Tottenham Hotspur took another step towards qualification for the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Lilywhites are now ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference and have a game in hand over their rivals, which puts them in a strong position to qualify for the competition.
Spurs did not qualify for any European tournament last season and that meant that they have had to go through the current campaign with their full focus on domestic football.
This has allowed them to push on in the Premier League to fight for Champions League qualification, which they are now on course to achieve.
Qualifying for the competition could see Ange Postecoglou strengthen his squad further to deal with the extra matches that would bring, and Spurs have already been linked with possible targets ahead of the summer transfer window.
Tottenham's interest in England U21 star
The Lilywhites are reportedly keen on a deal to add a versatile England U21 international to their ranks to add to their options on the flanks.
According to TuttoSport, Spurs are one of the teams interested in a swoop to sign Juventus dynamo Samuel Iling-Junior at the end of the season.
The report claims that fellow Premier League side Fulham are also eyeing up the former Chelsea youngster, as Marco Silva wants to revamp his wing department.
It states that both teams have set their sights on the 20-year-old wizard, who can play on the wing or at full-back, and that he could be available to sign.
TuttoSport reports that Juventus have failed to agree a contract extension, after talks with the young gem, and that his current deal is due to expire in the summer of 2025. This means that he will only have one year left on his contract this summer, which could make it the last chance for the Italian side to cash in on him.
The outlet states that the Serie A giants are hoping to rake in a fee of at least €15m (£12.8m) for the English talent, rather than losing him for nothing 12 months later.
Spurs are now hoping to swoop in to take advantage of his contractual situation, which has seemingly forced Juventus into considering a sale, this summer.
Tottenham could repeat their Dejan Kulusevski masterclass by landing another impressive young winger from the Italian side to bolster their Premier League squad.
Dejan Kulusevski's Spurs career in numbers
The club signed the Sweden international on an 18-month loan deal from Juventus in January 2022 and eventually made that move permanent in the summer of 2023 for a fee of £25m.
He hit the ground running with a fantastic return of five goals and eight assists in 18 Premier League appearances, which included 14 starts, during the second half of the 2021/22 campaign – almost one goal contribution per start on average.
His form, however, dipped during the 2022/23 season as the left-footed forward produced just two goals and seven assists in 30 top-flight appearances.
That did not stop Spurs from making the deal permanent last summer, though, and the 23-year-old has looked back to his best at times this term.
Appearances
29
xG
3.5
Goals
6
Big chances created
12
xA
5.9
Assists
3
As you can see in the table above, Kulusevski has been lethal in front of goal – with six goals from just 3.5 xG – and has been let down by his teammates in the final third.
He has only racked up three assists from 5.9 xA and 12 'big chances' created, which suggests that his fellow forwards have been wasteful with the chances that have come their way in the box at times through the Swedish star's impressive creativity.
Overall, though, these statistics show that the young winger has the ability to provide quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals from out wide on a consistent basis.
He has, therefore, been a fantastic signing for Spurs, after just one goal and three assists in his last 20 Serie A games for Juventus, and they could land their next version of him by securing a deal for Iling-Junior.
Why Spurs should sign Samuel Iling-Junior
The 20-year-old, like Kulusevski, is a left-footed forward who can play on either flank, although he has predominantly been deployed down the left.
This season, however, the young gem has been utilised as a left-midfielder in Juventus' usual 3-5-2 system, which has given him experience both defensively and offensively, essentially acting as a wing-back for the Italian giants, in the Serie A.
Last summer, analyst Ben Mattinson claimed that Iling-Junior's "explosive" wing play was "wasted" in the Serie A side's "negative" tactics, and his underlying statistics this season suggest that there is some truth to that.
The England U21 international has only started two league matches for Juventus and, yet, ranks within the top 3% of his positional peers for Expected Assisted Goals (0.33) per 90, and the top 7% for non-penalty goals (0.16) per 90 with one goal and two assists.
He has been electric in the final third when given an opportunity to play but has rarely been provided with minutes – with just two league starts – and this suggests that his talent has been wasted so far this season.
Iling-Junior produced 14 goals and 15 assists in 58 games for Juventus at U19 level as a winger and Postecoglou could unlock his true potential by bringing him back to London, having left Chelsea as a teenager, to play as a forward.
Instead of being, essentially, a back-up wing-back for Juventus, the left-footed "assist machine" – as dubbed by Eurosport's Michele Neri – could come in to provide competition on the flanks at Spurs, given the impressive attacking qualities he possesses.
Iling-Junior, who scored two goals for England U21s against Luxembourg last month from a wide position, is another talented young player the club could snap up from Italy to bolster their ranks.
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Therefore, the English whiz could join as Kulusevski 2.0 and look to follow in the Swedish star's footsteps to become a key Tottenham performer after struggling for game time with the Old Lady.
