Could Tottenham’s Ben Davies be heading to Manchester City?

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Tottenham defender Ben Davies is a surprise target for Manchester City according to reports in The Sun, during the weekend.

Pep Guardiola has identified the Welsh international as the perfect player to help reinforce City’s soft defensive core and is preparing to make a £20,000,000 bid.

Davies is now into his third season at White Hart Lane having joined Tottenham from Swansea City in the summer of 2014. However, the 23-year-old has struggled to hold down a first team place and has been primarily used as cover for Danny Rose, making only seven appearances in the Premier League this campaign. He is held in high regard by Mauricio Pochettino and his omission from the starting line-up is due to the superb form of Rose rather than any personal failings.

City are in the market for defensive recruits as Guardiola continues to re-mould his playing squad and the Spaniard believes that Davies would be the perfect addition.

What would he bring?

Davies is a good all-round defender who also possesses the technical ability and pace to be an attacking threat. The 23-year-old made his name playing as a left-back but is equally as comfortable playing as a central defender and he produced a number of impressive performances in a Welsh back-three at Euro 2016. His age and versatility mean that he could potentially fulfill a number of different roles whilst still having an abundance of time to improve and develop his game.

Is a move likely?

Pep Guardiola currently lacks the solid defensive foundation at Manchester City that will allow his attacking talent (such as Kevin De-Bryne, David Silva and Sergio Aguero) to flourish. Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov are both in their 30’s and have failed to convince their new manager that they are the long term-solution to his defensive woes. Davies would provide an injection of youth and quality whilst his versatility would allow him to fit into either a back-four or back-three, both of which Guardiola has deployed this campaign.

An increase in game time will certainly perk the interest of Davies and Tottenham could be willing to cash in with Danny Rose cementing himself as first-choice left-back. However, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is notorious for driving a hard bargain in transfer negotiations and it is unlikely that he would want to provide a Premier League rival with reinforcements without a substantial financial incentive. Ironically, any potential transfer could be scuppered by Jan Vertonghen. The Belgian defender went over on his ankle during Tottenham’s comfortable victory over West Bromwich Albion at the weekend and Pochettino will block the sale of any defensive personnel if the injury is severe.

Verdict

A deal is definitely a possibility although much will depend on the severity of Jan Vertonghen’s ankle injury and how willing Daniel Levy will be to sanction a transfer to a direct rival. Manchester City are in the market for a defender that can play at either centre-half or left-back and Ben Davies fits the bill.

Verdict: 6/10 (A possibility, but still plenty of work to be done)    

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