Adrien Tameze would be the ideal replacement for Abdoulaye Doucoure
According to the Daily Mail, Watford have lined up OGC Nice star Adrien Tameze as a potential replacement for Abdoulaye Doucoure in January.
The same report claims that Doucoure has been linked with a move to PSG as the Ligue 1 giants are on the lookout for a replacement for Adrien Rabiot.
Watford have opened discussions with PSG over a potential move for their star midfielder but the French champions are still short of the Hornets’ £45million valuation.
Tameze, who has 32 caps for France at the youth level, is a central midfielder who is similar to Doucoure in his style of play and certainly fits the bill at Vicarage Road.
Doucoure has been one of the driving forces behind Watford’s successful season so far, playing a key role in central midfield alongside Etienne Capoue. The Frenchman has contributed with 2 goals and 5 assists so far but in all honesty, he has been the heartbeat of the midfield with his energy, passing and distribution.
Watford need a quality replacement for the Frenchman should they lose him to PSG in January to keep their top-ten and Europa League hopes alive.
The Hornets have the experienced Capoue and a couple of promising youngsters in Nathaniel Chalobah and Domingos Quina but they need more options to avoid a potential burn out towards the crunch end of the season. In other words, someone like Tameze can make a lot of difference to the midfield with his strength and tenacity.
Standing at 5ft. 11 inches with a stocky and well-built frame, Tameze is roughly blessed with the same height and physicality as Doucoure. Both of them like to operate from a deep position in the midfield and are at their best when allowed the freedom to carry the ball forward with pace.
Just like Doucoure, Tameze is a hard-working, tenacious and energetic central midfielder who can also play in a box-to-box or a defensive role due to his high level of stamina. Tameze has a good positional sense and likes to close down his attacking counterparts in the midfield, not allowing the opposition any free space to build up the play
Tameze has the ability to break up the play with crucial tackles and interceptions and also has a good range of passing which allows him to dictate terms in the middle of the park.
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He has averaged 56.3 passes per game with an accuracy percentage of 89.4, more than Doucoure’s pass percentage of 82.6. While Tameze has averaged 2.3 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game in the Ligue 1, Doucoure has registered 2.4 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game. Quite clearly, there is nothing much to choose between the two players. Doucoure has 5 assists to his name while Tameze has none, however, that is more due to the role that he has played at Nice.
Suffice to say, Adrien Tameze is an ideal replacement for Doucoure and Watford should not hesitate to meet Nice’s £10million valuation should the former depart for PSG in January. That said, they should go ahead with the deal.
