It looks as though Thomas Meunier could well be a Tottenham player next season; the first arrival of the Covid-19 summer.
Multiple sources, including The Telegraph, reported yesterday that Jose Mourinho has persuaded the 28-year-old Belgian to join Spurs when his Paris Saint-Germain contract expires, and the deal is pending the approval of Daniel Levy, who has slight concerns on the player’s age.
MORE: Will Meunier Be The First Through The Door At Spurs This Summer?
If that is the chairman’s reservation, mine would be whether Meunier is actually any better than Serge Aurier? Because, regardless of our budget in the next transfer window, one of the essential end games must be to find an upgrade on the error machine that is the Ivorian ‘defender’.
Thankfully, comparing the two is made simple by the fact that they split right-back duties very evenly at PSG in 2016-17.
These are Meunier’s basic defensive stats, from WhoScored.com.
And these are Aurier’s for the same season, also from WhoScored.com.
Those numbers tell us that Aurier made more tackles, more interceptions, and more blocks on average per 90 minutes while committing fewer fouls.
Dig a little deeper on the WhoScored.com filters and you learn that Aurier also won significantly more aerial duels, 2.7 per game to Meunier’s 1.5. The only defensive stat that Meunier leads Aurier in that season is clearances.
However, the Belgian did register more assists, four to three, and score the only goal between them in Ligue 1 that year. He also is better in possession, getting dispossessed only half as often as Aurier’s 1.4 times per match.
This is a basic takeaway, but on the surface, and that’s all I’ve got to judge Meunier on because I haven’t seen the lad play much, it looks as though he has more quality than Aurier in terms of passing and crossing, but is worse defensively. Isn’t this the last thing that Mourinho should be looking for?
If he could defend, even a little tiny bit it would help but his highlights reel from PSG before he joined us was 100% evidence that he would be like this.
That begs the question, who scouted him, was he even scouted or was it more to do with Levy’s ‘connections’ in Ligue 1 than football reasons? I think we all probably know the answer to that question…
Don’t blame Aurier if he isn’t up to it, blame Levy for acquiring yet more cheapskate dross from France masquerading as a ‘shrewd’ deal.
I can’t think of a single French player that’s worked out at Spurs for years, yet Levy keeps going back ‘bargain hunting’. More evidence that he doesn’t care or care to learn about football.
This new PSG target has every chance of being even more woeful than Aurier…
ENIC OUT.
One is as bad as the other,go for Atal or Max Aaron’s.
Compare Auriers defensive stats at Spurs to Meuniers, anyway Aurier just fails the eye test, loitering up the field watching your team mates scrambling to cover your position and players getting dragged out of position because he can’t be bothered to do his defensive duties, no no, just do us a favour and go.