Tottenham should offer £20m player in swap deal to land Premier League star Arne Slot says is a 'threat' - opinion

A swap deal should be on the cards for Tottenham and Fulham as they ponder the possibility of doing transfer business this summer. Spurs are gearing up for a Champions League season, needing to improve significantly under Thomas Frank if they are going to compete in that competition and compete for European qualification through the Premier League.

As for Fulham, they just missed out on European football last season and will want to go one better in the next campaign, with Marco Silva likely wanting to see more progress from his men.

But the Cottagers are facing the possibility of losing one of their best players, with interest aplenty in star left-back Antonee Robinson. Tottenham are one club who have been linked with a move for the American, and that should come as no surprise.

Even Liverpool boss Arne Slot said of Robinson last season: “He is definitely a threat. I saw this when Fulham played Arsenal and against us. He is having a great season. But the good thing about a left-back who wants to attack is that he takes the risk of leaving Mo in a position where he can hurt you in transition. That has happened multiple times this season. We have to make sure we take care of that part and have a good answer to Robinson. Every team brings you challenges and Fulham will do so also."

Fulham boss Silva said of Robinson: “He’s been great for us. He’s one of the best left-backs in this league. It’s not just the way he is able to stop players, but the way he is able to help ourselves. In open play, last season he was the full-back in this league with (the) most assists and this season (he) is probably one of the full-backs with the most assists.”

The Cottagers will now want to lose Robinson, but if they do, they will reportedly command around £45million for the sale.

Spurs should offer swap deal

Tottenham don’t currently have space for a left-back, so if they are going to sign Robinson, they should offer a swap deal that would see one of their current left-backs head to Fulham. The obvious candidate is Djed Spence, who is valued at around £20million, meaning Spurs could save just under half of the Robinson fee by proposing a player-plus-cash deal.

Spence had a real resurgence last season, and he has proven himself a more than capable Premier League left-back. Like Robinson, he is also a player who likes to use his pace to get forward, and that could see Silva replace Robinson with a player who has a similar mindset while also bringing in a healthy profit.

Former Tottenham boss said of Spence and his progress last season: “To a certain extent [I've been surprised], but I've always kept an open mind about these things. There's obviously a player there, there was never any doubt about that. Why it hadn't worked out, you always try to figure out, there must be a reason. So I don't know if it's a surprise but it's a credit to him.

"I made it difficult for him, to be fair. I didn't make it easy for him, it's not like I said to him 'Djed, you're here, we love you, stay'. I purposefully made it difficult for him because I thought that was going to be the test. To see, earlier in the year when he wasn't playing or part of squads, how he was training, he was reacting to things, and he never got disengaged.

"He was always engaged and that made an impression on everyone - me, the coaches, his teammates - and from then on, it's just been all about him. All I did was say 'you've earned a shot at it, here it is' and he's been brilliant. You know there's a player there and sometimes you just need certain things to click into gear.

"The penny drops at different times for different players. For some of them it drops at 18, for some it drops a bit later when they realise this is what I have to do to get the most out of my career, and it's a credit to him. He's an outstanding player, I'm super pleased we've still got him in the building. It would have been super easy for him to be playing elsewhere."

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