Scouting Tottenham Transfer Target Alvaro Pereira
Tottenham Hotspur will make a move for Inter Milan left wing-back Alvaro Pereira in the January transfer window, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport via Ben Jefferson at The Express.
If you have not been following Pereira at Inter, here is a scouting report which will update you on how he has performed for the Nerazzurri.
Rating Alvaro Pereira's Inter Milan Displays
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Rating: 3/10
Alvaro Pereira is to Inter Milan what Gilberto was to Tottenham Hotspur.
Pereira went from being a highly touted left-back on Andre Villas-Boas' treble-winning Porto squad to a whipping boy on an Inter team which has been a revolving door: new owner, new manager and new players.
Try to fathom this fact: 13 of Pereira's 33 league games have been sub-affected but he has picked up 11 yellow cards.
He is a hope-and-lunge type of defender who lacks positional awareness.
This was evident in Inter's 3-0 defeat to Roma, a game in which he conceded a daft penalty by making a low percentage tackle on Gervinho, who had outpaced him.
Last season, Pereira started on Inter teams which conceded five goals against Udinese, four goals against Atalanta and three goals against Lazio, Napoli and Spurs.
His anemic offensive productivity is concerning.
He misplaced 123 of 161 crosses and lost possession in 43 of his 58 attempted dribbles last season.
Are there any positives in Pereira's games?
He has superb stamina, runs till the final whistle and tries hard.
Alvaro Pereira Can Improve
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During the Pinzolo training camp in pre-season, an Inter club reporter asked Alvaro Pereira this question, via Inter.it: "There were times last season when the fans were rather harsh with you and you got booed occasionally. How does a player deal with the emotional side of that?"
What an Interista would have asked: "Alvaro, when are you leaving for Spezia Calcio?"
Inter manager Walter Mazzarri's anecdote of his former player Juan Zuniga proving the Napoli fans wrong serves as motivation for Pereira to get out of a rut.
"What pleases me is that Zuniga, who came from Siena and was booed by the whole stadium to begin with, is now one of the best widemen in Europe," Mazzarri said, via Inter.it. "That's what I'm interested in."
Jonathan, who was the Brazilian Jose Bosingwa in his first few outings for Inter, is now a contributing member of the Nerazzurri.
The two players ahead of Pereira are Yuto Nagatomo and Javier Zanetti.
Nagatomo is inconsistent and "had some absolutely dreadful games in the spring," according to Michael Cox at Zonal Marking.
Father time is catching up to Zanetti, 40 years of age now, and back from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
When the opportunity presents itself, Pereira has to forget about his below-par performances for the club in the past and play like the Porto Pereira.
He can turn it around.
Should Andre Villas-Boas Sign Alvaro Pereira?
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Andre Villas-Boas is so desperate for Jan Vertonghen to return and play left-back centre-back that the Tottenham Hotspur medical staff will use a blood-spinning technique to fast-track the Belgian's recovery from ankle ligament damage, per Sky Sports.
With Danny Rose set to return, the only scenario in which Alvaro Pereira becomes a transfer option is if Rose suffers another injury set-back and Vertonghen's injury does not heal as quickly as expected.
Pereira, who is essentially a forgotten man at Inter Milan, could be available on loan [1] to cover a possible left-back injury crisis at Spurs.
Aside from being an emergency loan, Spurs management shouldn't even contemplate buying him.
[1] During the 2008-09 season, Inter loaned out another Porto flop—Ricardo Quaresma—to Chelsea in the 2009 January transfer window.
Statistics via WhoScored, FFT Stats Zone, Squawka and Transfermarkt.
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