Tottenham thrashed top four rivals, Aston Villa last Sunday with a 4-0 win away from home.
The Lilywhites are now only two points from Aston Villa in fourth place, with a game spare to play. Unfortunately for Spurs, it came with the cost of losing one of their most influential players of the season, Micky Van De Ven.
The Dutch center-back was forced off the pitch just minutes into the second half of that game with what looked to be a reoccuring hamstring injury that he previously picked up in the game against Chelsea earlier on in the season, which saw him out for two months.
However, Tottenham fans were hit with some good news this week as manager, Ange Postecoglou said that it is not 'as severe' as his last and that he is 'confident' that he will be back after the international break.
It now seems that Tottenham's decision to make a transfer for a new center-back in the winter market has paid off perfectly. Fans were desperate for their team to go and buy a defender as quickly as possible with Van De Ven's previous injury. Davinson Sanchez was sold in the summer and Eric Dier left in January (to Bayern Munich).
The Romanian joined for a fee of 25M Euros from Italian side, Genoa after having an impressive loan spell for them. This resulted in Genoa buying him on a permanent for as little as 10M Euros from Juventus, who he had joined since 2018 in their U17's academy.
Dragusin was a man in demand in January as he continued to show his qualities after Genoa had made the purchase for him and only six months later, got himself a big move. Spurs and Bayern Munich were the front-runners to sign the 22 year-old but it was the North London side who got their quicker. Dragusin's agent later revealed that the German giants were offering bigger wages but he had already made a verbal commitment to Spurs as they showed eagerness for him.
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An opportunity to show himself
Since arriving in London, the new signing had only played a total of eight minutes of the bench in three different games before having an extended showing in the Aston Villa game. Dragusin was brought on to play in a back five, in order to see out results but now has the chance to start his first fixture against Fulham.
It has been hard for Ange to select Dragusin with Cristian Romero and Van De Ven being possibly the strongest duo this season and without European football or still being in a domestic cup competition, there are not enough games to let every player in the squad have a lot of game time.
Ange has praised Dragusin for his patience and hard work in training. The manager has said before that players character is the most important thing for him when signing new players and it seems that the Romanian has the dedication.
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His Attributes
From his cameo's so far, Dragusin has shown his physical attributes which is key to play well in the Premier league. He is 6"3, very good in the air, and also really strong. He has also got the pace to keep up with attackers, showing he has a similar profile with Van De Ven.
For Genoa, he played 77% of his games on the left side even though he is right footed, so he will be comfortable playing there and could also cover Romero to play on the right side. When looking at his ball playing ability, this is another thing he excels in. He was praised at Genoa for breaking lines and carrying the ball out from the defence and was even handed his debut at Juventus by Andrea Pirlo who had a possession based style.
Dragusin is still very young just like the rest of the squad and with Tottenham's position in the league, Champions league football is looking more likely by the game. It means more games will be played and rotation will become necessary.
Fulham have scored at least one goal in their last six matches. All eyes will be on Dragusin and a real chance to show Spurs fans who he is and what to expect from him in the future with the upcoming fixture against Fulham. He will hope to make his mark and help get his team, back to back clean sheets for the first time since October 2023.