Unfortunately for Alex Pritchard, his time at Tottenham Hotspur appears to be over. Sky Sports are reporting that the 23-year-old is on the transfer list at White Hart Lane, with the club willing to accept £8m offers.
The midfielder has only played twice for Spurs since his first senior call up in 2011, spending the majority of his career out on loan.
A spell at Brentford in 2014/15, where he made the PFA Championship Team of the Year, showed his quality, but injury stopped him from playing at the start of this campaign.
Moving to West Brom on loan at the beginning of February was meant to give him some Premier League experience, but he only managed three substitute appearances across all competitions.
Tony Pulis was never going to get the best out of Alex PritchardHowever, the young Englishman can’t be blamed for his lack of impact at The Hawthorns as this move was always destined to fail.
Pritchard showed himself to be a capable ball-playing midfielder with the Bees, usually playing in a more advanced role, and the Baggies wouldn’t offer anyone a chance to do this.
Indeed, Tony Pulis’ men had the least possession of anyone in the top flight, averaging just 42.2%, while they were also the worst team at playing the ball in the rare occasions that they had it, succeeding with only 70% of passes.
In contrast, they were the second-best side when it came to aerial duels, winning an average of 19.1 in each match, with only Southampton faring better.
For the 5ft 7in Pritchard, this was always going to make life difficult, as this approach is completely different to his preferred way of operating.
Therefore, any Premier League outfit looking for a summer recruit shouldn’t be put off by his time in the Black Country as he would be a quality addition for a team that likes to keep a ball on the ground.
Keeping that in mind, Swansea, Everton and Bournemouth are the only three clubs outside of the ‘big six’ in the top flight to average more than 50% possession over the 2015/16 campaign.
They are also all in the top ten when it comes to pass success rate and the reportedly transfer-listed Spurs man would fit in well at any of them.
During his time at Griffin Park, Pritchard provided seven assists and contributed 104 key passes, showcasing his ability.
Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu both set up eight goals each for the Toffees in the Premier League this season, so another creative force isn’t a priority at Goodison Park.
Matt Ritchie managed six for the Cherries, while no one for the Swans picked up more than three assists, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kyle Naughton tying on that total.
Therefore, it would be wisest for the former England U21 international to make the Liberty Stadium his new home.
Adding some extra inventiveness to the squad would improve the Welsh team, who won five of their last eight league games, the chance of causing a surprise and coming good on their 80/1 odds of finishing in the top four next season.
