Spurs linked with Italian pass master, but do they need him?

Andrea Pirlo

“I’ll certainly play on, we’ll just have to see where,” Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo told Gazzetta dello Sport in August. “Juve are my priority, but I don’t want to be a weight for anybody. The years go by, but it is not written that I have to stay here just because I am called Pirlo.”

Those words said, it’s unsurprising to hear rumours that the 34-year-old Italy international could be set to leave the Old Lady when his contract expires next summer, with Gianluca Vialli saying on Sky Sport Italia that Tottenham Hotspur have already made contact. The Daily Express, meanwhile, says that Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Real Madrid are also keeping tabs on his situation.

No doubt, United could do with a player of Pirlo’s quality in their central midfield, even if it’s a short-term signing. A move to Arsenal, meanwhile, seems unlikely. And this isn’t the first time that Real Madrid and Chelsea have been linked with Pirlo. But what kind of impact would he make at Spurs?

He would certainly add craft to their central midfield, which currently boasts more power and athleticism than anything else. In fact, Spurs haven’t really used a deep-lying playmaker since Luka Modric left for Real Madrid. The likes of Tom Huddlestone and Tom Carroll weren’t shown much faith by Andre Villas-Boas last season.

The use of Pirlo alongside one of Sandro, Mousa Dembele, Paulinho, or Etienne Capoue would offer a nice balance of creativity and energy. So far this season, the Italian’s average pass length of 22 metres is greater than those of Spurs’ current central midfield crop. Capoue comes closest, averaging 21 metres in his three appearances to date, which should come as no surprise, given he is a hybrid of defensive midfielder and deep-lying playmaker, so developed at former club Toulouse. But Pirlo, a pure deep-lying playmaker in every sense, would definitely prove a cut above the Frenchman.

His long, searching balls from deep would see the return of the kind of different dimension to Spurs’ attack that Modric brought. It would also take some of the creative burden off season debutants Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, as well as Lewis Holtby, who is still trying to get going since arriving in January.

The experienced Italian would also prove quite the mentor for 21-year-old Thomas Carroll when he returns from his loan spell at Queen’s Park Rangers. Carroll, like Pirlo, is a deep-lying playmaker, though more combative. He is a player with immense potential and, after a season or so under Pirlo’s tutelage, will be ready to impose himself on Villas-Boas first-team on a regular basis.

The downside of a Pirlo transfer here, though, is the strain that would be put on the central midfield in the defensive phase. So far this season, Pirlo is averaging just one tackle every other game, down from last season’s average of 2.6 tackles per game.

Spurs’ aforementioned central midfielders, on the other hand–with the exception of Sandro, who has made only substitute appearances so far–being naturally combative as well as asked to be by Villas-Boas, seeing that he likes his team to press the opposition high up the pitch, are currently averaging at least two tackles per game each. That said, the acquisition of Pirlo would require increased defensive effort from his midfield partner(s) or may call for a change in system altogether (from a 4-2-3-1 to perhaps a 4-3-3) to facilitate his lack of aggression.

Admittedly, this isn’t a necessary transfer by any means, but it would prove beneficial in some ways–off the pitch as well as on it. That’s precisely what Villas-Boas, if he is indeed interested, will be counting on.