Tottenham pondering move for Benjamin Pavard if they sell Toby Alderweireld

It’s been mostly gloom and doom in the Tottenham Hotspur transfer window news lately, what with all of those midfielders that we didn’t really want possibly deciding to sign with different clubs. Still, Jack Grealish is the only signings that looks like it might have legs at the moment, and there don’t seem to be too many hot and juicy rumors on the horizon.

Which is what makes this one so darned exciting! According to the Mirror — yes, I know, stay with me here — Tottenham are considering making a move for 22-year old French international and Stuttgart defender Benjamin Pavard, if they’re able to offload Toby Alderweireld this summer.

Pavard has been an anchor at CB for Stuttgart this past season, starting every game for a Bundesliga side that finished seventh in the table. But although he has only 11 international caps for France, he’s exploded onto the scene in this World Cup, playing 90 minutes in all but one match in this World Cup and helping take Les Bleus to the championship game.

And lest we forget, he also did this against Argentina:

So the Mirror report is your standard unsourced garbage, but in this particular instance I don’t care much, because this is exactly the kind of young, exciting talent that Spurs should be going after. Pavard has the ability to not only play CB and RB, but he can also move into defensive midfield, something that he has done on occasion for Stuttgart. He’s really good, and young, and should be playing on a Champions League side next season, not waiting around for Bayern Munich to nab him whenever they feel like it.

And that’s where the problem lies, because he’s been heavily linked with a move to Bayern for a while now. There are whispers that state that Bayern has a verbal agreement to leave him at Stuttgart for another year and then buy out his release clause in 2019, which supposedly drops from €60m to €35m next summer.

So that makes him, potentially, a prime target for a DANIEL LEVY SWOOP. If Spurs are able to sell Toby for around what it would cost to pay Pavard’s existing release clause, they’d basically be trading a really good center back who’s getting older for a really good utility defender who’s only going to get better.

Is this actually going to happen? Man, I don’t know, this post is mostly wish-casting. There doesn’t seem to be much (solid) reporting linking Spurs to Pavard. It also seems like a big ask, and as Tottenham fans we’re all predisposed to rampant fatalism when it comes to the transfer market.

But holy smokes, replacing Alderweireld with Pavard would be AMAZING, and I’m now all in on it happening. This would be a very brave and forward looking signing if it happens, and I for one am crossing all my fingers and toes that it’s not completely bogus.