Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move for a Serie A winger this week...

What's the word?

According to Club Doria, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is keen on signing Sampdoria sensation Mikkel Damsgaard with the north London outfit expected to bid 'at any moment.'

It comes after mooted interest from Premier League rivals West Ham United, who are said to have held a meeting with the 20-year-old attacker.

There are also claims that his impressive performances this season has attracted Italian giants Inter Milan and Juventus.

Earlier in the month, it was reported by Gazzetta dello Sport that his value had tripled to around €20m (£18m).

Another Bergwijn?

Indeed, the young Dane has been one of the Claudio Rainieri's star performers since his 50m kroner (£4.5m) move from FC Nordsjælland in the summer as he ranks fifth for average rating (6.78) of any player to start at least ten times.

Damsgaard has contributed two goals and three assists in 18 appearances, per WhoScored.

Whilst no other player in the I Blucerchiati squad is averaging more than his three dribbles per 90 minutes. He successfully pulls these off at a rate of 62.5%, which means more often than not, he beats his man.

Another interesting attribute of the industrious wide man is his defensive and off-the-ball capabilities, which may well point towards why Mourinho may be so keen to sign him.

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He's averaged the sixth-most tackles in this Sampdoria team, managing 2.4 per game, making him quite a hard man to bypass on the flank. A tackle success-rate of just over 50% highlights the sort of graft he's able to put in to deny the opposition, via WhoScored.

We've seen this sort of player over in north London already with Steven Bergwijn. Whilst his goal returns have been poor - contributing only two assists in the Premier League all season - he offers Mourinho a lot defensively.

For example, no other Spurs winger is averaging more than the Dutchman's 0.8 tackles per game, whilst his seasonal heat map shows he's having more of an influence in his own half, meaning he's tracking back and helping whoever is starting between Serge Aurier or Matt Doherty.

It is why the former PSV star regularly starts (eight times) over Lucas Moura (four starts) and Gareth Bale (one start) in the Premier League.

As seen above, via SofaScore, one of Bergwijn's most intense positions is just before the halfway line.

As a further example, the following is his heatmap against Arsenal - he failed to score or assist, but was imperious towards them keeping a clean sheet as he was almost acting as a wing-back.

Indeed, SofaScore graded him an abysmal 6.4 but you bet Mourinho was still happy with his display as he managed two tackles, two clearances and one successful dribble - all similar characteristics to Damsgaard.

The versatile Sampdoria winger has also caught the eye of former Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen - he told TV2 Sport earlier in the campaign:

"We talked together after the match. He praised me for the situation around my assist. He is a really nice person and really sweet to talk to. It was just nice that he wanted to talk to me after the match."

That day, Damsgaard ghosted past two Inter Milan defenders before slotting Keita Balde's second-half winner and again proved he could contribute at either end of the pitch as he won five duels and made one clearance, per SofaScore.

It's no wonder that PL-winning boss Rainieri tipped him to have a "big future."

As we've seen with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Bergwijn, Mourinho loves a relentless workhorse and the Danish starlet would bring that as well as an extra creative influence in the attack, as evident throughout this piece.

For just £18m, Daniel Levy could well secure Spurs another Bergwijn-like beast.

AND in other news, £27m-rated passenger who made ONLY eight passes badly let Mourinho down on Monday...