Ismail Jakobs of FC Koln celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal during the Bundesliga match between 1. FC Koeln and Sport-Club Freiburg at RheinEnergieStadion on February 02, 2020 in Cologne, Germany. (Getty Images)
According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move for Cologne’s starlet Ismail Jakobs.
Ismail Jakobs, 20, who signed for Cologne at the age of 13, made his top-flight debut in November, has made 11 appearances. He has netted two goals and registered an assist in the Bundesliga, helping Cologne climb to 13th in the table.
AS Roma and Leicester City are also monitoring the youngster’s situation at Cologne after he has become a regular this term, the report adds.
Meanwhile, Tottenham’s season has been hamstrung with injuries to two key players in Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. Kane sustained a hamstring injury against Southampton in January and underwent a successful operation which will keep him out until April. Son fractured his arm during Spurs’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Aston Villa earlier this month and is likely to miss out the remainder of the 2019/20 season.
Despite Mourinho helping Tottenham climb to sixth place in the table, the North Londoners have struggled to maintain consistency. Their defence has struggled to put in a string of good performances, conceding 36 goals in 27 games thus far.
Spurs currently don’t have a proven goalscorer in their ranks following the injuries to Kane and Son, forcing Mourinho to use Lucas Moura as the false nine option in the last couple of games.
Hence, adding a central defender and a centre-forward in the summer would work well for Tottenham. In addition, should Tottenham also look to sign Ismail Jakobs from Cologne? The answer would be a ‘No’.
Jakobs can play at left-back or in a more attacking role on the left-hand side. This is exactly similar to the profile of Ryan Sessegnon, who was signed from Fulham in the summer. Sessegnon can also play at left-back but he is more comfortable operating further forward down the left flank, as evident from his performances for Tottenham this term.
Thus, it would make little sense for Spurs’ perspective to sign Jakobs when they already have a similar player in Sessegnon, who has made only six league appearances this term. While Sessegnon has struggled to nail down a spot in the first-team under Mourinho, he is only 18 years old and has a lot of time to improve and learn from the Portuguese tactician.
Thus, Tottenham must not waste their resources by signing Jakobs from Cologne. Instead, they must prioritise signing a back-up striker for Kane and a central defender ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
