For years, Tottenham Hotspur have tried and failed to replicate those amazing days of Mauricio Pochettino.
Sure, the Lilywhites didn’t win a trophy under the Argentine, but they did reach a Champions League final.
Some of the best players of the modern era also became Premier League icons under Pochettino’s guidance. Harry Kane is the club’s record goalscorer while Dele Alli is arguably one of the finest young players to emerge at Tottenham in the last two decades.
Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele were not bad either. In fact, Dembele has to be regarded as one of the best midfielders we’ve ever seen in the top flight.
What made Dembele so special
The talent Dembele had at his disposal was extraordinary. A box-to-box midfielder, this was a player who could glide across the turf. He was like if Eden Hazard were a midfielder.
He was mesmerising with the ball at his feet, so mesmerising in fact that Kyle Walker once said that the Belgian is “probably the best dribbler I’ve ever seen.”
Those away from Spurs may well have forgotten about Dembele. After all, he’s no Kevin De Bruyne; he’s no David Silva. As a result, he’s very underrated.
At Tottenham, however, he is not. Eric Dier once aptly stated that the former midfielder was “a monster and he’s got ballerina feet at the same time.”
In his prime, the 2016/17 season, Dembele made as many as 3.4 dribbles per game. Only six players in the whole division completed more that season. No central midfielder made more.
Furthermore, only 14 midfielders in that same season made more than his 2.8 tackles per match.
Based on those statistics, it really is no surprise that they have struggled so much to replace Dembele since he left in 2019.
Why Spurs have struggled to replace Dembele
It’s a regular occurrence that Tottenham struggle to replace their best players. Harry Kane and Heung-min Son are irreplaceable, but no one has even come close to replicating their levels at Spurs.
The same can be said of the midfield and, in particular, Mr Dembele.
Spurs firstly tried replacing him with Tanguy Ndombele and we all know how that played out. Since then, the Spurs midfield has lacked bite; it’s lacked a certain fluidity that Dembele brought in abundance.
The less said about the Harry Winks, Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg days the better. The less said about Moussa Sissoko’s time in north London the better too.
In 2025/26, the midfield was one of the biggest issues for Spurs too. It’s why they signed Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. They needed more line-breaking passers and more progressive players akin to Dembele.
Well, it is safe to say that hasn’t gone well either yet. For a £100m player, we are yet to see the best of Tonali. As for Fernandes, rather bizarrely, he is being used as a number 10 by Roberto De Zerbi.
So, where is the next Dembele going to come from?
The new Dembele is emerging at Spurs
There are several problems at Tottenham right now, not least the fact that it took De Zerbi’s side five games to finally find the net in the Premier League.
However, despite investing £185m into their midfield, those central areas are still a problem.
Rodrigo Bentancur has been immense and is outshining both of those players. That said, is that not worrying? Perhaps. The Uruguayan looks more like the £100m midfielder in all of this.
Speaking of such a price tag, there is a belief that one day a certain teenager by the name of Luca Williams-Barnett could go on to be worth a pretty penny too.
Tottenham’s answer to Max Dowman, the 17-year-old may not be earning regular first-team minutes like his fellow teen just yet, but before too long, De Zerbi must let loose.
After all, Williams-Barnett proved in pre-season that he has what it takes to mix it with senior players.
The youngster has been making waves at youth level for a while now. Last term, he scored 16 goals in 19 youth team games. He also assisted eight goals across a variety of competitions.
Despite that, he has only featured for the first team in competitive action on two occasions. Considering how he fared in pre-season, where he blew his teammates away, that is a surprise.
After a dazzling performance against Auckland, another academy graduate in the form of Mikey Moore described him as an “unbelievable footballer” while Ben Davies said that he is “a really top player” and has “a bright future ahead of him.”
In that match against the New Zealand side, the teen featured as an attacking midfielder and had as many as five shots during his 63 minutes on the field. On another day, Williams-Barnett would have scored. Well, he did eventually find the net in pre-season but not until their final game with Hoffenheim.
It was a mightily impressive pre-season for the youngster but his best performance arguably came against MK Dons.
|
Williams-Barnett vs MK Dons |
|
|---|---|
|
Minutes played |
45 |
|
Touches |
33 |
|
Accurate passes |
20/22 (91%) |
|
Key passes |
3 |
|
Shots |
1 |
|
Successful dribbles |
2/6 |
|
Carries |
14 |
|
Duels won |
3/8 |
He was used as a second-half sub and actually played in a deeper-lying midfield role where, if we’re being completely honest, he looked a bit like the aforementioned Dembele.
During that display, he completed 91% of his passes, created three chances and attempted a whopping six dribbles. This was like Dembele in his prime, skipping beyond the opposition and advancing into forward areas.
What is so special about Williams-Barnett is his ability to evade opponents. We’ve seen it on countless occasions at youth level. He’s virtually impossible to get the ball off.
While his future may lie in a more advanced role, if he does end up playing slightly further back, he could provide a glimmer of Dembele in the process.