It’s been a mixed start to the season for Tottenham Hotspur so far this year.
Ange Postecoglou’s side are already through to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and look set to progress in the Europa League, but things haven’t been so easy in the Premier League.
Despite stellar performances against Manchester United, West Ham United and Aston Villa, the North Londoners have lost to Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town and Brighton & Hove Albion and find themselves down in tenth place.
Spurs’ form this season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competition | PL | EL | LC |
Games | 11 | 4 | 2 |
Wins | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Draws | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Losses | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Goals For | 23 | 8 | 4 |
Goals Against | 13 | 4 | 2 |
That said, some players have taken a step forward this year, such as Dejan Kulusevski, so recent reports linking the club to a player familiar with Postecoglou and who has been compared to the Swede should leave fans excited.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news
According to a recent report out of Spain, Tottenham are one of several sides very interested in Real Sociedad star Takefusa Kubo.
Alongside Spurs, the report has revealed that fellow Premier League outfit Liverpool and German behemoths Bayern Munich are also keen on the gifted Japanese international.
While the interest of these sides is far from ideal for the North Londoners, the good thing is that they know how much they’ll have to pay to get the deal done, as the story confirms that La Real have inserted a €60m release clause into the attacker’s contract, which is about £50m.
Signing Kubo could still prove challenging, but given his ability, the fact he’s already played under Postecoglou and his comparisons to Kulusevski, it’s a transfer well worth pursuing.
Kubo’s comparison to Kulusevski
Okay, so before we get into a couple of the other reasons Spurs should sign Kubo in 2025, let’s first address this comparison to Kulusevksi.
It 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 Swede is the fourth most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Japanese star.
Now, to get a better idea of how this conclusion was reached, we can examine the underlying metrics in which the pair rank most closely, metrics including but not limited to non-penalty expected goals plus assists, actual non-penalty goals plus assists, shots and goals per shot on target, passing accuracy, live passes and passes into the final third, goal-creating actions, tackles won and ball recoveries, all per 90.
Kubo & Kulusevski | ||
|---|---|---|
Statistics per 90 | Kubo | Kulusevski |
Non-Penalty Expected G+As | 0.38 | 0.43 |
Actual Non-Penalty Expected G+As | 0.31 | 0.42 |
Shots | 1.86 | 1.78 |
Goals per Shot on Target | 0.43 | 0.40 |
Passing Accuracy | 72.3% | 71.2% |
Passes into the Final Third | 2.99 | 2.74 |
Live Passes | 33.8 | 30.9 |
Goal-Creating Actions | 0.21 | 0.31 |
Tackles Won | 0.72 | 0.74 |
Ball Recoveries | 4.74 | 4.63 |
All Stats via FBref for the 24/25 League Season | ||
Now, while a comparison to a player as unbelievably talented as the former Juventus ace is certainly reason enough to sign someone, there are a couple of other reasons why the Lilywhites should go all out for the 23-year-old, starting with his familiarity with Postecoglou.
Yes, when he was still just a youngster finding his feet in the senior game, the then-FC Tokyo prospect went out on loan to fellow Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos from August 2018 to January 2019, where he made six appearances under the Australian’s tutelage, in which he scored once and provided one assist.
He was then picked up for free by Real Madrid that summer and the following years saw him go out on various loan moves with varying levels of success before he settled in San Sebastián on a permanent deal in 2022, where the “insane” talent, as dubbed by data analyst Ben Mattinson, has been impressing since.
In his 101 appearances for the Basque club, the Kawasaki-born star has scored 19 goals and provided 14 assists, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 3.03 games.
So, on top of being stylistically similar to the sensationally talented Kulusevski and already having an understanding of what Postecoglou will want from him, the 39-capped international has also demonstrated that he can deliver in a top-five league.
Therefore, even though it won’t be cheap, Spurs must do what they can to sign Kubo in 2025 before someone else beats them to it.
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