With Sofiane Feghouli now seemingly staying at the London Stadium following Dimitri Payet’s tantrum, AS Roma are having to look elsewhere for their versatile forward recruitment.
Looking to fill in the big gap left by Mohamed Salah, currently with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, Luciano Spalletti has seen his number one target slip through his fingers, with backup options being discarded left, right and centre.
One that appears to be sticking more and more these days, however, is Tottenham’s Georges-Kevin N’Koudou, who ticks most of the boxes needed by the Roma manager, but not all of them.
While he might be a quick winger, and, at a push, capable of playing through the middle, the Spurs forward isn’t as versatile of a midfielder as Feghouli is, plus the 21 year old has barely played under Mauricio Pochettino this season.
Already giving up on Chelsea’s Charly Musonda Jr. due to his lack of experience, Il Messaggero report Spalletti might need a lot of convincing from Frederic Massara, his director of football, before agreeing to sign the Tottenham player.
With only 238 minutes of football under his belt this season since his £9m transfer from Marseille in the summer, N’Koudou might take some time to get back to match fitness, something Spalletti cannot really afford to give him.
It’s still up in the air at the moment, but N’Koudou is a name returning more and more in Italian reports. Whatever Roma think, the most crucial opinion in all of this is Mauricio Pochettino’s, and if he wants N’Koudou to stay where he is, that’s what will happen.
