Whilst Lamela broke Spurs transfer record for the third time in the summer the jury out with the 21-year-old. This is not because he is a bad signing. Nicknamed ‘Coco’ by his friends, he has a respectable record in Argentina and Italy with twenty-three goals in ninety-eight appearances from his days at River Plate and Roma.
The bemusement is with his new club, flashing almost £30m on a player who fails to strike regular starts in the first XI. The international has been subject to guest appearances within the last ten-fifteen minutes of games in the league whilst notably featuring behind Jermain Defoe in Tottenham's cup competitions.
Lamela has supplied some moments of elegance and artistry during his selections in the Capital One cup and Europa League fixtures, although in Tottenham’s Europa League victory over Anzhi Makhachkala, the number eleven prompted words of criticism for his manager for some woeful possession play, casual passing and sloppy ball control which saw a number of attacks break down.
AVB seems ready to build Lamela over-time rather than implementing him straight into the foray as seen with Christian Eriksen. Eriksen has already flown from the nest and cases could be drawn over Lamela's market cost in comparison to the Dane's. Eriksen cost less than half of Lamela's fee and the age difference between the two is a shallow one year. Tottenham’s number twenty-three clearly caught the eye of some of Europe's top sides whilst Lamela is seen to thrive in the same limelight as Gareth Bale. Bale took over three years to identify himself at Spurs before becoming the first name on the team sheet and Lamela has declared his wish to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona in his career.
This is not to suggest Lamela doesn't have the bearings to grow at Spurs. He has youth and a European flare to light up the pace of a game. Tottenham's nuclear ambitions could see him become a centre-piece in his clubs convergence towards the top of the league due to his talented distribution and authenticity.
