Who is Juan Foyth?

A name broke out across the Spurs community last night, Juan Foyth, leaving many typical responses from the fans such as “who?”. Juan Foyth is a 20 year old Argentine centre back who currently plays for Estudiantes in Argentine Primera Division. The young Estudiantes defender claims that his agent and club president, Juan Sebastian Veron ex Chelsea and Manchester United midfielder, is flying to London to hold talks with Tottenham Hotspur.

Juan Foyth was part of the Argentina under 20’s wold cup squad who caught the eye of Tottenham scouts at the tournament who also had a keen eye on Venezuelen midfielder Yeferson Soteldo. With Juan Foyth being an Argentine like Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, they could gain a strong understanding of each other if Foyth was to move to Spurs. Especially since Pochettino has such a good record with young players and developing them to reach high potential such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier, the list goes on. Also another Argentine who has become forgotten at Spurs due to injury problems and is not expected to be fit again till October, Lamela has developed hugely under Pochettino and was very key in the 2015/16 season. So I believe Pochettino can do the same wonders with Juan Foyth.

Although Foyth only broke into the Estudiantes side in March has played 7 league games and had a phenomenal 4 clean-sheets. Tottenham Hotspur defender Kevin Wimmer has been linked with a move away from the club due to lack of game time but to my understanding Foyth will not be his replacement, Swansea’s Alfie Mawson and Middlesborough’s Ben Gibson have been linked to replace the Austrian. Foyth will be used to develop with 19 year old American Tottenham defender Cameron Carter-Vickers. So Foyth is a signing for the future to eventually replace defensive stars Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.

Spurs fans will know that Pochettino likes his versatile players and Foyth fits that with him being able to play Centre-Back and Defensive Midfield, like Eric Dier who has been linked with a big money move away from the club but is very unlikely to be sold. Although Juan Foyth is only 5 feet 10 inches he is still a great centre back who is extremely confident on the ball and I would compare his confidence on the ball to Jan Vertonghen who is very comfortable with dribbling the ball past players and going on attacking bursts when needed. Height is not an issue with Foyth as he is the same height as Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta who played centre back in a back 3 with Chelsea last season and had a phenomenal season and was one of the best centre backs in the league last season.

This transfer does seem very likely as during a radio show Juan Foyth claimed he had heard of the Tottenham interest and has said his agent is able and will be travelling to London for talks over a transfer. From what I have seen of Juan Foyth he looks like he will be a great signing but only issue being language whether or not he can speak English which has been an issue in the past with previous signings such as Heung Min Son and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou but proven with Son has needed a season to get used to new language and then has shown their full potential. So Foyth will not make an instant impact but will certainly be one for the future.