I hear you saying to yourself, You know what, I don’t think we’ve had enough football this summer, what we need is one more major tournament. Good news! The Olympics start tomorrow, with the opening ceremonies taking place in Paris this weekend, and there’s a whole gosh-danged Olympic soccer tournament happening over the next few weeks!
Now, this is mostly a U23 tournament with a few overage players allowed, so these matches will mostly involve younger players who you may not be as familiar with. That said, there are number of players involved in the Paris Olympics who have been linked with Spurs, at least nominally, over the course of the summer and before. I have been tracking transfer links — there are 105 names on my spreadsheet dating back to last February, so this list is mostly a cross-reference between that spreadsheet and the Olympic rosters, plus one or two players who aren’t linked but maybe should be.
So let’s highlight a few players that Spurs fans might want to keep an eye on. And fair warning — most of them play for France.
France (first match vs. USA, Wed. July 24)
Ryan Cherki (Lyon)
Spurs have seemed to be at least nominally linked to Cherki for years now, but while he’s appeared on a few “lists” this summer there doesn’t seem to be much genuine interest in him. That’s a shame, because he’s pretty great — a ball-playing midfielder, he’s not a prolific scorer but had 3G+9a for Lyon last season and had more than 4 successful take-ons/90, but has been somewhat marred by perceptions of a poor attitude. He’s closest to a move to Dortmund at present but the last update is that any transfer is on hold as he’s not Dortmund’s first choice. There’s still time, Johan!
Desire Doué (Stade Rennais)
Yeah, this guy. He’s real good. Extremely real good. The kind of dribbly winger/central mid who could absolutely explode in Ange Postecoglou’s system, and at age 19 has plenty of time to develop further. That said, he’s all potential at this point, so it’s an expensive bet on future performance, much like with Brennan Johnson. Even so, this kid’s ceiling is high, but Stade Rennais is holding out for a huge payday well north of €60m, and right now it looks like he’s more likely to head to either Bayern Munich or PSG. There are indications that Spurs are a dark horse for him, so maybe they just need to arrange a phone call with Ange where can say “mate” a lot and convince him of his plans for the future. It’s worked before!
Bradley Locko (Brest)
Tottenham are in need of a backup/rotation option at left back for Destiny Udogie, and Locko’s name has come up several times. There are suggestions that Spurs have raised their interest in him lately. The 22-year old Brest LB has been on my tracker spreadsheet since May — he offers plenty of offensive play from deep positions (1.94 successful take-ons/90) but also seems to be a cromulent passer, suggesting he could invert well. The question is whether he can push Udogie for a position, and potentially raising both of their games. Locko should get plenty of minutes in Paris during the Olympics, so he’d be one to watch if you’re watching France (and you should be watching France)
Castello Lukeba (RB Leipzig)
This is more of a dark horse pick; there aren’t really any solid or tenuous links between Lukeba and Tottenham, but he’s a left-sided central defender/left back hybrid who is highly regarded, and Spurs could use another player in that area. He’s extremely strong on the ball and comfortable playing out of the back, and can slide left if needed to deputize or cover at the left-back position as well. He’s a regular starter for RB Leipzig who don’t seem that keen on letting him go, but there are suggestions he could be had for somewhere in the £20m-25m range. I quite like him.
Argentina (first match vs. Morocco, Wed. July 24)
Cristian Medina (Boca Juniors)
Links between Tottenham and the 22-year old Boca midfielder Medina go back to last April, but there’s been absolutely nothing since, and those initial links were probably media or agent-driven. He’s a strong passer and breaking into Boca Juniors’ first team squad at 19 isn’t easy. Medina seems like perfectly cromulent player but Spurs seemingly have their own targets now, I’m sure he’s on a list somewhere, though. Boca’s season has only just kicked off, but he had 3G+1A in 1300 minutes for Boca last season. Worth keeping an eye on, but I doubt he’s a high priority target for Spurs in what’s left of the window.
Spain (first match vs. Uzbekistan, Wed. July 24)
Alex Baena (Villarreal)
Baena’s been nominally linked to Spurs since last April, and there’s a lot to like about the 22-year old Villarreal midfielder. He can play across the midfield line and his stats really pop, especially his playmaking metrics — 5G+17A in all competitions last season, including 2g+3A in the Europa League last season. Unai Emery apparently really likes him for Villa. He mostly played as an 8 or as a left-sided winger for the Yellow Submarine and I could see him as a rotation option for James Maddison as a central playmaker. The problem with Baena is he’s a bit of a shithead — he got into big trouble last year for supposedly making a disparaging comment to his teammate Federico Valverde on the Villarreal team bus after his wife nearly lost their unborn child; Valverde punched Baena and then sued him over the incident, though Baena’s camp denies it ever happened. So that pretty much sums up Alex Baena — good player, but maaaaaaaybe one we should avoid on squad unity/good people metrics/vibes. But you should watch him on a young and talented Spain squad.
Japan (first match vs. Paraguay, Wed. July 24)
Look, just watch them, ok?
I don’t have anyone specific that you should watch on Japan’s squad, just they’re supposed to be technical, good, and fun. Japan finished fourth at the 2020 Olympics, losing the bronze medal match to Mexico, and we know Ange Postecoglou has managed in Japan and isn’t averse to scouting that part of the world for underrated talent. In the warm-up friendlies before this week, they beat USA 2-0 and drew hosts France 1-1. I’m not an expert on U23 international football, but that seems to indicate dark horse status to me. Hopefully Spurs have some scouts in Paris.
Did I miss anyone? Are there players Spurs aren’t linked to but SHOULD be? Have your say in the comments.