‘Absolutely no chance’: Pundit says attacker who was close to Spurs move wouldn’t get into their best team

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Steve Nicol has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur may not rue missing out on signing Ansu Fati on loan, with the pundit insisting that he does not get into Ange Postecoglou’s strongest side.

Nicol was speaking on ESPN amid reports that Brighton are now set to win the race to sign the Barcelona starlet.

It appears that Ansu Fati will be playing in the Premier League this season. However, it seems that he will not be wearing a Tottenham shirt.

Journalist Helena Condis Edu suggested that Fati thought he was about to join Tottenham. However, he is now set to join Brighton and link up with Roberto De Zerbi.

Of course, some at Tottenham will be particularly disappointed to see the £43 million-rated Fati move elsewhere, particularly if he ends up moving to another Premier League side.

Nicol doesn’t think Fati would get in Tottenham team anyway

However, Nicol believes that the move may not be the end of the world for Spurs. He suggested that he would not pick the Barca starlet in his strongest Tottenham team.

“He doesn’t get in Spurs’ XI either,” he told ESPN. “Are you taking Heung-min Son out?

“He’s not getting in ahead of Maddison, absolutely no chance. So you’re asking a guy to play out of position in a league that is way quicker than what he’s used to. So you’re asking somebody to do something they’re not comfortable with. And everybody’s going to expect Ansu Fati to be the Ansu Fati of when he was 16, 17 years old, so the kid’s under pressure straight away, regardless of whether it’s Brighton or Spurs.”

Of course, the situation would probably be different if Fati was signing permanently. It would be less important that he hit the ground running if he was joining on a permanent basis.

But Fabrizio Romano has suggested that there is no buy option in the loan deal with Brighton. So the Seagulls will be looking for Fati to make a fairly immediate impact.

Perhaps Ange Postecoglou felt that signing Fati would give him the option to use Son in a different role. Obviously, plenty has been said about the struggles Richarlison is enduring so far this term.

Son is someone who could perhaps push forward into the striker role. And with that, Fati would potentially get his opportunity in his favoured position.

But it seems that Fati will now not be the attacker to come in if Tottenham do strengthen before the window.