Bid expected: Spurs moving to land Ange his own Rice in £55m "monster"

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After a mixed debut season with Ange Postecoglou at the helm, Tottenham Hotspur have a massive summer ahead of them.

The North Londoners managed to qualify for the Europa League, but to take the next step and really push the teams at the top of the Premier League, Daniel Levy and Co will have to land the Australian some seriously talented players in the coming weeks and months.

Luckily, the latest player touted for a move to N17 just enjoyed a brilliant campaign and has won comparisons to England international Declan Rice.

Tottenham Hotspur transfer news

According to a recent report from journalist Ben Jacobs via Playback TV, Tottenham are still interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher and are "expected to bid" for the Englishman this summer.

Alongside the Lilywhites, Jacobs confirmed that La Liga giants Atlético Madrid are also keen on the midfielder and have already seen an offer worth £20m plus bonuses rejected.

He goes on to reveal that the Pensioners want a fee of around £55m for the Cobham graduate, but the player himself would rather stay at Stamford Bridge.

It could be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but with how well he played last season, one worth pursuing - the comparisons to Rice are just a bonus.

Gallagher's comparisons to Rice

Now, the first thing to address is this comparison to Rice, and while he might not be the most popular of people on the white side of North London, he's a brilliant player to be compared to.

It primarily stems from FBref, which looks at all players across Europe's top five leagues and creates a list of the ten most similar players in their position for each one. In this case, they consider the Arsenal man the tenth most similar midfielder to Gallagher.

The best way to see the areas where the two stars overlap is to look at their most similar underlying numbers.

In this case, that includes metrics such as non-penalty expected goals and assists, actual assists, shots on target, passing accuracy, tackles and tackles won, interceptions and goal-creating actions, all per 90.

Shot-creating actions are pieces of play that lead to a shot. These include moments such as a pass, take-on or foul being drawn.

However, the pair don't just share similar underlying numbers for key metrics; they are also semi-versatile midfielders who can adapt to playing in several different roles in the middle of the park, depending on what their team needs.

For example, last season, the Chelsea "monster", as dubbed by respected analyst EBL, started 21 games in attacking midfield, 18 in central midfield, eight in defensive midfield and two off to the left. Likewise, Arteta started his £105m man in defensive midfield 30 times, central midfield 19 times and even as a centre-back once.

Moreover, like the former West Ham United captain, the Epsom-born gem was a source of goal involvements last season, racking up seven goals and nine assists in 50 appearances to the Arsenal man's seven goals and ten assists in 51 games.

Ultimately, like Rice, Gallagher has proven that not only can he influence proceedings at the sharp end of the pitch, but he can also make a serious contribution in the middle of the park and in defence.

Therefore, while the money involved is undoubtedly significant, Levy and Co should do what they can to bring him to N17, as he could be transformational in Postecoglou's midfield.