According to claims from football website 90min, as cited by ESPN, Tottenham have been linked with a move for Brazilian playmaker Gerson, who currently plies his trade with Flamengo in his homeland.
As per the report, Jose Mourinho has given Tottenham the green light to complete a January move for the 22-year-old, who has resurrected his career since moving back to his native Brazil from AS Roma this past summer.
A youth exponent of Fluminense, Gerson shot to prominence in Brazil with his boyhood club before earning a move to Europe with Italian giants Roma back in January 2016. However, the central midfielder struggled to nail down a regular starting role at the Italian capital and was farmed out on loan to Fiorentina in the summer of 2018.
The 22-year-old former Brazil U20 international showed glimpses of resurgence during his loan spell at Fiorentina, scoring and assisting three apiece in 36 Serie A appearances. However, that wasn’t enough to earn him a second chance to impress at Roma and Gerson completed a big-money move back to his homeland with Flamengo.
Gerson has since made 27 appearances for Flamengo in the Brazilian league, scoring twice and laying on a further three assists, whilst also impressing in the club’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign that ended in a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in the final.
Meanwhile, Tottenham have made significant strides towards getting back their campaign back on track under Jose Mourinho.
Despite that, Mourinho would be wise to reshape the squad in the coming months to suit his style of play. A new deal for Toby Alderweireld has grabbed all the headlines but question marks continue to linger over the futures of out-of-contract duo of Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen.
While bringing in reinforcements in both the full-back departments should be a priority in the upcoming transfer windows, the central midfield is another area where Spurs could do with a bit more depth and variety.
Tanguy Ndombele, who arrived in North London on a club-record deal from Lyon this past summer, has shown signs of settling down in English football while Moussa Sissoko has once again been a standout performer for the Lilywhites in the middle of the park.
Harry Winks has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past couple of years while Eric Dier, who often found himself down the pecking order under Pochettino, has emerged as a go-to man for Mourinho as a defensive shield in the midfield.
However, Victor Wanyama’s situation hasn’t changed much even after the appointment of Mourinho, who hasn’t shown a lot of willingness to include the Kenyan enforcer in his plans. The 28-year-old has struggled for regular minutes at Spurs over the past couple of years.
To that end, Tottenham could certainly do with another top-quality central midfielder in their ranks to increase competition but Gerson doesn’t seem like a substantial upgrade on the club’s existing options.
Moreover, the Brazilian’s previous mediocre performances in the Italian top-flight makes him somewhat of a risky proposition for Spurs.
Notwithstanding the fact that Gerson still has plenty of room for development, it is doubtful as to whether he would offer good value for money as far as Tottenham are concerned.
Man United forked out a staggering amount to sign Fred during Mourinho’s reign and the Brazilian’s failure to live up to the hype at Old Trafford does call for more caution from the Portuguese gaffer.
Having said that, Spurs would dodge a bullet by avoiding a move for Gerson during the mid-season trading period.