Ange Postecoglou’s side have won four out of six preseason friendlies, signed two exciting prospects in Archie Gray and Yang Min-Hyeok, and, most importantly, secured the services of Dominic Solanke in a £65m deal that could bring a mountain of goals to the North Londoners’ attacking style this season
Recent reports have touted another talented star for a move to N17 in the coming weeks, and his arrival could be the much-needed upgrade on a player who never made the grade at the club.
Jones claims that with Emerson Royal’s exit to AC Milan, the North Londoners could refocus their attention on signing the young Englishman, who used to play for the club.
How much the 27-year-old would cost the Lilywhites is still up in the air, though, as Jones cites a report valuing him at around £20m, while reports from late last week price him closer to £30m.
Whatever the final price ends up being, bringing in Walker-Peters to replace and upgrade upon Emerson would be a great idea, as he’s impressed at Southampton in the Premier League and Championship.
In contrast, the former Barcelona full-back could only muster a single goal in his 24 appearances for the North Londoners last season, which is far from ideal.
Unfortunately for the Milan-bound man, the comparison is just as one-sided when we look at their underlying numbers, and even though the Englishman was playing in a weaker league,
the difference is starker than it should be.For example, in practically every single metric, the “beautiful footballer”, as dubbed by manager Russell Martin, comes out on top, including non-penalty expected goals plus assists, actual non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, shots, key passes, passes into the final third and penalty area, shot and goal-creating actions and successful take-ons, all per 90.
Moreover, while he comes out second best in a couple of the defensive metrics, he makes substantially fewer errors that lead to an opponent’s shot, suggesting he wouldn’t be a “liability”,
Ultimately, Walker-Peters looks to be an upgrade on the Brazilian from both output and underlying numbers perspectives, so if the opportunity presents itself to bring the Englishman back to North London this summer, Levy and Co should take it.
About The Author
