Originally was quite happy being linked with him!
Good player and technically far better than what we have!
Then I checked that in 146 League appearances for Tottenham he has 8 goals and 12 assists...
Comparing him to Gomez, Dembele has a far worse games to goals ratio and Gomez isn't exactly prolific. If we want Dembele to score and create then there's no evidence he'll do either.
Gomez takes penalty's which massively skews the statistics to compare him to Dembele, the problem with Gomez is that he constantly slows our play down and a more direct player like Dembele would be a step in the right direction imo. He hasn't been a massive success at Spurs but while at Fulham he looked the part as an attacking midfielder, he's not the most creative midfielder around but unfortunately most decent creative midfielders are just out of our reach.
I'm not saying that Gomez is a better footballer but if we're looking for an attacking midfielder to score some goals then Dembele's record is bad in that respect. Yes Gomez has scored a few penalties but that's a positive not a negative, if he's not taking them who will? I doubt Dembele would be much cop.
It just strikes me as a case of a 'big' name seeming like a step forward but is it really? What's he going to offer us in an attacking position if not goals or assists?
Just making the point that Gomez taking penalties makes a comparison of goals scored with Dembele an unfair one that's all mate, Gomez is good at penalties but I seem to remember Defoe scoring a few in the past.
I just think Dembele's the sort who would get the ball and drives us 10, 20 yards up the pitch which would help to close the gap between midfield and our forwards, but granted he's not the most creative player around but that's not too big a deal if we have the likes of Johnson and Lens up there to help out in that respect. I just see him as poor man's Yaya Toure sort of player, has the physicality but not quite the class.
I think you're right about Defoe and penalties, there's not many from the front line I'd trust with a penno but yeah I'm pretty sure Defoe is good at them.
I was a lot happier about the prospect of Dembele signing before Indiana referenced his stats, he's a step up in quality but we really need players with goals and assists in them and if we're getting him for an attacking role then it doesn't seem like we'll get many from him.