Lucas Moura bowed out in the best way possible as he brought the curtain down on his Tottenham career with a dream goal in their 4-1 triumph over Leeds United. Darting inside from the right wing and embarking on a mazy run as he evaded four players before lifting the ball past Joel Robles in the home goal, the Brazilian was mobbed in front of the away end as Spurs' substitutes' bench all came over to join the celebrations in the far corner of Elland Road.
It was the perfect way for the 30-year-old to wave goodbye to the club after five years in N17. One of two attackers who will bid farewell to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer, with Arnaut Danjuma's loan spell coming to an end, Spurs, in what will be a very busy few months for the club, will need to add to their forward line.
They may already have an alternative to Lucas in the capital, however. Since joining from Sporting CP in January, Pedro Porro has chipped in with three goals and three assists in 17 appearances for the Lilywhites.
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In the 4-1 demolition of Leeds on Sunday afternoon, the Spain international added a goal and an assist to his name in what was a very promising performance. Playing in an advanced role in the recent 1-0 win over Crystal Palace with Ryan Mason opting for a 4-4-2 formation to nullify the visitors, Porro was the architect for the winner that day after teeing up Harry Kane on the cusp of half-time.
Only given 15 minutes in the penultimate game against Brentford as he replaced Emerson Royal at right-back in Tottenham's 4-2-3-1 system, Porro was handed a start for the trip to Elland Road. The 23-year-old was named on the right of the three attacking players behind Kane and his new role brought out the best of him.
He was involved immediately as he played a key part in Kane's opener after making a good run down the right flank before getting on the wrong side of Pascal Struijk to get on the end of Emerson's through ball. Squaring the ball to Son Heung-min, the South Korean then did the same as Tottenham's No.10 silenced Elland Road with a finish high into the net.
Tottenham once again scored two minutes after kick-off, this time through Porro as he seized on some poor play at the back to double Spurs' lead and leave Leeds staring relegation in the face. Picked out by Kane as he was in acres of space down Tottenham's right, the January signing made no mistake as he seized upon Strujik's poor touch to arrow the ball across Robles and into the bottom corner.
Twenty-two minutes later and both combined again as Porro turned provider for Kane as Son's run towards the right flank opened up a gaping hole for the striker to be put through on goal and, as expected, he made no mistake to notch his 30th league goal of the campaign. Not a bad day at all for Porro, the youngster made way for Lucas in stoppage time and he could be very pleased with his excellent showing in West Yorkshire.
Amid question marks over who will be Tottenham's next manager and what formation they will play, Porro has certainly given Antonio Conte's replacement food for thought ahead of next season. If Spurs are to move away from the 3-4-3 system that the Italian played with for the duration of his 18 months in charge, the new manager will have plenty of work to do with the club's wing-backs.
Bringing Ivan Perisic, Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence and Porro to the club last summer to help take the wing-back areas to another level, the quartet may have no position in the new manager's team and a positional change may be in order. That means they could either be utilised at full-back or as wingers.
Emerson has already demonstrated in his two seasons at the club that a positional switch from full-back to wing-back is far from straightforward, thus suggesting that Porro et al could quite easily have the same difficulties if going in the opposite direction. The aforementioned quartet were brought to the club for their attacking play and their futures may very well lie further up the pitch for Tottenham if they are to operate with a back four on a permanent basis.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Mason was asked by football.london about the possibility of Porro having a future further upfield for Spurs.
"Possibly because he affects games of football. He scores and creates goals," said the 31-year-old following the 4-1 win. "I thought today his performance was excellent going forward and also he had the discipline in helping the team from a defensive point of view.
"We're very pleased with his impact. We know it's very difficult to come into the Premier League halfway through the season and I think his character and his personality have allowed him to be some sort of success."
Displaying an eye for goal and his ability to tee up his teammates since his move to the club from Portugal, Tottenham need to get the very best out of Porro's attacking qualities next term as they look to move forward as a club. His first four months in the Premier League will certainly have helped him and the new manager and supporters will undoubtedly see a better version of the player from August onwards.
That was the case for Lucas in the season after his January switch from PSG, with his brilliant double at Manchester United in August 2018 a standout highlight of his Tottenham career. Requiring a replacement for the outgoing Brazilian, Spurs may already have a fantastic alternative for the player already at the club.
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