Tottenham Shouldn't Spend £25M on Mercurial Newcastle Star Georginio Wijnaldum

Tottenham Hotspur have made a pair of shrewd additions to their squad in the summer transfer window but continue to search for further signings. 

Victor Wanyama, signed from Southampton, adds a rugged physicality that exceeds even that of Eric Dier and should afford a greater resilience to a Spurs side that dropped too many points from winnable positions last season. 

Vincent Janssen, the Eredivisie's top scorer last season recruited from AZ Alkmaar, doubles the size of Tottenham's strike force at a stroke and will allow manager Mauricio Pochettino greater tactical flexibility in the coming campaign. 

These signings both match Spurs' recent trend in the transfer market. 

While picking up younger players with sell-on potential has long been a part of chairman Daniel Levy's stewardship of the club, there has been a notable shift away from unproven players in the Pochettino era. 

Perhaps a reaction to the middling success of the players signed with the Gareth Bale transfer fee, Tottenham have avoided high-priced players with minimal tangible indications of their quality.

Heung-Min Son was admittedly an expensive signing at £22 million from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, but he came with both Bundesliga and international pedigree.

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With the pressing needs in defensive midfield and attack resolved by the first two summer transfers, Spurs are reportedly focused on recruiting a new attacking midfielder.

Following a brief flirtation with the notion of signing Bayern Munich's Mario Gotze, per James Olley of the Evening Standard, Newcastle United's Georginio Wijnaldum has become their primary target, according to Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail. 

In an abject Newcastle team last season, Wijnaldum was a relative shining light. With 11 goals, one quarter of his team's total, the Dutchman showed himself to be more than capable of influencing a Premier League game. He was unable to prevent the Magpies' relegation, though, and he is not likely to stay for second-tier football this season. 

Spurs' interest in him is understandable—and so too is Newcastle's demand for a £25 million transfer fee. He was, according to Squawka, the Magpies' best player by some distance last season and is a 30-times capped Netherlands international. 

It must be considered that Spurs are not looking for a player to replace any member of their starting XI, and it is unclear whether Wijnaldum could displace any of them if he were signed. 

His general reluctance to join in with the defensive side of the game does not match the Pochettino player profile, and he would need to learn a new approach simply to be considered for game time. 

Those considerations should undermine Tottenham's willingness to meet such a significant fee. 

He scored six of his 11 goals in two matches against Norwich City and Spurs, while producing only one other performance of note, against West Ham United. Thirty-five of his 38 appearances were below that admittedly stellar level. 

After a brief involvement in the title race last season, Spurs are searching for consistency this summer in a bid to produce a more sustained challenge. Wijnaldum is not the player to afford them that quality and certainly not at the price reportedly being demanded. 

Tottenham's options in attacking midfield are excellent, but reinforcements must be added to survive in both the Premier League and Champions League. Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Son, Nacer Chadli, Alex Pritchard and Josh Onomah are among Pochettino's many options in that area, but only half of those are of the requisite quality. 

Wijnaldum has occasionally shown he has the talent to thrive at any level of football and would likely flourish among better team-mates. But Spurs are not in a position to take such risks.

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Despite the wealth in the Premier League and their Champions League qualification, Tottenham have a stadium to pay for and simply cannot spend so much on a player of dubious reliability. 

The club should be prepared to spend a comparable sum if a player more suited to Pochettino's style becomes available because a failure to capitalise on their European qualification by strengthening the squad could scupper their hopes of repeating the feat in the coming campaign. 

Last time Spurs reached the Champions League, in 2010-11, they gave an excellent account of themselves, reaching the quarter-finals before going out to Real Madrid. However, a failure to strengthen the squad saw them fade in the latter part of the domestic season and finish fifth.

Ultimately, Wijnaldum is not the right man for Spurs.