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Juan Foyth is poised to make his proper breakthrough at Tottenham Hotspur.

On the chalkboard

The Argentine centre-back has yet to have his coming out party at Spurs, despite making 12 appearances in the Premier League in 2018/19.

It is evident that Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez are all ahead of the 21-year-old in the pecking order.

But Alderweireld, of course, could well leave the club this summer. Despite his claims to the contrary – he has said he is preparing for next season at Spurs – any club has the ability to trigger his £25m release clause this summer.

As a result, Spurs have been linked with a £40m move for AFC Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake, the former Chelsea defender who has emerged as a star on the south coast.

But could Foyth be the man to step up and be an in-house replacement, instead?

In the top-flight, he averaged a total of 2.6 tackles per game, per WhoScored, 0.8 interceptions, 4 clearances and 1.3 fouls. He also completed 1.6 dribbles per game, pointing to his ability to step out of defence, along with an 85.2% pass completion rate.

Ake, by comparison, played a total of 38 times – one has to bear in mind, then, that the sample size is noticeably larger for the Dutchman – and averaged 1.7 tackles per game. He made 0.8 interceptions, 6.1 clearances and committed 0.7 fouls. He completed 0.1 dribbles per game and had a pass completion rate of 86%.

The statistics, here, barring clearances, are negligible.

Foyth’s the man

Ake makes more clearances because Bournemouth don’t keep the ball as well as Spurs and are regularly forced to smack the ball away from their own box.

The Cherries, per WhoScored, averaged 47.7% possession in the Premier League while Spurs averaged 56.7%. That is a noticeable difference.

Everywhere else, they are about similar. Foyth actually makes more tackles while they have exactly the same number of interceptions.

Yes, Foyth is a slightly rasher defender – his foul number isn’t great – but the pass completion rate is remarkably similar while the Argentine’s dribbles will endear him to his manager.

One feels that Spurs will know this and it could well end up saving them millions, as a move for Ake simply buys them another Foyth. They may as well simply play the latter.