Scouting Tottenham Hotspur Transfer Target Youri Tielemans

One of the measures of Tottenham Hotspur’s progress under manager Mauricio Pochettino is that two years into his reign, we more or less know what they are.

After a first season spent sorting through the squad he inherited, the second saw the team put Pochettino’s footballing ideals more firmly into practice. Tottenham aspired to be insistent in and out of possession, adventurous in front of the opposition’s goal and formidable protecting its own.

At 19 years old, the Anderlecht midfielder also would be a player signed with more than just year three of Pochettino’s tenure in mind.

Tielemans has been linked with Spurs throughout 2016.

In February, the Sun’s Duncan Wright talked of a battle with Atletico Madrid for the talented teenager. In March the Daily Star’s Paul Brown had the Spaniards’ interest spurring the north Londoners to make a move; later in the month the Mirror’s John Cross suggested fellow Premier League clubs also were in the hunt.

Relatively quiet on the rumour front in the months since, Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas recently suggested Tielemans is still on Spurs’ radar.

Pochettino and his staff got a close look at him when Anderlecht faced their team in last season’s Europa League group stage.

After a bright start out in Belgium, Spurs’ performance dipped considerably as Anderlecht efficiently outclassed them, winning 2-1. A couple of weeks later the Premier League outfit were much improved but still had to work hard to see their opponents off, a long-range Mousa Dembele effort eventually sealing their own 2-1 victory.

Pochettino will have already identified Tielemans in the course of his preparations for the matches. If he had not already noted him as someone who could be part of Spurs’ transfer strategy, the Belgium youth international’s performances will at the very least have piqued his interest.

Tielemans played the whole night at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium and another 69 minutes at White Hart Lane. Considering they were two of the bigger tests of his fledgling career he did enough to suggest the high hopes in his future are not misplaced.

The scope of his passing is a big part of his game and it was on show on both occasions. In the first game he completed 100 per cent, per Squawka, popping up across the breadth of the pitch to both sensibly maintain possession and advance it more threateningly.

The numbers dipped slightly out in England, 94 per cent this time, but Tielemans was still valuable in a more than competitive effort from the Belgians. He found room up against the likes of …

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