(Football news) After pulling the transfer window in the form of Dusan Vlahovic, Juventus have now signed highly rated young midfielder Dennis Zakaria from Borussia Monchengladbach for a fee of €5m plus add ons in a contract until 2026 and will replace Bentancur who joins Spurs.The Bundesliga star has been one of Borussia Monchengladbach’s best players in recent years as he was linked with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, however, the talented midfielder won’t be bringing his skills to England but will join Allegri’s side.
Tottenham pulled off a coup as they signed highly rated young Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur for a reported fee of €19m plus €6m add ons. With the Zakaria deal essentially completed, the domino effect is also now complete. The case from the get-go was that Juventus would only buy a midfielder if they were able to bring another one in and since Zakaria is reportedly on his way to Turin, Bentancur is now free to join up with his old friend Fabio Patrici and old coach Antonio Conte at Spurs.
A transfer for Dennis Zakaria was more of an opportunistic move as he was out of contract in the summer and could have been a free agent but Juventus didn’t want to take the risk, knowing that in the summer, many teams will pursue him. Zakaria has been one of the finest midfielders recently in Europe and that explains why several clubs were scouting him. With the Juve midfield underperforming in the first half of this season, they have a player who could improve performances in that position and provide stability playing in the number 6. The likes of Adrien Rabiot and Weston McKennie could see their performances get better with an injection of energy from the new signing, providing them some freedom to attack.
Tottenham in the window were desperately in search of a midfielder and a winger as Fabio Paratici has been shopping in his old stomping grounds and clearly Juventus was happy to listen. After Juventus and Tottenham reportedly agreed a loan deal that will see Kulusevski head to London, the same can now be said about Bentancur. The Tottenham management were desperate to sell Ndomeble and Lo Celso, with Ndomeble joining Lyon on loan it became clear that Tottenham were going to pay Juventus their asking price for Bentancur.
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He is a defensive minded midfielder, playing a similar style to Pierre Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp. In fact, he’s further defensive minded than both those players, recording 9.47 defensive duels / 90, as opposed to Skipp who’s 7.68 is currently the highest amongst Tottenham midfielders. Bentancur also wins roughly the same amount of tackles as Hojbjerg (~62%) which is slightly above the league average. ( Romero, having played only 7 games, is currently the league leader in % of successful defensive duels at 82.86%. His return will be imperative for Tottenham’s end of season push.)
