Forget it Pochettino – Tottenham must dodge this Premier League speed bullet at all costs

According to reports, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha in the summer transfer window.

After Mauricio Pochettino signed a new five-year deal with Spurs, the Argentine will now step up plans to strengthen his squad ahead of next season. It appears as if Pochettino is eyeing Zaha, who had a wonderful season with the Eagles.

Zaha was the catalyst in turning around Palace’s fortunes in the recently concluded season. After getting injured in the first game of the Premier League, he returned against Chelsea and there was no turning back for him.

The jet-heeled Ivorian has been full of assists and goals as he helped the Eagles avoid the drop, which looked highly probable after their worst ever start in the Premier League.

Zaha’s impressive displays in south London has rightfully garnered a lot of attention and one of the clubs interested in signing him is Tottenham.

At Spurs, Pochettino has a talented pool of attackers that are capable of knocking any team down on their day. The likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura make Spurs an exciting team going forward. So where would Zaha fit into the squad?

First of all, Palace aren’t willing to even entertain offers for the Ivory Coast international’s services. Zaha is obviously crucial to Palace, where he began his career. He is the heartbeat of the team which Roy Hodgson, at any cost, will be reluctant to lose.

One might argue that Zaha will develop better under Pochettino as the Spurs gaffer has a brilliant track record of nurturing young talents. First and foremost, Zaha isn’t a young talent now and secondly, he doesn’t fit into Pochettino’s high-octane style of play.

The pressing system employed by the Argentine requires a lot of energy, work-ethic and interchanging of positions. That demands clever movement, intelligence and extensive tracking back. Pochettino’s style of play simply won’t suit Zaha as the nippy Ivorian needs space and room to exploit and express himself.

Zaha’s attributes and style of play is best suited to Palace where the focus is on the Ivorian. Also, Palace are highly dependent on Zaha’s flair and energy as Hodgson has built a team around the 25-year-old.

Pochettino has a team that is filled with a lot of talented attacking players and so adding another attacking star in Zaha clearly doesn’t make any sense. Instead, Pochettino must look to perform a significant surgery in other areas of the pitch this summer.

By signing a new deal, Pochettino has ended the fears in Spurs fans but that’s clearly not enough as the Argentine must reshape his squad in the summer before moving into their new stadium next season.