazilian defender is one of the hot products currently on the market.
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Mourinho’s sides usually have well-balanced full-backs who are no strangers to going forward but are also pretty skilled when it comes to their defensive duties, such as Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Valencia in the past.
With three goals and two assists in ten Liga NOS games this season, Telles is certainly a big attacking threat. Last season, those figures were as high as four goals and eight assists and he even tallied 1.1 tackles and 1.8 interceptions per game.
With an estimated value of £31.5m as per Transfermarkt, he is potentially attainable and fits the bill perfectly.
Hakim Ziyech – Ajax
Ziyech to Tottenham Hotspur is nothing particularly new and there’s a good chance that they would go for him even if Mourinho wasn’t at the helm, as per Calciomercato’s recent reports that name them as a serious contender for his signature.
But with the Portuguese coach there, the chances of them chasing the Ajax winger could actually go up, especially considering that he loves quick and prolific wingers who are willing to track back, are deadly in the box and can successfully orchestrate a quick transition.
Just a quick look back to some of his former forward lines tells us enough about it. At Manchester United he used the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial, at Chelsea he had Eden Hazard and Willian and at Real Madrid, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria.
The 26-year-old has been immense for the Dutch side this season, bagging six goals and 15 assists across all competitions, not to mention that he has Champions League experience under his belt as well.
Ziyech definitely looks like someone Mourinho could use in his squad and not just that, but someone who could potentially thrive in his preferred 4-2-3-1 system as well as the wide man just behind Harry Kane up front.
Ivan Rakitic – FC Barcelona
Even though on the face of it, this transfer looks like a bit of a reach, Rakitic could very well be a perfect fit for any Mourinho side and especially for this particular Spurs team.
Currently, the Portuguese manager has the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks and Eric Dier at his disposal to fill that pivot role, but the former is more of a box-to-box style player than a clear-cut defensive midfielder, and the latter has somewhat fallen out of favour lately with only three Premier League games under his belt this season.
If we look back at his past tenures, he did always like having someone at the base of his midfield to guard the more attacking-minded players’ back – think of Claude Makelele or Nemanja Matic, for instance.
While it would not be a surprise if Mourinho resurrected Dier’s career for that very reason, Rakitic, who’s also out of favour and who Barcelona are actively looking to sell, would fill that role perfectly.
He’s a workhorse with loads of stamina, defensively pretty solid, used to covering for his teammates and really good on the ball.
Not to mention that he would be attainable and would offer some much-needed experience to Mourinho’s rebuild project.
Finally, the Special One himself showered the Croat with praise earlier this year when talking to beIN SPORTS after El Clasico, calling him “underrated”.
