Is Palermo's Franco Vazquez the Right Target for Tottenham Hotspur?

From Cordoba to Sicily, by way of Madrid, could Palermo attacking midfielder Franco Vazquez's next career destination be London?

Tutto Mercato Web—via Metro.co.uk's Simon Osborn—last week reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur in the 26-year-old. Since then, the Serie A club's president Maurizio Zamparini has suggested a number of Europe's top teams, including Arsenal and Chelsea, are leading the chase for his player, per the Pianeta Milan website (h/t ESPN FC's Richard Jolly). 

Transfer speculation is to be treated skeptically at this time of year, certainly when the reportage is so light. If there is anything genuinely to it, it is easy to understand why a talent like Vazquez could be a target for Tottenham. But whether he would be the right fit is partly dependent on what head coach Mauricio Pochettino has planned for his current crop of attackers.

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Vazquez's name appearing in the rumour mill is the result of eye-catching work for Palermo this season. Seven goals and nine assists have led his contributions to Giuseppe Iachini's side fixing themselves in a safe mid-table position on their Serie A return.

His prominence has grown with goals against high-profile opponents like Inter Milan and Napoli, and the crescendo has now included a call-up to Italy's national team.

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Argentine by birth, Vazquez qualifies through his Italian mother. Not involved in Saturday's European Championship qualifier with Bulgaria—a 2-2 draw—he could make his Azzurri debut on Tuesday night against England in Turin.

If Vazquez's increasingly impressive surface credentials are behind his name being mentioned with expensive moves to the Premier League and beyond, it is the considerable skill set which informs them that will convince one of them to ultimately buy him.

Pochettino and the relevant Spurs decision-makers deciding to pursue him will not be a decision they take lightly (and would of course require him being interested in joining them). Not because of Vazquez's style—there is plenty about it which would suit his countryman's team—but because its installation would likely mean diminished or changed roles for those already at the club.

There are shades of Erik Lamela in Vazquez's ability to beat an opponent and dribble out of tight confines. He already possesses a strength in possession and a determination to win the ball back which the Spurs man has taken time to acquire in England (an attribute which would maybe lead to easier integration than Lamela experienced). His optimistic, penetrative final-third runs bare resemblance to Nacer Chadli's attempts to skillfully blast his way through a defence—albeit he is quicker than the Belgian.

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In an analysis of Vazquez, ESPN FC's Nick Dorrington noted "he can struggle when teams specifically focus on constricting space between the lines," something Spurs have had issues with at times this season. Praised, however, was he and team-mate Paulo Dybala's "solid job of closing down from the front and ensuring that opposition teams are unable to bring the ball forward comfortably out of defence." A characteristic which would appeal to Pochettino, given the aggressiveness he asks of his team in making the opposition uncomfortable in their own half.

Vazquez's standout quality is the one which would potentially have the biggest repercussion for the make-up of the Spurs attack: His inclination and want to be involved in the majority of his team's play.

The dynamism with which Vazquez plays with the ball at his feet might be more similar to Chadli and Lamela. But both the level of his involvement in creating for others, and the eye for a pass which facilitates this, mark him as someone more likely to clash with Christian Eriksen.

The current Tottenham playmaker has enjoyed the best part of two fruitful seasons with the Premier League outfit. Though not yet consistently effective, the hope is the 23-year-old's already considerable experience will lead to an even more impressive evolution of his talents soon enough.

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Eriksen can play out wide. Perhaps in a deeper role he could work in conjunction with Vazquez operating further forward. Neither would be keen to concede the influence with which they operate, though, and diluting either seems counterproductive.

Spurs have put time in to developing Eriksen too. If signing Vazquez were to stunt that progression, it might be enough to put them off. The more logical move—one perhaps in the offing if MailOnline's Sami Mokbel's recent report is to be believed—will be to utilise academy product Alex Pritchard, currently impressing on loan at Brentford, as the Dane's understudy.

Make no mistake, Vazquez has earned being discussed with a big, potentially career-advancing move. On paper Tottenham would be lucky to have him.

Past signings like Danny Murphy and Steven Pienaar—fresh from excellent spells of their own at Charlton Athletic and Everton respectively at the time—have shown talent alone does not make a good fit. Vazquez is the right man for Palermo, and would be for others too. At least as things stand, he might not be for Spurs.