Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a full first-team overhaul this summer to give Roberto De Zerbi the best chance of success in the Premier League, but one top target got away from the Lilywhites

Tottenham Hotspur will rue their inability to sign Nico Paz over the past two summers, with the Como talent tearing Manchester United apart in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, bagging two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win. If you thought this performance was good, this is just the start for the Argentinian star.

Michael Carrick will have known fine well the threat that the attacking midfielder carries heading into the encounter at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, as well as the long night that Harry Maguire and Mathijs de Ligt were in for ahead of kick-off.

That was evident just two minutes into the encounter, with Paz breaking the deadlock with an audacious curled effort from the edge of the area - an unstoppable force despite Senne Lammens' best efforts.

The 22-year-old continued to be a headache for the rest of the encounter, relentlessly pressuring the United backline with his pace and trickery, taking a touch of the ball before almost vanishing and reappearing in the space around him and leaving his opponents chasing shadows.

Paz also showed that he's equally as dangerous as a provider, as he helped Anastasios Douvikas on his way to doubling Como's tally for the evening four minutes into the second-half.

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The attacking-midfielder picked up the ball midway into his own half, driving at the United defence before playing a gorgeously weighted pass to Douvikas, who hit the ball with power past Lammens to make it 2-0.

Paz wasn't finished for the evening there, however. A matter of moments later, the youngster showed his defensive acumen as he pickpocketed Carlos Baleba deep in the United half, bursting goalward before making it 3-0 with a curled effort out of Lammens' reach at the far post.

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Unusually, Paz didn't play any part in Como's fourth of the evening, as he occupied Youri Tielemans on the edge of the area while Jacobo Ramon headed home from close range.

Joshua Zirkzee also pulled one back in stoppage time, although his close-range finish served as solely a consolation goal following a thrashing under the bright lights of Europe.

It was a dominant performance from Como with the Argentina international at the heart - pulling the strings, demanding plenty of the ball and failing to stop for the duration, before he was pulled with around 10 minutes remaining to enjoy a well-earned rest.

The one that got away

Spurs' interest in Paz is well documented, and wasn't simply a flash-in-the-pan panic proposal this summer. The Lilywhites harboured an interest in the youngster back in 2025, with a package worth around £61million tabled for the Tenerife-born talent in the August.

It came following a breakthrough season with the Serie A challengers, having joined Como from Real Madrid in a £50m move a year prior.

However, Spurs' proposals were ultimately rebuffed as a result of Paz wanting to remain with Cesc Fabregas' side, and the club wanting to keep a hold of one of their brightest talents.

That decision ultimately bore fruit in abundance, with Paz going on to rack up 12 goals and seven assists in the Italian top flight alone across 2025/26, as Como managed a fourth-place finish for their efforts.

It was also suggested that Spurs were considering another bite of the cherry with regard to securing Paz this summer, only for the club to instead splash £100m on Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali and £85m on Mateus Fernandes - a man who suffered back-to-back relegations from the Premier League with Southampton and West Ham United.

Despite hopes that both men would miraculously hit the ground running with Spurs, this season has proven incredibly testing. Tonali has managed just a single assist from the first seven games of 2026/27, while Fernandes has failed to make a mark in the same amount of games.

Make no mistake, recent history has shown that bringing in players who have never been tested in the Premier League is risky business. Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer for around £116m and has only just started showing signs that he is acclimated to the hustle and bustle of the English game.

However, Paz proved that he can hold his own against EPL competition on Wednesday evening, terrorising United's midfield and defence and walking away from the encounter with two goals and an assist to show for it. He is also 6ft 1, with Glenn Hoddle noting his 'fabulous frame' during the match, and he showed the physicality and tenacity tailor-made for the English game - in contrast to someone like Wirtz.

It will come as an incredibly tough pill to swallow for Spurs, who could have had such talent at their disposal this season should they have pushed a little further in their pursuit, having failed to get a deal over the line in back-to-back summers.

Unfortunately, it seems a missed opportunity, considering Real Madrid holds a buyback clause for Paz, highlighting just how highly rated he is. He also recently took over Argentina's No 10 shirt from Lionel Messi, if it wasn't clear already the path he was on.

This one is going to sting for some time because the world really is this 22-year-old's oyster.