Tottenham Transfer Target Timo Werner a Good Player but Not the Answer

Tottenham Hotspur's priority in the remaining weeks of the transfer window must be to upgrade their strike force. 

Last season Harry Kane papered over the cracks with a brilliant individual season, but Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado contributed little. 

It was already evident that Spurs needed reinforcements, but with Adebayor close to completing a move to Aston Villa, per Samuel Stevens in the Independent, Spurs could be left perilously thin up front. 

While Kane is perfectly capable of taking the lead striker role in the coming season, he will need more assistance than Soldado can provide. 

If the Spaniard also departs, as Simon Jones of the Daily Mail reports he will, Kane will be the only senior striker on Spurs' books. 

According to the Metro's Sean Kearns, surplus Juventus forward Fernando Llorente was reportedly close to joining the club several weeks ago, but there has been little progress since then. 

The Telegraph and ESPN FC have both reported that Stuttgart youngster Timo Werner is the top priority for Mauricio Pochettino. 

Werner has been rated as a £10 million option, although he still has two-and-a-half years to run on the contract extension he signed early last year. 

Stuttgart suffered through a dreadful season in 2014-15, finishing just one point clear of relegation. 

That made for a less-than-ideal environment for Werner's development. 

He is tall but lacks dominant height. Though he possessed some pace, he is not blindingly quick. Despite being a good finisher, Werner is not a crack-shot marksman. 

There is nothing that sets Werner apart beyond his excellent scoring rate at youth level. 

That underscores the notion that Werner is a project player. 

At this point, Werner is a young prospect surrounded by optimism. Prolific at the youth international level and a solid senior player, he is at a level comparable to Connor Wickham's before his 2011 move from Ipswich to Sunderland. 

When Wickham made that move, he was a young English striker with potential—an international success at the youth level but relatively untested at senior level.

Ultimately, he lacked the desire to use his talents to grow as a player. 

If Spurs were to sign Werner, they would be taking a gamble on a player who is still unproven. 

He would arrive at White Hart Lane as a player with great potential but also one incapable of holding a senior position in Spurs' squad. 

Despite his evident talent, Werner is still one for the future. 

Spurs could use his abilities as a goalscoring forward in the coming campaign, but he will not solve their striking shortfalls. 

Werner will not be enough to lift Spurs to the level of their rivals, and it will heap the pressure on Kane if he is the only new forward to arrive. 

Wickham has now been jettisoned to Crystal Palace —according to Sky Sports, the 22-year-old is discussing personal terms with the Eagles ahead of a potential transfer—and should stand as a cautionary tale against young forwards wasting their talent after making their big move too soon. 

Werner would be taking a similar risk if he made the move from Stuttgart to Spurs, but he would find himself in an excellent position. 

Pochettino's Tottenham is the perfect place for a talented youngster. 

The manager is willing to take risks with quality players, and Werner certainly has quality. 

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Should he arrive, though, he would not satisfy Spurs' desperate need for a senior striker in reserve. 

Werner's talent is undisputed, but his ability to replace the experience of Soldado and Adebayor is questionable. Neither the Spaniard nor the Togolese had many highlight-reel moments last season, but they both helped Kane to emerge as a Premier League star. 

Pochettino should add Werner to his squad because the German is an excellent young talent, but there must be further additions if Spurs are to keep the top four in their sights.