According to SportBild, Tottenham Hotspur have joined Manchester United in the race to sign Denis Zakaria. The Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder has made quite an impression in the Bundesliga this season. As a result, a host of top clubs across Europe are interested in acquiring his services, including Borussia Dortmund. However, clubs will have to fork out £44 million to attain his services.
Why has Zakaria been so successful this season?
The primary reason behind Zakaria’s success at Gladbach has been the arrival of Marco Rose. The 43-year-old replaced Dieter Hecking at the start of this campaign as the new head coach. And after stuttering starts to the campaign, he has helped the Foals produce excellent performances week in week out. As a result, they are leading the Bundesliga table.
Unlike other managers, Rose has utilised Zakaria predominantly in his natural holding midfield role, ahead of Christoph Kramer. It has allowed the Swiss international to become proactive in the defensive side of the game as he is usually quite good at breaking up plays.
Furthermore, Zakaria’s ability to distribute possession and drive forward at the same time has taken the burden off players like Florian Neuhaus. This, in turn, enabled the Gladbach creative players to focus more on the offensive side of the game.
Is Zakaria a good fit for Spurs?
Zakaria’s style of play can be compared to Tanguy Ndombele except the Swiss international has better defensive work-rate. At Spurs, he could be an upgrade over Harry Winks, who has often appeared tentative against quality opponents.
Zakaria, to that end, can emulate his role and sit at the base of Tottenham’s midfield unit. His ability to distribute possession coupled with the technical prowess means he could potentially build a formidable partnership with Ndombele.
Not to mention, the 22-year-old is an excellent reader of the game. And this tunes in well with Mauricio Pochettino’s efficient tactical setup that revolves around the swift turnovers in the middle third of the pitch.
However, what makes Zakaria such an appealing target for Spurs is his ability to evade the press using his quick-feet. In fact, the midfielder has completed more successful dribbles than Jadon Sancho this season, which speaks a lot about his dribbling prowess. Hence, Pochettino could utilise him even in a central midfield role, where he can ease the transition from midfield to attack.
