Spurs struck gold on “world-class” ace who’s a £125m star in the making

Tottenham Hotspur have been through a whole heap of change over the last four years or so.

The fans have seen managers come and go, expensive signings flop, and even club icon Harry Kane finally leave.

However, while Ange Postecoglou hasn’t been able to remove the club’s inconsistent streak, he has, at the very least, made them entertaining to watch again, which certainly wasn’t the case under former manager Antonio Conte.

However, for all the Italian’s mistakes in North London, he did at least sign one of the club’s best players, a player who could soon be worth north of £100m based on those he’s compared to.

Conte’s recruitment misstep

Before we get to the player in question, let’s look at another of the personnel additions made by Conte during his time in the hot seat, one who has not had the best of times in North London: Richarlison.

The Brazilian joined Spurs for a whopping £60m in the summer of 2022, and off the back of a campaign in which he scored 11 goals and provided five assists in just 33 games for Everton, it was easy to understand why Daniel Levy and Co sanctioned such an expensive offer.

However, the former Watford ace’s first year in N17 was a disaster, as in 35 appearances across all competitions, he racked up a measly tally of three goals and four assists, meaning that he maintained an average of a goal involvement once every five games, which can hardly be described as value for money.

Last season, under the management of Postecoglou, things panned out a little better for the Nova Venécia-born forward, as he scored 12 goals and provided four assists in 31 games.

However, the one mark on that record is that nine of those goals came between gameweek 16 and 23 in the league, so outside that period, he remained unreliable in front of goal.

This season has seen the 27-year-old score once and provide one assist in seven appearances, but injuries have been a problem, and with Dominic Solanke’s arrival in the summer it seems like his time at Spurs is all but up, which cannot be said for another of Conte’s signings, who is thriving this year.

The Conte signing star who could be worth a fortune

To get straight to the point, the player in question is Swedish sensation Dejan Kulusevski, who initially joined Conte’s Tottenham on an 18-month loan deal in January 2022, but was then signed permanently for around £23m in June the following year.

In the almost three years that the 24-year-old has been at the club, he has established himself as undoubtedly one of their most technically brilliant players, and while he’s had some dips in form along the way, he remains one of their most dangerous players.

In his 113 appearances to date, the Stockholm-born phenom has scored 17 goals and provided 24 assists, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 2.75 games, which is even more impressive when you consider that he’s played in seven different positions during those 113 games.

Speaking of positional changes, he’s undergone a significant one under Postecoglou, as the Australian is now primarily playing the “world-class” star, as described by talent scout Jacek Kulig, in midfield, and it’s proving to be an inspired change.

For example, of his seven goal involvements so far this season, six of them have come when he’s started in central or attacking midfield, and it was there that he put in his best performance of the campaign away to Manchester United as well.

This sensational form and new position has seen him land comparisons with some of the most exciting and valuable players in the world, including Manchester City’s Phil Foden.

The comparison stems from FBref, which compares players in similar positions across Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and in this instance, has concluded that the Englishman is the sixth most similar midfielder to the Lilywhites star.

Now, to get a better idea of how this conclusion was reached, we can examine the underlying metrics in which the pair ranks most closely, metrics including but not limited to non-penalty expected goals, progressive passes, key passes and passes into the penalty area and aerial duels won, all per 90.

While it’s great in its own right to be compared to such a highly thought-of midfielder, it should also delight Levy and Co, as if the pair are so statistically similar and are the same age, then they should be worth similar amounts, right?

If so, the North Londoners would be sitting on an incredibly valuable asset, as Transfermarkt values the City star at an eye-watering €150m, which converts to around £125m.

Therefore, while he might not have that valuation today, it could be argued that in Kulusevski, Tottenham have an incredible £125m megastar in the making.

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