Transfer Talk - Townsend, Bolasie, Mahrez

Andros Townsend appears to have little future at Tottenham, which given his performances is hardly surprising. He has failed to adapt to the requirements of the system and only shown a glimpse in a cameo this season.

When given the chance to build on that cameo he lets himself down by reverting to type, cutting inside far too early, at the wrong angle and shooting from too far out. The percentage of goals h scores from long range shots for Spurs is pitiful. He is basically a one-trick pony who should by now have added incisive passing to his game.

If a wide man is cutting in off his line he should either be making a bee-line for the goal putting defenders under pressure or he should be looking for an incisive pass through the defence, otherwise all he has is a sideways pass or a low percentage long range shot, exactly what the defending team want. When was the last time you remember Townsend playing a pass through the defence?

In his successful cameo, he took his defender on on the outside, yet when he starts a game he doesn't, why? Fortunately he has scored a few goals for England so can command a fee, the figure bandied about by the press is £15-million, which seems to have been the same for the past three years. The usual has happened, clubs have been thrown at the story and loan moves muted. The press seems to have failed to grasp Tottenham have no interest in loan moves unless it is to develop youngsters. 

A loan move offers no benefit to Tottenham, any increase in value by good performances is negated by a reduction in fee because a players contract then has less time to run. A player becomes cheaper the nearer he gets to the end of his contract, Berahino will only be worth £15-million next summer as opposed to the £25-million WBA turned down last summer simply because he will only have a year left on his contract.

Andros Townsend has a contract until 30 June 2017, all contract run from July to June. His value is going to be limited next summer with only a year left, I can see us asking £15-million but at that point he wouldn't be worth it and it would be surprising if anyone paid it. Running down his contract from January to July isn't an option so if he is to move in January it has to be in a sale. You can thus immediately dismiss any story that talks about a loan, the two mentioned at the moment are Swansea City and Newcastle United.

Naturally the press has put two and two together to come up with the easy story of Tottenham supposedly reigniting interest in Yannick Bolasie, the Crystal Palace wide man overvalued at £25-million. If you read Palace websites you'll find they are not that impressed with him as he lacks an end product. Like Townsend, he has talent, but talent isn't enough in the Premier League.

He has to have the essential mentality, and I have no idea whether he has or not, I haven't taken a deep enough interest in him, with no purchase so far being likely. Wide attackers are ten a penny and there are plenty of talented young players out there we are watching. 

What Tottenham require is a wide man with a genuine goal threat, the sort of threat that 24-year-old (25 next February) Algerian Riyad Mahrez at Leicester City supplies. He tormented us with direct running at the goal and scored against us, showing us exactly what we were missing.

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He has scored 5 goals and has 4 assists in 9 Premier League games this season, he also has 1 goal in 2 League Cups ties. In all, he has played 757 minutes and scores a goal every 126 minutes. He has a hand in a goal every 757 minutes but is under contract until 2019 so would command his maximum value for any transfer fee.

Transfermarkt value him at £7.70-million (obviously he is worth more) based on their algorithms and Yannick Bolasie on £7-million. The 26-year-old (27 in May) is also under contract until 2019 so commands his maximum fee. This season in the Premier League he has scored 1 goal with no assists in 9 games, his one Lague Cup game has also yielded nothing. He has played 717 minutes in total so scores every 717 minutes and has a hand in a goal every 717 minutes.

On official statistics, Mahrez is ranked the fourth best player in the Premier League, although to be fair the calculations do strongly favour strikers so can not be classed as accurate. However, Mahrez and Bolasie both play as wide men and both have the same opportunity so comparing their statistics is effective. Yannick Bolasie is ranked number 113, which would you rather have at the club?

Further Reading
Pierre-Emerick Aubumeyang turns down Tottenham
VIDEO: Harry Kane full individual performance vs Bournmouth

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