Tottenham need a new defensive midfielder. Everyone (other than apparently Daniel Levy) knows this, and over the next few pieces will be identifying a few targets that Spurs could be looking at to fill the gaping chasm that has been the base of the midfield.

The process is simple; I use data to draw up a shortlist, then the eye test to dig a little deeper into each player. This is not meant to be exhaustive, but I want to show how using a combined approach of data and video can put you in the ballpark of identifying talent.

Firstly, we have to identify the problem. It is no secret that Spurs have had issues in central midfield for a fair time. Mousa Dembele left, Victor Wanyama broke and Eric Dier succumbed to both injury and illness. This left a Spurs midfield unable to progress the ball forward one way, and unable to stop teams progressing the ball the other, particularly in transitions.

With the purchases of Tanguy Ndombele & Giovani Lo Celso, the problem of ball progression is sorted (if they ever take to the field at the same time), but still the issue at the back of midfield remains. We need a player who is capable of screening the defence, winning the ball and controlling transitions. In possession, of course the more progressive the better, but with Ndombele & Lo Celso ahead, this comes as more of a nice to have attribute.

Part 1 will look at three of the more obvious candidates, Denis Zakaria, Florentino Luis & Ibrahim Sangaré.

Part 1: The obvious candidates

Denis Zakaria, 23, Borussia Mönchengladbach

The Swiss midfielder has been gaining plaudits for his exploits in the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach. Zakaria is a highly mobile defensive midfielder who can cover ground incredibly quickly, is superb in defensive transitions as well as being useful in possession of the ball.

Of the chosen candidates for Spurs DM, Zakaria’s defensive activity is not at the higher end of the spectrum, albeit certainly not a meagre return, and one thing that stands out is his ability to win defensive duels — at almost 70% very little gets past him. He is highly intelligent in his positioning and knows when to step out and when to cover space and angles.

What is particularly impressive is how often he manages to not just stop the opponent with a tackle, but to get his body in between the opponent and the ball to recover possession for himself. Often he steals in and uses an outside hook to spin away with the ball, so not only has he won possession but he comes out of duels facing forward which would be particularly useful in springing quick attacks before the opponent is set.

On the ball he is economical with his passing and completes 89% of his passes without offering a huge amount of progression with 5.25 progressive passes per 90. He makes 1.13 progressive runs per 90, and completes around 60% of his 3.34 dribbles per 90. In a midfield with Ndombele and Lo Celso, the role of holding midfielder is less progressing the play but winning the ball and giving it to them, whilst providing balance and stability behind. By this measure, he does seem to fit the profile exceptionally well.

The video shows a player comfortable in possession of the ball, with reasonable evasive dribbling skills and a great burst of acceleration to quickly initiate attacks. This tallies with the data in that whilst he doesn’t carry the ball forward a huge amount, he can escape immediate pressure by dribbling before offloading the ball.

Physically Zakaria is excellent, at 6ft 3in he is tall but far from cumbersome, in fact his agility and elasticity enables him to manoeuvre his body well to recover the ball, wrap his foot around it and wriggle free from duels. His height also ticks the Jose Mourinho box for defending set pieces.

On paper, Denis Zakaria fits exactly the profile that Spurs should be looking for when recruiting a DM, offering a great combination of mobile ball winning ability alongside a measured game on the ball with a hint of press resistance.

Florentino Luis, 20, Benfica

Next up is 20 year old Benfica starlet Florentino who has made a promising start to life as a DM in the Portuguese league.

Whilst his sample size is still fairly small, he is a ball-winning machine at the back of Benfica’s midfield, winning 66% of just under 10 duels per 90 and 4.9 interceptions per 90. Like Zakaria he is mobile and able to cover a lot of ground, where he intelligently sits close to his defensive line but is able to get out quickly to put out fires in wider areas. He doesn’t quite possess the ability to recover the ball in the same manner however, where he often goes to ground in his tackles. These are often timed really well, but at the moment he still is very much a stopper. This is not a bad thing and he has plenty of development time ahead of him, and if he were to adapt quickly to the Premier League, Spurs midfield would certainly look a lot less leaky.

On the ball he boasts a very high pass completion rate of 92%, playing around 6.5 progressive passes per 90. He prefers to keep things neat and tidy, which as mentioned previously is no bad thing with Spurs ball progression possibilities ahead of him. He rarely carries the ball with less 0.3 progressive runs and 0.72 dribbles per 90, and prefers to move the ball on quickly when he receives it— a question mark would be whether he has individual solutions to escape pressure particularly from heavy pressing teams that he would encounter.

Florentino is the archetype defensive midfielder in that he is able to continually swallow up opposition attacks, and using the ball simply when he has it. His mobility and intelligent positioning make him ideal to help contain transitions, something Spurs have struggled with since the days of Dembele & Wanyama, and he would provide more than a good platform for the talents ahead of him to thrive. With plenty of growing room ahead of him he could be a really exciting prospect to solve Spurs defensive midfield issues, whether Jose Mourinho would prefer a more polished closer to prime signing is another question.

Ibrahim Sangaré, 22, Toulouse

22 year old Ivorian midfielder Ibrahim Sangaré has been impressing for relegation threatened Toulouse in Ligue 1, and with the drop looking likely it looks almost certain that he will be on the move this summer.

As with Zakaria and Florentino, Sangare offers a great deal of ball-winning capabilities, with a success rate of around 64% of his 8.71 duels, 5.75 interceptions and 1.86 fouls per 90. Like Zakaria he has a semblance of that really useful ability of recovering the ball by manoeuvring his body between ball and opponent, and is really good at initiating contact in duels and cleanly stealing the ball. He is however extremely aggressive in his approach, and is sometimes too eager to win the ball which may explain his high foul count.

In possession he is far more ambitious than Zakaria and Florentino, possessing a greater range of passing, where he can play incisive line breaking forward passes as well as accurate long diagonals. His 9 progressive passes per 90, (11.9 in 2018/19) demonstrate this, the trade off being his completion rate of 82%.

With 2.16 dribbles per 90 with a 64% success rate he is able to evade pressure well, his strength and frame allowing him to protect the ball well, and he can use disguise and body feints to outplay opponents. Possibly his most exciting skill is his ability to play well weighted, incisive passes immediately after recovering the ball — Heung Min Son could be a very grateful beneficiary of such an ability.

If Spurs were to look at Sangaré, this would create a super fun central midfield full of flamboyance and flair, as well as adding Sangaré’s ball-winning capabilities. This could lead to a trade off of balance in midfield, with Sangaré likely wanting to join and initiate attacks, which may impact on Ndombele and Lo Celso’s influence in the middle.

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