London bigwigs Chelsea, and Tottenham are set to do battle for the services of Napoli midfield prodigy Amadou Diawara, with both sides reportedly ready to break the bank to sign the 19-year-old.
Amadou arrived Napoli in August from fellow Serie A side Bologna, and has quickly settled into his new surroundings after the 34 league appearances he made the last term – his debut in the Italian top flight saw him adapt to the tough style of play.
Despite being a teenager, his enormous talents, understanding of the game and maturity have not only attracted the 2 EPL giants amongst others, they have seen him become unexpendable at the new club.
Tottenham have already had a £34million bid for the teenager turned down, with Napoli’s Christian Guintoli, insisting that the Guinean defensive midfielder isn’t for sale.
While that may be true to some extent regarding how important the player, who has appeared in 6 games across all competitions is to Napoli, it is undoubtedly an attempt and marketing strategy to stick with his buyout of clause worth around £40million, and more importantly, sell him to the highest bidder.
Peradventure the player finds himself in a dilemma as to which of the clubs he should ply his trade next when an opportunity to make a switch arises, and considering both teams will most likely to table similar offers, where should he go?
For starters, breaking into the starting XI at either club is not the most feasible of wishes for him at the moment, so playing first team football isn’t necessarily a factor when considering where he should make a switch to.
But even with that and in the long run, he has a higher chance of getting a looking in for regular football at White Hart Lane as opposed to the Stamford Bridge.
At an average squad age of 25 years and 2 months, Tottenham are the youngest team in the EPL, and though Chelsea also boasts of something similar, with an average team age of 26 years and 3 months, it is at White Hart Lane, and under the tutelage of Mauricio Pochettino budding young stars thrive, and it is where Amadou should go.
The likes of Dele Alli, Kane and Janssen are a testament to the youth development program taking shape at the north London club to much success. Over there, a developing talent is in the right and enabling environment to further learn, and get trusted with games in order to progress.
Not so at Stamford Bridge, and not only should the fact that a majority out of the over 20 young players of the 38 on loan away from the club have no real chance of making a return scare Amadou away, Conte’s Mourinho-like attitude of not giving teenage and unproven talents a chance should be of great concern to the Guinean ace midfielder.
Italy’s coach Giampiero Ventura, recently had a dig at his predecessor for not giving blossoming youngsters a chance with the national team, and going to the Euros 2016 with one of Italy’s oldest squads in the last 150 years.
While the likes of Ola Aina and Chalobah have seen some action under him thus far, with Solanke yet to appear for a minute, chances are they would get better playing minutes under Pochettino.
Tottenham is the club to go for this promising teenage sensation as it’s best suited for his swift development. Chelsea would only see him mainly as an option off the bench. At White Hart Lane, first team football would come sooner than it would at west London, that is if it ever comes.