Leeds would be getting a bargain if ‘tremendous’ 22-year-old who loves Bielsa joins for £15m – TBR View

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Speculation linking Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur defender Juan Foyth has picked up pace in recent days.

According to The Sun, Leeds have prepared a £15million offer for Foyth, a player who previously said: “Bielsa is one of the best coaches in the world and it would be nice to be coached by him.”

The 22-year-old has been out of favour since the arrival of Jose Mourinho and has been linked with a departure from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Foyth has made just seven appearances for Tottenham in all competitions this term, with four of them coming in the Premier League, and none at all in 2020.

With Ben White’s future at Elland Road unclear, Foyth would be a superb addition to the Whites ranks if the Brighton defender doesn’t make the switch.

All Stats Aren’t We recently published a thorough comparison of White and Foyth on Medium.

ASAW noted how Foyth – using his 2018-19 stats – ranked highly for ball retention, disrupting opposition possessions and progressive runs per 90 minutes, though less than White on passes per 90 – albeit still decent – and, like White, fairly low on aerial duels.

Watching Foyth in action, ASAW spoke of how “Foyth can react quickly in order to steal the ball back”, “displayed mature defending” and awareness, is “capable of more difficult passes, even under pressure” and “showed similar confidence” to White in taking a player on under pressure.

He concluded that, while he rated the former higher than the latter, “Foyth is certainly an excellent young talent and if Leeds do need to replace White, as looks most likely, I think he’d be a great option… there are unlikely to be better players than Foyth available.”

In addition to his tactical credentials, Foyth has received a lot of praise from peers and fans, with former boss Mauricio Pochettino calling him “fantastic” after scoring the winner against Crystal Palace in November 2018.

In November 2019, Peter Crouch hailed the “tremendous job” Foyth did at right-back against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League, and as per this Twitter fan reaction piece, plenty of Spurs fans seem upset about the prospect of the Argentine leaving the club.

So in conclusion, we have a 22-year-old defender who has played at the highest level for club and country, has pretty good credentials, isn’t too dissimilar from White, rates Bielsa highly, surely has plenty of room for progress, and is apparently available for just £15million – seems like a no-brainer really.