After Stoke City’s relegation to the Championship last season, many first-team stars are expected to jump off the sinking ship and head elsewhere. Ramadan Sobhi, Jack Butland and Xherdan Shaqiri are just a few of the names who have been linked with a move away from the Bet365 Stadium in the summer.
Shaqiri is on the radar of several Premier League sides such as Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. He reportedly has a release clause of £12m.
Shaqiri is a winger, who has won multiple titles at Basel and Bayern Munich, including the Champions League during his time in Germany. But his career hasn’t exactly worked out like he would’ve hoped. His move to a struggling Inter Milan side didn’t pay dividends and now he suffered relegation from the Premier League with Stoke.
The Swiss star is a quality footballer, who can be unstoppable on his day. He has a penchant for scoring screamers, is a great passer of the ball and has the ability to break down the sturdiest of defences. He scored 8 goals and provided 7 assists in the Premier League last season. But still, Spurs should not sign and here is why:
Xhaqiri is incredibly inconsistent. He doesn’t turn up in every game. Last season, he performed well at patches. He was plain mediocre at times. He has never been a consistent performer.
The 26-year-old has never reached double figures for either goals or assists in a single season. There are times when he is pure world-class but on other occasions, he plays like a player, who is Championship-quality at best.
Most of it is down to his mentality. He doesn’t work hard enough for the ball, hogs possession and can be selfish at times. Spurs’ playing style is based on high-intensity pressing. And Shaqiri could easily fail to settle in at White Hart Lane.
Pochettino already has a plethora of quality wingers at his disposal. Son Heung-min, Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura are the first team players apart from Georges-Kevin N’Koudou, who was out on loan at Burnley.
It’s also worth noting that Poch likes to develop young players and make them stars instead of just buying seasoned pros. Even if Spurs were to buy someone, it should be Christian Pulisic. The American winger has bags of talent and potential and is a guaranteed superstar for the future.
Moreover, Spurs need an upgrade in the central midfield area. They already have many attacking players. Daniel Levy must spend the funds smartly, and roping in Shaqiri won’t be a smart move for the north London club. Rather, it would be suicidal.
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