Davinson Sanchez’s defensive credentials were talked up by new Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte this week but the 25-year-old’s value continues to plummet.
He is still relatively young for a centre-back, with his peak years on the horizon, but it’s a cause for concern that his fee has dropped off substantially since his £42m move from Ajax back in August 2017.
If anything, it should only be rising, the closer he gets to that optimum age.
At the time, it was a club-record fee spent by then-manager Mauricio Pochettino, who even claimed that the Colombian colossus would “be one of the best centre-backs in the world in the future” to Sky Sports.
Will Spurs ever get their money’s worth for Sanchez?
Yes, 100%
No chance
Four-and-a-half years on, that’s been far from the case as he’s struggled to cement a regular place in a side that qualified for the Europa Conference League.
Back then, the club were regularly challenging the top four and even made the Champions League final in 2019 – Sanchez didn’t start that day either.
In fact, Sanchez has regularly been lambasted for his frequent mistakes whenever he has started. For instance, Kenny Cunningham once described him as a “real liability” to his side last season, whilst ex-Colombia manager Jorge Luis Pinto claimed that Sanchez “does not have the talent” to succeed.
Just this week, following Spurs’ defeat to Southampton, former midfielder Jamie O’Hara dubbed him “embarrassing” for his role in the three goals conceded.
Earning wages of £65k-per-week, the former Ajax defender is amongst Tottenham’s highest earners at the club but his form has just not justified that and his collapsing value reflects that completely.
As per CIES Football Observatory – a research group that specialises in the statistical analysis of football – Sanchez is now valued at just €30m (£25m).
That’s a drop-off of 40.5% from his transfer fee, a worrying sign considering he’s only 25.
“He has a lot of space for improvement. He’s good physically, he’s fast. He’s good technically. He has the right characteristics to become a top defender but he needs to be focused from start to end,” claimed Conte this week (via football.london). “This is the gap to him becoming a top defender.”
It remains to be seen whether or not the Italian can be the man to get Sanchez back on track but given there are three players ahead of him in the pecking order, it seems hard to envisage that happening anytime soon.
As such, his value is only set to nosedive harder, leaving chairman Daniel Levy with yet another huge transfer disaster at Tottenham.
AND in other news, Antonio Conte may already have a big transfer regret at Spurs…