Tottenham appear to be offloading at least one and possibly more central defenders before the close of the window, with Japhet Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez, and perhaps Eric Dier. If all three of the go that leaves Spurs with just two recognized senior central defenders, not including Ben Davies. So if they go, you’d expect another defender to come in.
Hello Fabrizio Romano with a brand new name to consider, and it’s Bournemouth’s 24-year old English defender Lloyd Kelly.
EXCL: Tottenham considering possible move for Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth in last 24h ⚪️ #THFC
No formal bid/concrete yet as depends on outgoings, Spurs need players to leave.
Bournemouth would need to replace Kelly, not easy; also Eric Dier could be offered as part of deal. pic.twitter.com/3LfELiOMqP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 31, 2023
OK so before people go and look at his profile bars on FBRef and start pulling Mr. Yuck faces, I’m not certain this is as bad as a profile as what it looks like on the surface. No, his stats bars aren’t great. No, he doesn’t show as a particularly good passer. But Bournemouth isn’t an especially great, nor passy team, and if you cock your head and squint a bit you can see that his profile kind of matches what you’d expect Spurs to be looking at as a depth signing for defense.
Kelly profiles as a cromulent central defender who can also play as a left back, and who is not too bad with the ball at his feet. You can kind of see how he might slot into a more defensive version of the left sided inverted fullback role. The big question is how much he’d cost, and that’s a pretty big one to leave unanswered! But I can’t imagine we’re talking in the £50m range, probably significantly less than that, and there’s every chance that if Bournemouth get a good offer they might let him go.
Spurs buying a Lloyd Kelley isn’t flashy. He wouldn’t be one to get super excited about. He’s (likely) cheap positional depth, he’d be leaving a decently bad team to head to a decently good team, he’s homegrown, and most importantly he’d be needed to fill an important, but still reserve, role.
But the most important detail might be buried in his Transfermarkt profile: he’s also represented by the CAA Stellar agency, one that Spurs reportedly have a very close working relationship with. So this does begin to make a little more sense.
IDK. There’s a lot we don’t know here, but on the surface… I don’t hate it?
