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We asked AI to predict who Spurs will sign before the end of the January transfer window.
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Tottenham Hotspur are expected to be busy over the last few days of the transfer window – Ange Postecoglou sorely needs some reinforcements to bolster a squad battered by injuries, and for once it seems likely that some cash will be splashed as the need to plaster over a growing number of cracks becomes apparent.
Of course, guessing who they’ll actually end up with is especially challenging in the current climate. January transfer window can be quiet affairs, but this one seems likely to be a bit of a free-for-all, especially when it comes to forwards – half of the teams in the Premier League are desperately scrambling over each other to buy the best forwards, and it’s a guessing game as to which clubs will end up with which players. Reports may suggest that Spurs have made a bid for Mathys Tel, for instance, but it’s likely that other teams try their hand before the deadline.
With that unpredictability in mind, we decided to give up on trying to map out how the final days of the window will work and turn the question over to a popular AI model, which some people seem to believe is the answer to just about every problem in human society right now, even if it’s still indifferent at churning out secondary school-level essays without glaring mistakes. But with access to far more data than a human analyst could process, perhaps an algorithm really can figure out what Spurs will get up to. Let’s find out…
AI predicts who Spurs will sign by deadline day
Mathys Tel (Bayern Munich, £50m): The algorithm starts by cribbing the notes of some reporters who did the actual legwork – Spurs most likely have had a bid for Tel accepted, believed to be an initial loan move with a purchase clause worth around £50m, although there have also been reports suggesting that Tel promptly turned Spurs down.
To be fair to the machine here, we did ask the question before it was alleged that he had decided against a move to Spurs and at the time it was a perfectly plausible transfer, and one that could have proved to be quite brilliant given how talented Tel is. He also looks like he’d be a very strong fit for Postecoglou’s aggressive, direct, high-pressing style of play, but now other teams can have a go at hijacking the deal, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa all allegedly interested. Clearly, AI had more faith in Daniel Levy’s powers of persuasion that it should have.
Tyler Dibling (Southampton, £55m): It’s a strange world in which Dibling could cost more than Tel, but the computer has Levy splashing some serious cash as he looks to add some young wide forwards – Dibling has been one of the rare bright spots in Southampton’s season and once again his direct style and intelligent off-ball movement suggest someone who would suit Spurs down to the ground.
We think that our AI friend is wide of the mark here, however. Dibling is very likely to move in the summer if Southampton go down, but they have little incentive to sell in the midst of a relegation battle and the player himself is currently injured. Besides, Dibling would probably be cheaper if and when the Saints do become a Championship side once again. One for the future, perhaps, but we’ll eat our hats if this one happens by the end of Monday.
Yoane Wissa (Brentford, £30m): We’ll start off by saying that we doubt Spurs will sign three forwards in one window, less still for a combined £135m, but the AI apparently expects an atypical amount of largesse from Levy in the coming days.
Wissa’s finishing skills and positional versatility would make him a fine signing, and with 18 months left on his contract there will surely be a price point at which Brentford would sell. That said, Thomas Frank has made it pretty plain that he doesn’t want Wissa to leave and Nottingham Forest have already had a bid of up to £22m turned down. Not impossible, in our view, but the AI may be taking a bit of a flyer here.
Dávid Hancko (Feyenoord, £25m): It’s worth noting that the AI’s first three suggestions are all players that have been linked with a move to North London by flesh-and-blood journalists, so we also put in a prompt asking it to ignore rumours and use data to suggest a probable signing – and Slovakian centre-back Hancko is the name that it spat out.
Also able to play on the left, Hancko is a very technically capable defender with a superb passing range who also does a lot of good work sweeping up behind the defensive line – given the need for defensive reinforcements, this is a pretty sensible suggestion. Given that we asked the AI to pick out a player who hasn’t popped up in the transfer columns, we would be mildly freaked out if this actually happened. That would be a big win for AI in general, and one step closer to Skynet.
Who will leave Spurs this transfer window?
We also asked the algorithm who might depart the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and while it mostly hinted at loan deals for a couple of younger playersit also believes that one regular starter could be headed off for pastures new.
The AI suggests that Brazilian forward and injury magnet Richarlison will leave on loan, despite picking up yet another fitness problem. Richarlison has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the past and he publicly rejected the possibility back in August, but the AI suggests Al Hilal as a plausible destination alongside his old club Everton and Fulham, whose needs could apparently cause Marco Silva to make a bid.
The AI is hedging its bets a little but with all the different possible destinations, but Everton was it’s number one suggestion. We haven’t seen any reports suggesting it as a serious possibility yet, but it would be rather romantic and Everton certainly need to find some cutting edge up front from somewhere. As with the Hancko deal, we wouldn’t actually bet on the machine getting it right, but we must admit – it’s not all that implausible when you think about it.