Nuno told he has work cut out amid issue with new Tottenham signing Emerson Royal
Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has his work cut out to bring the true potential out of new signing Emerson Royal, one expert has claimed.
Spurs finally got a deal over the line for the 22-year-old before Tuesday evening’s transfer deadline. They agreed a €30million (£25.7million) deal with Barcelona. The Brazilian arrives at Spurs with the remit of providing competition for Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty, the former the current first-choice.
Indeed, Doherty has played in the Europa Conference League and Emerson will add another option for Nuno.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, South American football expert Tim Vickery provided the low-down on the player.
He admitted that the full-back’s career has not yet taken off and has instead proven a “shaky” journey.
“He’s an attacking right-back, a strapping figure in the mould of Maicon, which might not impress Tottenham fans as much,” Vickery said.
“The Royal thing is not his actual name. It’s a nickname his uncle gave to him because he thought he reminded him of a cartoon that used to sell a local brand of jelly, by the name of Royal.
“To be fair to him, his career so far has been a little bit shaky. He was a reserve in Brazil, he played for Brazil at Under-20 level but not very well.”
Barcelona signed Emerson from Atletico Mineiro in Brazil in the January 2019 window.
However, he spent the next two-and-a-half seasons across Spain with Real Betis. Indeed, he only returned to Catalonia after 79 appearances at his loan club.
Still, following pre-season with Barcelona, he has played all three of his side’s La Liga games this term.
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“Barcelona picked him up on promise but didn’t really use him,” Vickery added.
“[A] couple of seasons at Betis, not a lot the first season but better the second season and he’s on the fringes of the Brazil squad where they have a problem at right-back.
“So far it’s much, much more promise than reality. Tottenham are paying a lot of money for him so it’s time now for the man named after jelly to stand up straight and put some solidity in that career.”
Elsewhere, Tottenham faced a struggle to offload midfielder Tanguy Ndombele on deadline day.
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