The Dream Team season has only just come to a close and thoughts are already turning to next term.
Spurs are to blame for any overeager gaffers getting ahead of themselves as the North London club announced the signing of Ivan Perisic on Tuesday.
The Croatia international won’t officially join the club until July 1st following the expiration of his contract at Inter.
Arsenal fans were quick to scoff at their rivals’ recruitment of a 33-year-old but those who play Dream Team may secretly be pencilling Perisic into their first draft for the 2022/23 campaign.
The veteran of 113 international caps is an Antonio Conte player in the sense he’s played under the Italian before and his attributes are suited to the decorated tactician’s approach.
Hardworking, tactically disciplined, intense, experienced… he ticks most Conte’s boxes.
Perisic is predominantly a wing-back these days although he did play a few minutes in more advanced roles for the Nerazzurri this season.
And it’s his potential categorisation as a defender that makes him such an appealing Dream Team asset at this extremely early stage of planning for 2022/23.
A finalised decision on his position will be made at a late date but if he is to be a defender then he may well be the most attack-minded option among his peers next term.
Perisic scored ten goals and provided nine assists in all competitions for Inter this season and no Serie A wing-back registered more touches in the opposition box.
The success of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.9m) and Joao Cancelo (£7.1m) this campaign is the latest proof that defenders who are influential in attack tend to rack up the most points.
If Perisic is able to provide 15+ goal involvements for Spurs then he’ll surely finish among the top ten defenders, at the very least.
Of course, there’s a chance he will be categorised as a midfielder which would mean he wouldn’t personally benefit from clean sheets.
This would make him less of an essential option but still a potentially viable one given his impressive record – we’re talking about a player who has scored nine goals in major international tournaments, including one in a World Cup final.
The optimistic view is that Perisic will bomb down the left in a highly-functional Conte outfit to join Harry Kane (£8.2m) and Son Heung-min (£6.9m) in racking up plentiful points as Spurs hunt for a trophy on four fronts.
The pessimistic outlook is that the cutthroat environment of the Premier League and Champions League will reveal him to be a has-been who frustrates Dream Team gaffers.
It seems likely that the reality will fall somewhere in the middle but if he’s even marginally closer to the former scenario then he could be a prominent character next season, especially if he’s categorised as a defender.
It’s certainly too soon to settle on a starting price but instinctively something between £3.0m and £4.0m feels right.
Let’s hope for some more similarly enticing arrivals throughout the summer transfer window.