Spurs confident of landing £20k-p/w "monster" who's like Watkins

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We are only days away from the dramatic conclusion of the European Championships and finding out if football really is coming home this summer or if it's taking a detour to Madrid.

The country will be watching with bated breath on Sunday evening, but the Tottenham Hotspur recruitment team will be watching the match for a different reason.

Based on recent reports, Daniel Levy and Co will be focussing on one of the England players who's been touted for a move to N17 this summer, and while it's not semi-final hero Ollie Watkins, the star in question has been compared to him in the past.

Tottenham Hotspur transfer news

According to a recent report from Dean Jones via GIVEMESPORT, Tottenham are still interested in signing Brentford's Ivan Toney this summer.

Alongside the Lilywhites, Jones has revealed that Manchester United, Chelsea and West Ham United have also been considering the £20k-per-week ace recently, setting the stage for an exciting transfer battle.

However, he states that sources close to the North Londoners believe they could make a 'serious push' for the striker and that the longer he remains on the market, the more likely they'll be able to secure his services for closer to £40m and not the £60m the Bees value him at.

It could be a tough deal to get over the line, especially if he stars in the final on Sunday, but based on his performances in his last full season, it is one worth pursuing, and the comparisons to Watkins are just a massive bonus.

How Toney compares to Watkins

It would be fair to say that as campaigns go, last season was not a great one for Toney.

Upon the completion of his eight-month betting-related ban, he scored just four goals and provided two assists in 17 appearances, and while that's not horrific for a player in arguably the most challenging league in the world, it's a far cry from his two previous campaigns in the top flight in which he racked up 20 plus goal involvements.

So, with that in mind, it wouldn't be fair to judge his ability off the back of a down year in which he had to deal with an extraordinary challenge off the pitch in the form of his ban, and unsurprisingly, the comparisons to Watkins do not stem from the 2023/24 season.

Instead, it comes from FBref, which compared Premier League forwards in 2022/23 and created a list of the ten most similar players for each one. In the case of the Brentford man, they ranked Villa ace as the most similar striker in the league.

This conclusion is easier to understand when looking at how closely the pair ranks in several underlying metrics, such as non-penalty expected goals and assists, actual non-penalty goals, progressive passes received, shots, goals per shot, key passes, tackles won and successful take-ons, all per 90.

Alongside their underlying numbers, the pair have also proven themselves to be prolific forwards in the top flight.

In that season in particular, the former Exeter City gem scored 16 goals and provided six assists to the Northampton-born star's 21 goals and five assists.