'Incredible': Italian media stunned as £25m player shines on full debut after Tottenham missed out

Tottenham were seemingly in the market for a specific type of midfielder during the summer transfer window.

Ange Postecoglou is all about having energy in his side, with the Australian’s style of play placing a huge focus on consistent movement and quick passing in between the lines.

As such, Tottenham wanted to sign Conor Gallagher from Chelsea – before he eventually moved to Atletico Madrid – although there was another energetic midfielder Spurs missed out on too, who is now receiving rave reviews in Italy…

Italian media praise Scott McTominay after Spurs links

In case you missed it, a story from The Sun claimed that Tottenham wanted to sign Scott McTominay in a late summer move from Manchester United – after the Red Devils agreed to sell the Scotland international.

However, it was Napoli who eventually secured Scott McTominay‘s signature, agreeing to pay £25.4m to bring the man from Lancaster to Naples.

After a period of settling in, McTominay finally made his full debut under Antonio Conte in Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Juventus, where he blew Riccardo Trevisani away.

The Italian journalist told Fontana di Trevi: “Seeing McTominay live is incredible, impressive. He looked like Gulliver playing against children, they bounced off him!”

As you can see in the footage above, the 27-year-old really did run the show at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday, showing fantastic awareness of space and great athleticism to make Juventus look like schoolboys at times.

Tottenham still need an engine like this in midfield

Unless Postecoglou coaches the dynamic Pape Matar Sarr into a box-crasher of a midfielder, who arrives late to score goals, Spurs still need a profile like McTominay and Gallagher.

James Maddison is capable of scoring goals from midfield, but the England international does not possess much power when running with the ball – he is more of a technical midfielder who prefers to pass than drive forwards.

We doubt Gallagher and McTominay will be leaving Atletico Madrid and Napoli anytime soon – having only just arrived at their respective clubs – so it is down to Johan Lange to scout a new midfield engine for Postecoglou.