0 goals in 12 games, are we scouting him?

TRANSFER TALK

The next player Mauricio Pochettino was apparently watching during the Republic of Ireland versus Holland international, this time, it's winger Quincy Promes.

The Daily Mil suggest we have contacted his Russian club, Spartak Moscow, about his availability. ESPN Brazil claim that we have had a £9.5 million (€12.21m - US$13.85m - AUS$18.61m) bid rejected.

This comes after he failed to agree to terms on a new contract. The agents circle does its thing, one agent tells another and word gets round. It's his agent's role to spreads the word his client might be available and to see what interest there is in him in the market.

There haven't been any scouting reports so presumably this is a player we have been watching in the office, where any recorded game in the world can be called up and analysed. Tapes can be made of each individual players performance and statistics analysed.

Mauricio Pochettino was not alone at the Holland international, he has his assistant there so it may well be that we were watching more than one player. There is a big difference between watching a football match and scouting a player. When you are scouting a player you do not watch the game, you only watch the player, you track him, you follow him only. On the ball off the ball, it doesn't matter, you keep your eyes on him.

I produced in an article a couple of years ago a 48 point checklist of ways you can improve a player, by no mean an exhaustive list. Each of those points can be considered. As an attacker you want to know how he defends, is he quick to get back, does he position himself to cut off passing lanes and when attacking does he find space, can he read the game or does he react to it?

Any players Southampton were formally interested in will now be on our radar given Paul Mitchell came from them. The paper suggests Southampton have a long-term interest and that other Premier League clubs watched the 24-year-old (25 in January) in the following international against Austria. There are no reports Tottenham were one of them.

With the departure of Andros Townsend and the problems for Alex Pritchard, there is a place for a goalscoring wide attacker in the Tottenham squad. Promes has scored an impressive 18 goals in 30 Russian Premier Liga games, although in 12 Holland caps since March 2014 he hasn't scored once.

Our record of signing players we have been linked with from Russia, indeed from Eastern Europe isn't great. How players will adapt to a different culture is always a problem, but with Promes being Dutch that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

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