Tottenham Hotspur’s resolve to land AFC Ajax’s skipper Davy Klassen only grew stronger after the 24-year-old produced a brilliant display against Manchester United in the Europa League Final. The Danish international was the orchestrator of the squad from the middle of the park, but unfortunately, their superior possession gave way to little end product for the Dutch giants.
After a good season in the Premier League for the second successive year, Mauricio Pochettino has taken the Lilywhites to a whole new level with many touting them an emerging European superpower. Of course, Champions League still remains an unchartered territory for them and they would aim for that primarily next season.
Having a more or less perfect squad that needs little adjustment from time to time, hardly anyone is expecting numerous arrivals this summer. Rather, what Pochettino should do is go after specific targets, where they need quality backups. In Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier, Tottenham have one of the best midfields in the league, but they hardly have anyone on the bench who could replace them with the same influence.
Klassen could be the ideal fit. The last import from Ajax, Eriksen, has turned out to be a huge success for Pochettino and similar things are expected from Klaassen. He has scored 20 goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions for Ajax, helping the club to finish second in the Eredivisie and reach the finals of Europa League.
At only 24, Klaassen has shown immense maturity in finishing in front of the goal and he is definitely one of the best passers in the Dutch league. His movements on and off the ball and ability to take long shots is very much like Eriksen and he has exhibited brilliant leadership qualities this season.
And Spurs’ pursuit got a further boost when the player hinted at a move out of Amsterdam Arena stating that no one would criticise him for leaving his boyhood club. Speaking to Dutch media, he said, “I think no one would blame me. But I want everyone to have a good feeling. I can see that I cannot be honest about a lot of things right now.”
Tottenham could face a stiff competition from Everton in landing him, whose Dutch boss might hold an edge over Pochettino and could give the player more first-team chances than Tottenham. And with their long-term target, Youri Tielemans, moving to AS Monaco, they are likely to come all out for the player.
