Niko Kranjcar’s move to Spurs has been confirmed after hours of rumour and gossip. The mercurial midfielder moves back under the comforting wing of Harry Redknapp and will surely be seen as the filling for the void left by the injury to tricky Luka Modric, sustained against Birmingham on Saturday.
Modric will be sidelined for at least six weeks and seems likely to miss 7-8 games for Spurs as a result. That will hand Kranjcar an opportunity to slot into the Spurs lineup and see him offer some decent fantasy potential after becoming the latest player to escape the sinking ship at Fratton Park….
Harry Redknapp is certainly no fool. He knows Kranjcar’s qualities inside out and that he will be an ideal replacement for his stricken compatriot. In fantasy terms there’s clear potential. Kranjcar will play his part from set-plays and provide strong service from the left for Tottenham’s confident strikers. On the flipside, he’ll find it a lot harder to claim bonus points in the Fantasy Premier League game, plus he’ll face stiffer competition from set plays from the likes of Huddlestone and Keane.
The Croat offers a degree of versatility but it’s hard to see him slotting into a central midfield role and ousting Huddlestone/Jenas. It’s even harder to see him playing off a lone striker or displacing Lennon on the right. Long-term, Kranjcar’s opportunities look limited then. It’s hard to see a Spurs side incorporating the talents of Modirc, Kranjcar, Lennon and club skipper Keane. It all smacks of heavy rotation and more concern for investors in Tottenham’s attacking players.
In fantasy terms then, it appears that Kranjcar is shifting from being an ever-present (when fit) in a poor-to-average attacking side, to a potential bench-warmer in a strong and in-form attacking side. Just where that puts his fantasy value is open to interpretation. Given that Spurs have a couple of ominous games against United and Chelsea to come next, we do have time to consider just how he will fit into “Harry’s game” and just how valuable he could be to us over the next couple of months while Modric is laid low.