Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Boubakary Soumare in January, per L’Equipe via Sport Witness.

On the chalkboard

The defensive midfielder is available in the January transfer window but would cost a pretty penny.

Per the report, he could cost as much as €60m (£51.4m) in a deal that would go close to breaking Spurs’ transfer record.

Is he worth it? Well, not yet.

He is just 20 and his WhoScored stats reflect a player yet to truly come to terms with his own physicality.

He has made 17 appearances in Ligue 1 and averages 1.2 tackles per game, along with 0.9 interceptions and 0.8 fouls. He also averages 0.4 clearances and is dribbled past on just 0.4 occasions.

Watch Spurs vs Brighton Live and Free with Amazon Prime on Boxing Day

Offensively, he has 1.2 dribbles per game and 0.5 key passes, with just 0.1 shots. He is also dispossessed 0.9 times per game and has a passing accuracy of 89.9%.

He is comfortable on the ball, clearly, but he has yet to put it all together defensively.

He has only just come out of his teens and there is clearly potential there; he has been capped at every youth level by France up to the U21s and is valued at £19.8m by Transfermarkt.

Growing

Soumare only has two seasons of senior football under his belt.

He made three starts in 2017/18 and five in 2018/19, and he is clearly improving. He has grown in terms of his tackling and his interceptions, while he is also getting better at delivering key passes and getting on the ball.

His passing accuracy, too, has shown signs of marked improvement across the past three years.

A football legend: Can you get over 80% on this Gazza quiz? Find out now...

Now, of course, it remains to be seen if he could make the move to the Premier League but Spurs are speculating to accumulate here.

It could well work out, with Soumare only getting better.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans have reacted to a link with a PSG ace.